Britain’s ground-breaking inland surfing lake The Wave, near Bristol, has abruptly closed amid an alleged row over its finances
Its future remains uncertain having been placed into technical insolvency and sold.
Chief executive Hazel Geary announced on Friday evening the site, under the entity Surf Bristol Limited, had been sold to a firm called Sea Level Wave Company Ltd.
Negotiations had been taking place with the aim of reopening the facility on Saturday, but it is understood those broke down at the last minute.
Existing customer bookings have been cancelled and The Wave’s website is mostly down. No new bookings can be made at the popular inland surf destination.
The closure came with no warning, with surfers and users of the site booked in arriving to closed doors and an apology written on a sign.
Shut: The Wave in Bristol has abruptly closed amid an alleged row over its finances
When The Wave opened under founder Nick Hounsfield in 2019, it was at the forefront of the emergence of inland wave pools offering world-class surfing on mechanically generated waves to the public.
Majority owners Sullivan Street Partners claimed the closure followed problems surrounding the bankruptcy of a director of another funding partner, JAR Wave, according to BBC News.
A statement from the majority owners said: ‘The Wave Group team apologises unreservedly for any upset caused and is doing its best to ensure the situation can be remedied.’
The statement said The Wave Group, owners of the surf park, had ‘lined up a refinancing alongside its exciting London developments, which would see all creditors repaid in full within a week and is offering to continue to operate the park.’
Sullivan Partners said it invested £27million into The Wave in 2023, BBC News said.
Hazel Geary, chief executive of The Wave, said: ‘This decision has not been driven by operational failure or lack of customer demand – but for a financial technicality completely unrelated to commercial matters.’
Highlighting how suddenly the saga deteriorated, on Wednesday The Wave was posting on social media about an upcoming surf festival being held at the centre next month.
The Wave opened in 2019 and cost £26million to build. The unique complex could generate up to 1,000 waves per hour.
Since opening, the site provided surfing facilities for all abilities, catering for disabled visitors, total beginners and veteran surfers.
The Wave’s power supply stems from solar and battery storage and since 2019 the complex has welcomed 400,000 people.
Since 5 May, The Wave’s founder, Nick Houndsfield, has not been a director of the business.
The Wave was the fruit of the ambitions of Nick Hounsfield, a pioneering British entrepreneur who wanted to build a unique business that had a positive social impact, with improving health and wellbeing for surfers and non-surfers alike baked in.
Hounsfield did not come from a background in property or business, but was an osteopath, who started with £500 in his bank account and managed to raise £27million to build his dream.
The Wave can produce high quality expert waves for surfers like Lukas Skinner, pictured, as well as catering for beginners and intermediates
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