Children in downtown Sofia have been enjoying a new playground for the past week, thanks to the facilities at 70 Burel Street (behind Imperial club), which welcomes children of all ages.

A low wooden fence painted in orange surrounds the playground, which occupies an area of about 400 square metres. Children from the neighbourhood and all parts of Sofia can enjoy four swings, two slides in the form of houses, a roundabout and a seesaw. Their parents can relax on the comfortable benches not worrying about their children because no dogs are allowed on the territory of the playground, and 24-hour security makes sure that the prohibition is kept.

A big yellow sign spread across the playground says: "Given by Amber to the Children." The facility was built as an initiative of the Amber restaurant which is situated across the street from the park. "The idea for building the playground came from the owner of Amber, Lyubomir Enchev," said Nikolai Russev, the restaurant's deputy manager. "The site was very neglected and a couple of children were bitten by ticks which were all over the place in the tall grass."

Amber has invested nearly 24,000 leva in the initiative so far and the facility has been given as a gift to the Sofia Municipality. Russev said they would not stop there. "We are going to put in a ping pong table and one more roundabout. Lamps should also be installed so that children can play until late in the evening. We will also plant more trees and bushes in the fall when the weather is more favourable for growing trees."

A parking plot with eight places for cars has also been built next to the playground. "Recently, there have been more and more offices opened in the neighbourhood and there are many people and many cars here. And they just stopped wherever they wanted so a parking place was needed," explained Russev.

At the start of the construction, people in the neighbourhood were apprehensive about the project. They opposed the construction and were complaining about the new facilities because they were thinking that a house or a block of apartments was being built there. "When we finished the playground, however, they were happy because their children have a safe place to play," Russev said.