Leading nursery groups continue to grow

Three nurseries belonging to Playtime Nurseries Group have been acquired by All About Children.

Victoria and Craig Robson opened the first Playtime nursery in Shepperton in 2008. Their second and third sites followed in 2013 and 2015 in Staines and Wandsworth.

Having acquired all three Playtime Nurseries, which are registered to provide places for 224 children between them, All About Children now owns 25 settings across London and the south of England.

Playtime Nurseries has been bought by All About Children

Russell Ford, co-founder and director of All About Children, said, ‘This is a lovely acquisition for us, and I’d like to thank Victoria and Craig for making the sale process as straightforward as possible. They’ve done a wonderful job in creating three fantastic settings, and we’re delighted that they chose us to take them forward. Our plan has always been to build a group of premium “flagship nurseries”, and our biggest challenge has always been to find the right settings. We’ve been lucky enough to find eight over the last nine months and are excited to have found another three exceptional nurseries.’

Victoria and Craig Robson added, ‘We felt that All About Children would be the perfect fit to take over our nurseries and we wanted to wish them the best of luck moving forward.’

The sale was handled by business property adviser Christie & Co.

KIDS PLANET

Meanwhile Kids Planet Day Nurseries has acquired two more nurseries, taking the number of nurseries it owns to 25.

It has acquired Childsplay nursery in Merseyside, Liverpool, (right) through agents Redwoods Dowling Kerr.

Childsplay of Liverpool was established in 1988, and owners Liz and Steve Edwards took over in 2001. The nursery is rated Good by Ofsted and offers 88 registered places.

Mr and Mrs Edwards, who are retiring, said, ‘We are happy to have passed our reins on to such a likeminded, quality childcare group Kids Planet'.

Jenna Caldwell, head of childcare at Redwoods Dowling Kerr, said, 'The sale of Childsplay of Liverpool is further testament to the current demand we are experiencing for good quality nurseries in the North West of England.'

The second acquisition for the group is Frodsham Happy Bunnies, which provides 85 places in a pub conversion. The nursery was designed by the previous owner Susan Hammonds, who is retiring. The sale was handled by agents Christie & Co.

Sofia Beck, childcare business agent at Christie & Co, said, ‘We are delighted to be able assist with the growth of Kids Planet and their continued expansion.’

Clare Roberts, chief executive of Kids Planet, said she was ‘thrilled’ with the acquisitions, with both nurseries having ‘great facilities and high standards of care’, and both sitting ‘perfectly in terms of geography’ with the group's other settings in the North West.

Kids Planet, the 13^th largest UK chain and top of the Nursery Chains quality table last year, is expected to double its number of nurseries in the next five years.