"Hi there, Just want to say hoop is great. The filtering system is brilliant too. Some days trying to find activities for 3 children aged 10, 8 & 5 is tough…but you have made it so much simpler. Now you need to spread this app out across the UK cities."

Patti - February, 2016

This email neatly sums up two ambitions we had for Hoop from day 1 — to build an app that helps families find everything happening for kids and to launch it across the UK. Up until now we’ve been exclusively focused on the first of these goals but that’s all about to change as this week, Hoop launches in Brighton & Hove.

Brighton won out as our 2nd city for a few reasons:

It’s got a lot going on

Famed for it’s seafront and colourful culture, the 275,000 residents of Brighton keep themselves busy with a diary of festivals all year long. What’s been great to discover is that families are far from an afterthought at these events. In the last month alone it’s played host to ‘Paddle Round the Pier’ water-sports festival (with a programme of 14 kids workshops and performances) and Pride’s ‘Day of Rainbow Fun’, touted as a ‘glitter-filled day for all’ promoting and supporting family diversity.

Small but mighty

The city is around 55 square miles but squeezes in 5 museums, 9 theatres and a world famous pier, not to mention amazing family hubs like The Pelican on Portland and The Book Nook. This mix of local institutions and big cultural focal points makes us excited about presenting families with a real variety of events and activities they can do together.

More practically, we’re still a small team. Thinking about things from a multi-city point of view has been a big new challenge for us. A small city seemed like the right fit for us at this stage.

We’re neighbours

Finally, it’s not too far from London and a 1hr jaunt on the train feels like a good excuse for our next team night out…

Get in Touch

We always appreciate it when Hoop users like Patti get in touch. If you know Brighton, we would love to hear how we’re doing. Are we missing your favourite event? Is there a kid friendly hotspot we’re yet to uncover? Drop us a note at, [email protected]

We’re hopeful that Brighton will be the first of many new chapters for Hoop and would love to hear which city you think we should go to next.