Junkyard Golf Club invests £2m in second London venue

Manchester-based Junkyard Golf Club is opening a new location in London in a £2m investment.

The business has targeted Camden for its second London site, its seventh in total across the country, and said it is also targeting the US in its expansion plans.

The Camden site, located at the former Shaka Zulu restaurant in the heart of Camden Market, will see the company refurbish the 19,500 sq ft venue, making it their biggest to date, and creating 100 jobs.

Managing director, Sam Jones, said: “We look forward to opening Junkyard Golf Club in a fantastic location in Camden, right beside the iconic bridge in one of London’s best cultural hotspots for music, art, and history.

“Camden will be home to our largest venue, where we can offer our immersive, crazy golf experience to the 100,000 visitors that Camden attracts each weekend.”

The company is also investing £500,000 in refurbishment work at its venues.

Mr Jones said: “Junkyard Golf Club began as a pop-up in 2015 and at the time we genuinely believed we would only be hosting the pop-up experience for about three weeks.

“Seven years, six locations and one pandemic later, it’s obvious we’re here to stay. We are always reviewing our brand position, but this year felt the right time to review our branding and marketing strategy in a way that reflects where we are heading as a company and to strengthen the message that we evolve and stay relevant to our customers.”

Junkyard Golf Club is also a Real Living Wage employer, meaning its hourly pay structure has increased by 8.1% in London and 10.1% across the rest of the country. The long term investment in its people is based on its values and belief that a team with good compensation and working conditions is best placed to provide the best experience for their guests.

In a further commitment to supporting careers with the company, Junkyard Golf Club has invested £200,000 in a new team training programme, more than doubling the annual training budget.

Leigh Caroll, learning and development manager, said: “Investing in the career development of our teams is core to our people policy, and as part of this programme we spent six weeks on the road training every team across the country on the values of Junkyard Golf Club and putting guests at the heart of the experience.

“Introducing eight new modules to focus on brand advocacy and standards, it is vital for us to reconnect with our teams following the impact of COVID, and to bring everyone together as a reminder to have fun at work, while building aspirations for our teams to develop their careers within hospitality.”

At the start of 2022, the business committed to becoming Certified Carbon Neutral by the end of the year.

It has reduced emissions by 38%. This was achieved through several initiatives, including sourcing electricity from renewable energy providers, and removing single-use plastic cups.

In 2019, Junkyard Golf Club emitted 1,611 tonnes of carbon, which has been reduced to 998 tonnes in 2022.

Sam Jones said: “Committing to reducing our emissions is an important topic for Junkyard Golf Club and the industry we work in. In response to feedback from our team, we all felt that this was the right path to follow and progress further in.

“We are incredibly proud to announce that Junkyard Golf Club is now a Certified Carbon Neutral company, and we will continue to find ways in which to reduce our carbon footprint across all our sites, with next year’s goal to become a zero waste to landfill brand.“