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Escape Hunt opens Bristol site ahead of final results
'Escape the room' experiential entertainment provider Escape Hunt announced the opening of its first UK owner-operated site in Bristol on Monday.
The AIM-traded firm said the site would be the first of three to open this month, alongside Birmingham and Leeds, with a further five locations to open in the coming months.
It said all of the venues were located in prime sites in town centres, with high footfall and in close proximity to potential large corporate customers.
As it previously announced in its operational update on 19 December, securing the premium sites and obtaining planning permission had contributed to delays in opening its initial UK sites and their associated revenues, although the company claimed to have a "strong pipeline" of sites.
In addition, in the week before Christmas, Escape Hunt acquired an escape room business in Bournemouth from a single site competitor for a nominal sum.
The board said it wa a "well-invested site" with four games rooms, which had only recently opened.
Since admission to AIM, the company had embarked on a detailed strategic review of the marketplace, following which significant effort was expended in enhancing every aspect of the business with the objective of differentiating itself from its competitors.
Management said it had made many design and operational changes to the original model, culminating in a rebranding of the business.
The resulting quality and differentiation of the initiatives had opened up the possibility for "exciting partnerships" with content providers and franchise opportunities, the board explained.
Escape Hunt had also embarked upon a thorough review of its game portfolio and decided to further optimise its offering by developing "higher quality and scaleable" games alongside the rebranding.
That would enable the company to better take advantage of what it saw as a significant market opportunity, and to consolidate its position as the premium escape room operator for both corporate customers and consumers.
The board said it had carefully considered the consequential delays to the opening programme resulting from the strategic work, and determined that the shift in the site opening plan would be "well worthwhile", believing it would lead to enhanced longer term benefits.
"We are delighted to have opened our first UK site and are excited about the further openings in the coming months," said Escape Hunt CEO Richard Harpham.
"I am proud of the team for delivering such a good quality site and the learnings from our first opening will help our UK roll out and benefit the international franchise network."
The company would announce its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December in early April.