Family First nursery group grows to 30 settings
Katy Morton
Friday, October 29, 2021
The rapidly growing nursery group Family First has acquired a chain of settings in Essex and two standalone sites, taking its number of nurseries to 30.
The group, which was established two years ago, has bought the Just Imagine chain of five settings in Colchester, Maldon, Vange and Wickford, along with Rosewood Montessori in Ruislip and the Fount Nursery in Hackney.
The deals, brokered by Christie & Co, take Family First to 30 nurseries, offering a total of 1,786 places.
Ollie Humphries, chief executive of Family First, said, ‘We are on a mission to become the best quality childcare provider in the country and have been seeking like-minded businesses or ones where there is opportunity for further growth in nursery places. Our latest acquisitions underline our desire to continue adding quality locations to our growing portfolio of brands.’
Director of operations and childcare Dianne Lumsden-Earle added, ‘I’m delighted to welcome the teams and families from our new nurseries to Family First.’
Expanding groups
The Monkey Puzzle franchise and Cranbook Nursery group are also expanding, with new sites on Fairview Homes’ developments in London.
Monkey Puzzle is to run the setting based at the housing development in Charlton, South East London, while Cranbook Nursery will operate the setting at Park Royal in West London.
This will be Cranbook Nursery’s sixth setting, while the Monkey Puzzle Franchise now has more than 70 nurseries.
Sophie Willcox, director at Christie & Co who handled the lettings, said, ‘As the number of new build housing developments increases around the UK, it’s not uncommon to see purpose-built nursery settings such as these come to the market. With further flexibility around working conditions, I expect close-to-home settings such as these, as opposed to nurseries closer to office spaces, to become more popular with parents in the region.’
