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Mellors Group taking over the park operations

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Themeparksandy1981

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The Mellors group which own Fantasy Island and other uk attractions and rides have set up a business call Drayton Manor Operations

MELLORS NEWCO LIMITED overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK

MELLORS NEWCO LIMITED - Free company information from Companies House including registered office address, filing history, accounts, annual return, officers, charges, business activity
beta.companieshouse.gov.uk beta.companieshouse.gov.uk
Reading more into it the Bryans still own
Drayton Manor Park Limited
Drayton Manor Park catering Limited
Drayton Manor Park Hotel Limited

Where the Mellors group own
Drayton Manor Operations limited
93210 - Activities of amusement parks and theme parks

93210 code
Amusement park activities
Switchback
Preserved railway operation
Fun fair
Fortune telling (fairground)
Fairground activities
Coconut shy
Amusement park shows, theme exhibits and picnic grounds
Amusement park mechanical rides, water rides, games
Theme park operation

So like Merlin who own the Attractions at Alton Towers but not the land will pay Drayton rent to put there attractions on the park and run Drayton current ride line up also and in return will get a % of the entry tickets sold.

So from next year we could be seeing new attractions around the park
 
It’s an interesting development - however I do have mixed feelings about it. Whilst it’ll be great to see new attractions come to the Park, Mellors have invested a lot in “temporary” rides at Fantasy Island since 2016, something which I can’t see fitting Drayton Manor’s surroundings. I could be wrong, as they’ve also invested a lot in permenant rides/ attractions (the Fantasy Island Pyramid looks spectacular) and some of their “temporary” rides do look good. But, if it secures the future of Drayton Manor then I’m more than happy for something to come. I’d rather see new rides come every now and then rather than a consistent timeline of ride removals.

It’s still good to see that the Bryan family will still be owning the land, as I’d imagine they’ll have input into the types of rides they want from Mellors.
 
Obviously the above is all just speculation, I’d rather wait for an official statement if anything happens in the future. It would be wrong to speculate and as the rumour mill then churns and people could start getting anxious about jobs, life is difficult enough at the moment with the global pandemic etc.

Maybe as a community we should be respectful and wait for any official statements?
 
Alex89 said:
Obviously the above is all just speculation, I’d rather wait for an official statement if anything happens in the future. It would be wrong to speculate and as the rumour mill then churns and people could start getting anxious about jobs, life is difficult enough at the moment with the global pandemic etc.

Maybe as a community we should be respectful and wait for any official statements?
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I do agree with you. I’ve just taken a guess with facts that are already out there and made my own prediction as to what may happen.
 
I've just seen rumours on twitter about this and came straight on here to see if there was anything.

Very interesting stuff!

I just hope this doesn't turn the place into fair ground attractions and drayton keeps its charm ?
 
I would be very very shocked if the Bryan family were to sell Drayton Manor! That said the park does need some extra investment in new rides and the last few months have been absolutely shocking and saddening for them.

I believe Drayton Manor are looking to source out staffing operations which is a big bloat on the finances to a company who have knowledge of doing this cheaply. Which in all honestly Mellors are good at cutting operation costs down. Also looking at the FANTASY ISLAND OPERATIONS LIMITED is a the exact structure for DRAYTON MANOR OPERATIONS LIMITED. Which only deals with staff nothing else. No rides, no restaurants, no games and no retails units. So it looks like Drayton Manor are maybe contracting out staffing to Mellors. A lot of big companies do it to cut costs and having to deal with pensions, NI contributions, Apprentice Levy and other things. It allows the main company running the company to free up funds for further investments. Even the Royal Palaces do it using Serco or G4S. Could be a positive for the park! My only worry is the staff could become well... a problem for Drayton as they could be underpaid and feeling undervalued reflecting on the customers as well... crap.

Do I think Mellors are taking over Drayton, errr no! Drayton Manor and it's sub companies are more than twice the size of Mellors. Also the debt ratio for the companies are pretty similar. If it was to happen the debt of Mellors would be crippling to manage! We would be talking in the hundreds of thousands a month to manage the debt which would be scary! What if Brexit went bad? What if we have a recession in 2 years time? Another lockdown next year? My point here is that we could see an implosion of both parks with that level of debt to service. So I really doubt a takeover which I've seen people talk of.

Also to note some debts (Mortgages) have been settled/matured by the Bryan Family this year. With the park taking out a few more after that, maybe for investment purposes? Who knows!

Although this is all speculation so we will all have to wait and see whether an announcement is made in the next coming weeks and months. All I hope is that Drayton Manor is safe and secure we don't want another American Adventure on our hands!
 
jjwitton said:
I would be very very shocked if the Bryan family were to sell Drayton Manor! That said the park does need some extra investment in new rides and the last few months have been absolutely shocking and saddening for them.

