A husband and wife team are hoping for a national roll out of their VR gaming centres following success at their first venue.
Rachel and Kaiyn Crooks have opened a second Gaming Hideaway in Bishop Auckland, just over a year after opening the inaugural site in Thornaby. The centre, based on Newgate Street in the County Durham town, gives gamers the chance to play the latest console games and virtual reality experiences, including racing car, machine gun and helicopter simulators, slides with rollercoaster experiences and a 360 degree virtual reality ride.
Mrs Crooks said the firm is now actively seeking additional sites around the region, as well as eyeing a potential UK roll out. It follows the success of the Gaming Hideaway Teesside, which opened just as the UK was coming out of lockdown. The couple were unsure how the entertainment complex would fare, having invested a six-figure sum and putting all their resources into it.
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However, the pair soon realised they’d hit upon a strong business format, frequently operating at 80% capacity, prompting them to look at growing the business by opening more venues across the region and possibly the wider UK.
Mrs Crooks said: “We are so pleased that we have been able to open the second Gaming Hideaway just over a year after opening our successful venue on Teesside. We have an even bigger space here in Bishop Auckland, including a café area that offers everything we do in Teesside - cakes, coffees and Tango Ice Blasts - but we also have a pizza oven, enabling families to spend even more time at the venue and make it into a real day out.
“We have installed fantastic artwork again with UV paint, which is stunning and adds to the futuristic atmosphere in the venue and we are looking forward to welcoming new customers from Bishop Auckland and the neighbouring towns and villages.”
The family chose Bishop Auckland for their next venture as Mrs Crooks used to live in a nearby village and wanted to be involved in trying to “bring some life back” into the town.
She added: “I have very happy memories from this part of the world and we’re proud to open our second venue here in Bishop Auckland. As well as opening a second venue that is double the size of our original venue here, we have made some improvements to our offering on Teesside.”
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