EIGHTEEN jobs, six of them full-time have been created with the opening of a new indoor children's play area on the site of an old wartime munitions building in North Yorkshire.

With the help of architects and building surveyors the LHL Group, husband and wife team Tracy and Richard Prudhoe have created Crazy Tykes with an initial £200,000 investment in a 7,500 sq ft unit at the Thorp Arch trading estate, near Wetherby.

The venture was partly in response to local research which highlighted a lack of safe play facilities for children in the area.

A caf, themed party rooms and a range of play activities are incorporated in Crazy Tykes where a range of high-quality coffees and hot and cold food are available at the caf, which also serves children's party meals.

It has two play zones, one for toddlers aged up to three which features slides, ball pools and play shapes and another for children aged between four and 11 which includes spiral, tube and astra slides, soft-ball cannons and targets and a mini football and netball area.

The extensive refurbishment of the derelict building by the Harrogate office of the LHL Group, was for the estate owners, Rockspring Hanover Property Unit Trust part of the continuing regeneration of the 385-acre business and retail estate which is managed by Wharfedale Property Management.

Richard Hampshire, the LHL Group director, who has worked with Wharfedale Property Management on the regeneration of the Thorp Arch Estate for ten years, said: "I am delighted that we have now had chance to refurbish this prominent building in a way which enhances the whole appearance of this part of the estate."