I believe Drayton Manor are looking to source out staffing operations which is a big bloat on the finances to a company who have knowledge of doing this cheaply. Which in all honestly Mellors are good at cutting operation costs down. Also looking at the FANTASY ISLAND OPERATIONS LIMITED is a the exact structure for DRAYTON MANOR OPERATIONS LIMITED. Which only deals with staff nothing else. No rides, no restaurants, no games and no retails units. So it looks like Drayton Manor are maybe contracting out staffing to Mellors. A lot of big companies do it to cut costs and having to deal with pensions, NI contributions, Apprentice Levy and other things. It allows the main company running the company to free up funds for further investments. Even the Royal Palaces do it using Serco or G4S. Could be a positive for the park! My only worry is the staff could become well... a problem for Drayton as they could be underpaid and feeling undervalued reflecting on the customers as well... crap.

Do I think Mellors are taking over Drayton, errr no! Drayton Manor and it's sub companies are more than twice the size of Mellors. Also the debt ratio for the companies are pretty similar. If it was to happen the debt of Mellors would be crippling to manage! We would be talking in the hundreds of thousands a month to manage the debt which would be scary! What if Brexit went bad? What if we have a recession in 2 years time? Another lockdown next year? My point here is that we could see an implosion of both parks with that level of debt to service. So I really doubt a takeover which I've seen people talk of.

Also to note some debts (Mortgages) have been settled/matured by the Bryan Family this year. With the park taking out a few more after that, maybe for investment purposes? Who knows!

Although this is all speculation so we will all have to wait and see whether an announcement is made in the next coming weeks and months. All I hope is that Drayton Manor is safe and secure we don't want another American Adventure on our hands!
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It doesn't look like a full takeover. Possibly 50/50?!
 
It doesn't look to be 50/50. It's just DMP are passing over the staffing/operations for Mellors to run. In principle it makes sense. It could prove pivotal to DMP working towards long term investment into the park as they can focus on that element of the park more than dealing with operations.
 
Alex89 said:
Obviously the above is all just speculation, I’d rather wait for an official statement if anything happens in the future. It would be wrong to speculate and as the rumour mill then churns and people could start getting anxious about jobs, life is difficult enough at the moment with the global pandemic etc.

Maybe as a community we should be respectful and wait for any official statements?
Click to expand...

I agree entirely with this. Supporting the parks should be the main priority, not throwing unnecessary speculation into the rumour mill. Until an official statement is released, nothing is confirmed.
 
With rumours of them going for administration, I really hope it isn't the end especially on there 70th birthday.
Screenshot_20200802-210455_Twitter.jpg
 
Monkeynips said:
That does seem really promising then! ? I would generally feel sad if it went.

Looks like the mellor merger or takeover is happening then.
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Please be aware that there is currently a lot of factually incorrect rumours floating around about Drayton, including some of those above. Please be respectful of those that work for the park and wait for any official statements from the park.
 
Alex89 said:
Please be aware that there is currently a lot of factually incorrect rumours floating around about Drayton, including some of those above. Please be respectful of those that work for the park and wait for any official statements from the park.
Click to expand...
Oh yes of cause, but if the above email is to go by, there seems to be nothing to worry about and they clearly look after the staff by not only informing them, but reassuring them.
 
Anyone wondered that Drayton Manor may have just entered a CVA (Company voluntary arrangement) rather than administration? I know a lot of people go crazy without reading the detail first! It's a fairly new thing but allows further time to restructure and delay further payments. Would make ideal sense for DMP to do this rather than administration of the whole park as the company has satisfied a number of debts this year. This shows that management have a good and clear record of paying it's debts so I would imagine CVA.

If any part of the Drayton Manor was to go into administration it would certainly be DRAYTON MANOR PARK HOTELS LIMITED, that debt ratio is high. So it could be the hotel operations only, which would make perfect sense as the main holding company would reduce it's overall debt ratio by about 60%. Just my thoughts anyway.

Just hope all the staff are looked after and that the Bryan family are looked after too. Great family and staff would be a great shame to lose that!
 
I hope the worst doesn’t happen and that they can eventually come back stronger. I’m no expert but I feel like new thrill rides would help bring the crowds in and get it back to what it once was. Leave Thomas Land alone for a second because that’s great as it is (and for the love of god, no more spinning rides), in an ideal world put some money into revamping a new pirate adventure ride because I know a lot of people miss that ride and will come just for that if it ever returns. Who knows how things will pan out for Drayton over the next few months but I think they’ve put a little too much focus on Thomas Land and neglected the rest of the park. They need to do something my because as attached as I am to the place even the 4 for £90 ticket doesn’t seem like good value at present. I felt releived that I had used Clubcard vouchers to pay for our visit last week, we had a great day but not £90 (or £125 on the day) worth of great.
 
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