Merry Hill's Quest entertainment zone considers closure
The firm behind the loss-making Quest entertainment zone at the Merry Hill shopping centre has warned it may have to consider closing the £1.3 million project.
Opened just two years ago, it has failed to make a profit and operator Paragon Entertainment says 'performance continues to be challenging'.
The company, which builds visitor attractions like Titanic Belfast, the Wallace and Gromit ride at Blackpool Pleasure and the official Olympic Museum in Switzerland, has slashed the value of the Quest centre by another £420,000 to just £150,000 and warned that closure remains an option.
Paragon says it is also considering further investment or moving the location of the attraction, which includes rope walks, soft play areas, a jungle-gym assault course and a Nerf combat arena.
The Quest centre created 30 jobs when it first opened but now has just two full-time staff and a number of part-timers.
A company spokeswoman confirmed the company had been in talks with Merry Hill's new owners, the Intu group, but declined to comment on the nature or content of their discussions.
Paragon used the Quest centre to launch the Attractions arm of the its business in 2012. Previously it had simply built attractions for other firms to run. Quest was also seen as a show room and a test market to explore and develop new concepts.
In a trading statement yesterday, Paragon's chief executive Mike Pyrah said: "The group has continued to address the performance and profitability of Quest, and loss margins were successfully narrowed in the first half of 2014.
"Performance continues to be challenging, and management has impaired the value of this asset by a further £420,000 to a book value of £150,000. The performance of Quest Merry Hill is under regular review and management continues to consider all its options, including possible closure."
The lack of success at the Quest centre is one of the number of woes for Paragon at the moment. Although it has a record order book worth £12 million, it has seen its revenues drop by around £500,000 to £4 million over the last six months due to contact delays and also expects second half revenues to be lower than expected. As a result it is predicting and overall loss for the year of around £100,000.
Yesterday the firm said Mr Pyrah, one of its founders, is stepping down to become group sales and marketing director and concentrate on driving more growth. Vice chairman Mark Taylor takes over as executive chairman while the firm looks for a new CEO.
