Play Valley Sheffield: Owner apologises for staff 'finders keepers' message over lost bracelet

The owner of a popular children’s play attraction in Sheffield has apologised after an employee messaged to say ‘finders keepers’ over a lost bracelet.
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An angry parent described how their daughter had lost her bracelet at Play Valley indoor play centre on Coleford Road in Darnall.

They returned to ask staff if it had been found and said that two hours later they received a private message with evidence of comments about the missing jewellery which had been made on a staff group chat.

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The entrance to Play Valley on Coleford Road in Darnall, Sheffield. The owner has apologised for a message shared on a staff chat group over a lost bracelet saying 'finders keepers' (pic: Google)The entrance to Play Valley on Coleford Road in Darnall, Sheffield. The owner has apologised for a message shared on a staff chat group over a lost bracelet saying 'finders keepers' (pic: Google)
The entrance to Play Valley on Coleford Road in Darnall, Sheffield. The owner has apologised for a message shared on a staff chat group over a lost bracelet saying 'finders keepers' (pic: Google)
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One of the messages read ‘finders keepers’ and another said: “We deffo pawning it. Will pay for night out for us all.”

A third message appeared to falsely insinuate the mother’s partner was a drug dealer, stating: “Her boyfriend literally had 2 old Nokia phones on table. Clearly knew what job he’s got. I’m sure he can replace it.”

When the child’s parents contacted Play Valley on Facebook to complain about the ‘disgusting’ behaviour by staff, the owner responded to apologise for what had happened.

Play centre owner says staff messages are ‘completely unacceptable’

“I’m yet to understand the full story but the messages I have seen are completely unacceptable and go against our terms of employment,” she said in a comment on Facebook, where the attraction has an average rating of 4.4 out of five from more than 100 reviews.

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“I would like to assure you I will make it my first priority when I return on Wednesday to investigate this matter and deal with any staff involved accordingly.

“Please let me assure you that Play Valley is our family business and this kind of behaviour does not represent what we stand for. It’s upsetting to see staff we trust behave in this way. We will not accept this from any employees.

“We are working really hard to build the business back up after Covid. Sadly we are still trying and the implications of staff behaving like this and subsequent damage it causes to us as a family business is huge as you can imagine.”

When The Star contacted Play Valley, we were told it was a police matter and the business would not be commenting further.

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