Great success as venue locks in 1,500 visitors

A newcomer to the Leeds city centre entertainment scene is on track to hit targets after welcoming 1,519 visitors in its first month.

Great Escape Game Leeds is set to reach its projected target of 50,000 visitors a year, according to creators of the concept, Hannah Duraid and Peter Lacole, who launched their first venture in Sheffield in 2014.

“Getting over 1,500 customers through the doors in our first weeks has proved our instincts and our research into the Leeds marketplace were correct,” said Hannah.

“We hit 27,000 visitors a year in Sheffield and we believed our target audience in Leeds was almost double that figure.”

Managing director Hannah has been mentored by the Leeds Entrepreneurial Spark hatchery, part of the world’s largest free business accelerator.

Their concept, similar to that of popular TV game show Crystal Maze, fuses scenarios from horror movies and detective dramas with live theatre and video challenges.

“We have a class offering for Leeds. Having studied games all over the UK, we believe we have created one of the most technologically advanced escape games in the country,” said Hannah, who discovered the exit room phenomenon when she and Peter travelled through Asia, where the concept originally evolved.

The Leeds venture has created 16 new jobs and another 24 could be employed as new rooms are added under expansion plans.

The young entrepreneurs are targeting the venue’s three fully-immersive escape rooms at the office Christmas party market, by which time a bar on the premises should have licensing approval.