The Wave - inland surfing facility near Pilning Station

[whole diary]

[Western Pathfinder]

Sadly the news reaches me that The Wave just up the road from Pilning has had to close,
as it's having financial difficulties,it shut yesterday at no notice ,hopefully some fix can be found ......

[grahame]

Sadly the news reaches me that The Wave just up the road from Pilning has had to close,
as it's having financial difficulties,it shut yesterday at no notice ,hopefully some fix can be found ......

On dear - BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) report

Inland surfing lake closes over financial dispute

A popular inland surfing lake has been closed because of a row over finances.

The Wave, on the outskirts of Bristol, shut suddenly on Thursday and cancelled bookings, with most of its website inoperable.

Majority owners Sullivan Street Partners claimed the closure followed problems surrounding the bankruptcy of a director of another funding partner, JAR Wave. The BBC has approached the firm for comment.

A statement from the majority owners said: "The Wave Group team apologises unreservedly for any upset caused and is doing its best to ensure the situation can be remedied."

[johnneyw]

Let's hope it's just a case of one of the partnership throwing their toys out of the pram.  Nothing I've seen as yet specifically says that it's gone bust....but I might have missed something, I was quite busy yesterday.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Yes, they've gone bust.

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Future of sold surfing lake remains uncertain



The future of an inland surfing lake remains uncertain as the facility is sold amid a row over finances.

The Wave, on the outskirts of Bristol, shut suddenly on Thursday and cancelled bookings after being placed into technical insolvency.

CEO^▸ (Chief Executive Officer) Hazel Geary announced on Friday evening the site, under the entity Surf Bristol Limited, had been sold to a company called Sea Level Wave Company Ltd.

Negotiations had been taking place with the aim of reopening the facility on Saturday, but the BBC understands those have broken down at the last minute.

Majority owners Sullivan Street Partners claimed the closure followed problems surrounding the bankruptcy of a director of another funding partner, JAR Wave.

The BBC has approached the firm for comment.

There is no clarity as yet for customers and potentially as many as 200 employees of The Wave as to what happens next.

Ms Geary said the site now cannot operate and The Wave Group, owners of the surf park, is unable to "facilitate a smooth handover due to the significant conflicts".

The website is inoperable and Ms Geary claims her access to all digital assets have been blocked, including emails, documents and social media accounts.

In a statement, The Wave Group said these actions have "removed the business from the investors and staff that have built and grown the park". It added: "Whilst this is very disappointing to lose a managed site in this way, we are mostly sorry for the upset the actions of others have caused for Wavemakers and clients of The Wave.  We march on and are determined to continue our mission to deliver an amazing inland surf experience for all."

The company says it remains on track to open a separate namesake site in London in 2027 and also has "several other opportunities under development".

Negotiations regarding the immediate future of the The Wave in Bristol are continuing.

[eightonedee]

Investigations at Companies House show that Surf Bristol Ltd is a subsidiary of another company that went into administration last month owing nearly £15,000,000 to yet another company that seems to have lent this to fund the construction of the facility. The administrators' initial proposals indicate that they doubt the business can be sold as a going concern, so it's likely to end up as a sale of whatever assets can be sold and a big write-off for someone. Sullivan Street Partners don't seem to have anything like such a substantial stake in anything. Insofar as anything can be discerned from the abbreviated statutory accounts they have filed (because they are too small to have to file full accounts), they only seem to have a net asset value of £100k, a drop in the ocean (or surf park?) compared to the financial interest of others involved.

Anyone know of a use for an inland surf park, and with a few million to spare to see if it works?   

[Chris from Nailsea]

An update, from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Surfing lake to reopen after sudden closure



An inland surfing lake is set to reopen after suddenly closing its doors and being sold to new owners.

The Wave, on the northern edge of Bristol, shut with immediate effect on Thursday and was placed into technical insolvency. It was announced on Friday evening that the site had been sold to another company, with the hope of reopening on Saturday - though this failed to happen.

On Monday evening it was confirmed on social media that surfers would be allowed to return on Tuesday.

A spokesperson said: "We are so excited to let you all know that we will be reopening our doors. We want to thank all our wonderful community for the outpouring of love and support over the last days."

In a statement posted online, The Wave confirmed that the facility would open at 06:30 BST "with all wave sessions [to] run as scheduled".

The reopening also means that the English Para Surfing Open competition will be able to go ahead as planning on 2-3 July, the company said.

About 200 staff had been left with cancelled bookings and an uncertain future after the sudden closure of the site.

The complex, which opened in 2019, cost £26m to build and can generate up to 1,000 waves an hour of different intensity.

When The Wave closed on Thursday, then-CEO^▸ (Chief Executive Officer) Hazel Geary said the decision had "not been driven by operational failure or lack of customer demand - but for a financial technicality completely unrelated to commercial matters".

Julian Topham, who founded and runs Boardmasters surf festival, is now running the site during a "transition period".