Swingers to launch second concept as 'competitive socialising' sector soars
The company, which was founded in 2014 by Matt Grech-Smith and Jeremy Simmonds, intends to build on the popularity for competitive socialising in the UK, a category that grown rapidly in the capital over the past few years.
Its first venture was the Swingers pop-up, which ran for five months in Shoreditch and combined crazy golf with cocktails and street food. Following this, in 2016 the pair opened an 18,000sq ft permanent Swingers site in the City of London, comprising two nine-hole crazy golf courses, five bars and three street food vendors in an English country golf club setting.
A second Swingers opened in March 2018, in the former BHS flagship store in Oxford Circus. The 21,000sq ft English seaside themed venue has two nine-hole courses, four bars, four street food vendors. A third venue, in New York, is now believed to be in the pipeline.
The deal adds to Cain International’s portfolio of leisure and lifestyle assets, which include Mortimer House, a members’ club and premium co-working space and restaurant in Fitzrovia, and AllBright, a group of women’s members’ clubs in London and Los Angeles.
“Jeremy and Matt have pioneered the fast-growing competitive socialising leisure space,” says Jonathan Goldstein, CEO of Cain International. “They’ve developed an exciting, dynamic and highly profitable business with a much-loved brand in a short space of time.”
Other key players in the burgeoning competitive socialising sphere include Social Entertainment Ventures, which operates the ping-ping focused concept Bounce and rival golfing and dining format Puttshack. The first Puttshack opened in Westfield London in April this year.
Company founder Adam Breeden told BigHopsitality’s sister site MCA that he was aiming to have 75 sites across his Bounce, Flight Club USA and Puttshack brands within the next five years.
Hijingo!, a bingo concept developed by Breeden, and Rebel Bingo creator James Gordon, is also set to launch in the UK over the next 12 months.
In September, social darts concept Flight Club secured £15m of new growth funding to help it further expand its core darts-based brand. The group recently opened the first regional Flight Club, in Manchester, and is about to open a third in London’s Nova development in Victoria.
This month, what is being billed as the UK’s first dedicated immersive bingo hall opens in the capital. Dabbers Social Bingo will open in Houndsditch and will offer ‘a theatrical drinking, dining and entertainment experience involving world-renowned entertainment and flamboyant acts’ in a bid to reinvigorate this iconic British pastime.
