A BUSINESS whose mission is “to get people climbing” is scaling new heights
thanks to remarkable growth and expansion.
Lakeland Climbing Centres – which has eight climbing walls in London and three in
the North-West of England – has recently been named in the UK’s top 100 fastest
growing companies by The Sunday Times.
The business whose roots lie in a social enterprise set up in Kendal, Cumbria, was
created from a derelict creamery 30 years ago, and recorded annual sales growth of
58% over the past three years. Sales hit £9.5 million in the 12 months up to May
2024.
Born in Morecambe and brought up in Bowness-on-Windermere in the English Lake
District, home to many famous outdoor climbers, former banker Jeremy Wilson
founded The Lakeland Climbing Centre in 1995.
He set up the social enterprise, driven by a passion for climbing and a vision to
create a community-focused company that would encourage more people to enjoy
the sport.
Lakeland Climbing Centres now boasts 11 indoor climbing centres, eight of them
across London, as well as in Kendal, Lancaster and Preston. “On a busy day we will
have 8,000 people through all the centres,” said Jeremy.
The business is continuing its expansion by taking over and refurbishing existing
indoor climbing walls – Rainbow Rocket in Cambridge, Big Rock Bond and Hub in
Milton Keynes and The Beacon in Caernarfon, North Wales. There are immediate
plans for a new wall in Cambridge and an expansion of the bouldering floors at The
Beacon. The business expansion is supported by the company’s accountants Brown
and Co.
Jeremy says there are more growth options around the country and in particular with
existing walls where the owners have grown fabulous local climbing communities but
are ready to hang up their climbing shoes and earn a well-deserved retirement.
Jeremy’s passion for climbing, commitment to communities, clarity of vision and his
astute business sense – he travelled the world as the Global Vice Chairman of JP
Morgan’s Energy Division – make a compelling combination for business success.
He puts Lakeland Climbing Centres’ sustainable and impressive growth, however,
down to a simple three-part ethos:
- Happy customers
- Happy staff – 250 of them across the business
- And enough money to reinvest in our climbing walls
The indoor climbing centres appeal to a diverse, inclusive customer base, ranging
from young children to older adults, and ensure that individuals of all ages and
abilities can enjoy the physical and mental benefits of indoor climbing.
As an alternative to traditional gyms, indoor climbing offers a full-body workout that
improves strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular health.
Additionally, the mental challenges of climbing, such as problem-solving and focus,
contribute to improved cognitive function and stress relief.
These health benefits have made indoor climbing an appealing option for individuals
seeking a holistic approach to fitness and well-being.
Jeremy credits the first site in Kendal to Kate Phillips, whose leadership, energy and
enthusiasm got the wall up and running while Jeremy provided the finance and
interference from his city job. When one of the senior managers at Kendal – Tom
Hull -moved to London in 2013, he found a property under the arches near Vauxhall
Railway Station and set up VauxWall. The seeds were sown for expansion in the
capital which would catapult the business to new heights with London ahead of the
climbing wave.
Today Lakeland Climbing Centres is the biggest operator in London with eight walls,
double the amount of the next biggest.
The climbing landscape has completely changed over Lakeland Climbing Centres’
30 years of existence.
“When we started in Kendal in 1995, climbing in the Lake District was mostly done
by men who were perfectly happy in dusty, grungy old buildings. Most of them only
came to climb indoors in winter or when it was raining to keep fit and moaned that
they weren’t outdoors. I know as I was one of them!
“Today indoor climbing walls are an interesting alternative to the gym. It’s good
exercise in smart bright spaces.
“In our London centres you will often get one person climbing and five or six people
standing next to them talking about climbing. This is in a city where people are
known not to speak to strangers. London can be a very lonely place. But go to a
climbing wall and it’s a social hub where you have all got that common interest.
Climbing is a great connector for people.
“There’s all demographics there, all ages from three upwards. We are getting kids off
their screens. Kids are my oxygen, we subsidise organisations like the Venture
Scouts, and if anyone says to me we shouldn’t be growing the business like we are, I
point to the number of young people who are getting into climbing and the benefits
that brings them and society as a whole.
“At the other end of the age range, I was at our Kendal wall the other day and there
was an 84-year-old climbing who told me he was pleased to be enjoying climbing
with his young mates of 77 and 76!
“It’s a sport which equally attracts men and women. It’s a great leveller of the sexes.
On slabby routes it’s all about balance, flexibility, finesse, and grace, and women
tend to be better than men on those routes. On the steeper stuff, women can match
the men on their power to weight ratio.
“Physically it’s an all-body work-out – particularly core strength and muscle tone.
Good for flexibility and endurance and power, and it’s dynamic when jumping for
holds.
“Mentally, the NHS have recognised it as huge benefit to mental welfare. It totally
focuses your mind on what you are doing and it relieves stress.”
Costs of materials to kit out, maintain and refurbish the climbing walls have gone up
considerably. But Jeremy is determined to keep it as a sport which is accessible to
all.
“We don’t want cost to be a barrier which stops someone going climbing. Once or
twice a week at each centre we have Magic Time where we subsidise price points so
that it’s £8 to climb. They are on different days at different centres which gives
people an option to climb more than once a week.”
Even though outdoor climbing continues to grow in popularity – so does indoor
climbing and there’s no evidence that the latter is a stepping stone to the former.
“About 80 per cent of our customers in London have little interest in going outdoor
climbing,” said Jeremy.
Proof, if any were needed, that Lakeland Climbing Centres is absolutely achieving
the mission it set, when it first set up its social enterprise, to “get people climbing”.
Indoor climbing is a sport in itself. Paris was its second Olympics. There’s also a
World Series of Indoor Climbing. And Britain has indoor climbing role models such
as gold medallists Toby Roberts and Erin McNeice.
“Britain punches above its weight when it comes to the Olympics and world titles
which helps a lot when it comes to inspiring people to get into climbing,” said Jeremy.
There are three forms of competition:
- Speed climbing – fastest person to complete the route – the least popular of
the three disciplines but a good spectator sport; - Bouldering – no ropes no harnesses – four problem routes that are 4-metre
climbs and you have to solve how to climb each one – if you fall you land onto a
crash mat; - Lead climbing – A 15-metre long route which gets progressively harder,
winner is the person who reaches the highest up the wall;
“It is a mainstream sport now. At least one million people regularly climb indoors.
More people go indoor climbing than play tennis, for example. Yet we don’t get the
media coverage. The BBC will cover Wimbledon for two weeks and there’s tennis on
TV all year round but you would struggle to find anything about indoor climbing on
TV. I wish our mainstream news and sports channels would do more to cover
climbing,” said Jeremy.
Jeremy is also a partner in The Depot Climbing Centres, which recently opened
Britain’s largest Centre in Wythenshawe, south Manchester. Costing several million
pounds, this sets a new benchmark for modern climbing facilities and has recently
hosted the British lead and bouldering championships. Amazingly you can visit and
rub shoulders with some of the worlds’ best climbers who train there.
Aged 60, Jeremy has also climbed outdoors all around the world, still climbs twice a
week indoors and outdoors and ranks The Lake District as his favourite climbing
area. Overseas, he is proud of climbing The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley
back in the 80s, and putting up a new route on Chomochior, a 6,500 metres peak in
the Himalayas – but he is most proud of all the people who climb today who might
not have done so without the new centres that his team have built.
For more information, https://lakelandclimbingcentres.co.uk/