Expansion for Busy Bees and Liverpool nursery group
Friday, June 23, 2017
UK nursery chains are continuing to expand, despite rising inflation and looming economic uncertainty.
Liverpool-based Honey Pot Day Nurseries, which currently runs four nurseries in the city, has just acquired a fifth site following significant funding from Santander Business Banking.
Established in 2007 by husband and wife team Julie and Tony Hurst, Honey Pot remains a family-run business, with both daughters, Jenna and Melissa, involved in the day-to-day running of the nurseries.
The settings in Garston, Aigburth and Childwall in South Liverpool, and Bebington, Wirral, which are all graded outstanding by Ofsted.
With its four current nurseries at full capacity, Honey Pot has acquired a fifth site in Wavertree, comprising a former church and presbytery. The presbytery will be completely renovated and converted into premises suitable for a day nursery for up to 91 children, with a possibility that the church building might be converted into a holiday club or similar further down the line.
The opening of the new setting in September will provide jobs for 18 new employees.
Mrs Hurst said that the company was already receiving a high level of demand for places at the new Wavertree site.
‘We are thrilled to be able to purchase our new site in Wavertree,’ she said. ‘Opening our fifth nursery is a great milestone for our business, and it’s great to be in a position to respond to the demand for high quality childcare in and around Liverpool. The support from Santander has been exceptional and really helped us expand and invest for growth,’ Ms Hurst said.
Meanwhile, the largest UK group Busy Bees has acquired New Town Nurseries, two nurseries in Edinburgh (pictured right), bringing its total number of settings to 331.
New Town Nurseries, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, offers 140 places to children from birth to five years.
Earlier this year the Busy Bees acquired Treetops Nurseries, a chain of 61 settings that had been expanding steadily in recent years.
This latest acquisition takes Busy Bees to 19 nurseries across Scotland, where the group is keen to expand further.
Marg Randles, managing director of Busy Bees Childcare, said, ‘We are delighted to welcome New Town Nurseries into the Busy Bees family. As one of the longest established nurseries in Edinburgh, the brand has a fantastic reputation for providing quality childcare and we can’t wait to start working with such an exceptional well respected team.
‘We will be working very closely with the management team to understand the unique offering at each nursery and hopefully to share best practice but on a day to day basis it will be business as usual with the same staff providing the best opportunities for children.’
Yvonne and Billy McLellan, co-founders of New Town Nurseries, said, ‘We are delighted to hand over our treasured nurseries to a company with such a strong child-centred ethos. We know all the children, parents and staff are in excellent hands moving forward.’
