Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 10th October
Jennifer and Stephen discuss funding for an escape room and experimental entertainment venue operator, the redevelopment of a shopping centre, and the Yorkshire Growth 100.
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00:00Funding for an escape room and entertainment venue operator, redevelopment of a shopping
00:04centre and the Yorkshire Growth 100 feature in today's business briefing.
00:08So, Jennifer, what's caught your eye in the news today?
00:16Yes, so there was some big news for a listed business today. XP Factory Group, it's the
00:22listed business behind the Escape Hunt and Boom Battle Bar brands, has secured a new
00:27£10 million revolving credit facility from Barclays to support its expansion plans.
00:33Are you familiar with Escape Hunt or Boom Battle Bar?
00:37I'm not, I don't think I've ever visited, no.
00:39Well, Escape Hunt is a global provider of escape room experiences, which it delivers
00:44online through a network of owner-operated sites in the UK, and also it has an international
00:49network of franchise outlets across five continents. Boom Battle Bar then offers experiential
00:57bar entertainment and it has a fast-growing network of owner-operated and franchise sites
01:02in the UK. Activities it provides include games like Augmented Reality Darts, Bavarian
01:10Axe Throwing, Crazy Golf, Shuffleboard and loads more like that. The £10 million funding
01:16from Barclays will increase the group's capacity to grow both brands, provide additional
01:22working capital headroom and enable the company to refinance an existing £1 million debt
01:27facility at lower borrowing costs.
01:30Okay, so it might be an option for our Christmas party.
01:32Definitely would be something different, yeah.
01:34Well, sticking with the leisure sector, we've got two more Padaul stories for you. We've
01:39spoken about Padaul various times in these briefings, two stories online today. In Farnham,
01:44plans for a £2.5 million Padaul and Pickleball facility have been approved by Waverley Borough
01:50Council. So the hop would feature 10 Pickleball courts and four Padaul courts in a converted
01:56warehouse. It's supposed to open in mid-2025. Sally Grace and Andre Strachan are behind
02:01the project and they previously won the Sketches Pickleball English Open Mixed Doubles title,
02:06so they're a really strong pedigree there. If anyone knows about Pickleball, it will
02:10be them. Over in Poole, Cross Court Padaul is seeking permission for an indoor Padaul
02:16centre that will feature seven courts as well as changing rooms and a cafe. The application
02:21site itself dates back to 2003 when it was originally a park and ride. It's gone through
02:26a number of uses since then. It was previously a fire station. It was most recently used
02:30as a COVID testing facility. So as you can see, we've come a long way in the last four
02:34years. That application will go before the council's planning committee later today
02:39and is recommended for approval. Brilliant. Well, sticking with property news then, in
02:44workshop proposals to redevelop the Priory Centre have been recommended for approval
02:50ahead of a planning committee meeting that's taking place next week. The Priory Centre
02:56is a shopping centre and it's a large retail site that's home to national and independent
03:02brands and cafes. Full permission is now being sought for part demolition and part
03:09new build extension of the centre to make way for new leisure facilities, which would
03:14include a ten pin bowling, adventure play, crazy golf and a cafe area. Other areas of
03:21the centre are proposed to be retained and refurbished, both internally and externally,
03:26creating a new indoor market, a separate indoor food course and retail and food and
03:32beverage units. The application also includes the addition of a new pedestrian footbridge
03:38over the Chesterfield Canal, which would connect the development to the north of the town.
03:42Great stuff. Sounds like a really interesting development there. Yeah, absolutely.
03:46Well, the last thing from us today in this week's online news, we're covering some of
03:50the names on the Yorkshire Growth 100 list. So that's been revealed in the latest edition of
03:56the Yorkshire Business Insider magazine. This itself ranks companies on their growth over a
04:00four year period. At the top of the table is a company called Bayford & Co based out in Wetherby.
04:06They can trace their history back to 1919. They were established by a group of demobbed World
04:10War One soldiers. Now today they are shareholders in a number of businesses, such as Vore Charging,
04:16which installs electric vehicle charging points, businesses and leisure venues across the UK,
04:20and Fulcrum, which is a multi-utility infrastructure and services provider.
04:25The company, the group itself, achieved growth of more than 222% over the four year period,
04:32and that's taken it to the top of the list. The online story today focuses on property and
04:37construction businesses. We've also covered manufacturing businesses. And as I said,
04:41the full list is in the latest edition of the Yorkshire Business Insider magazine.
04:46So for more on the stories we've spoken about today and for various other stories,
04:49visit insidermedia.com. You can also sign up for our newsletters and find out about
04:53some of our upcoming events. Thank you for watching.