The History of Active Hire (Leeds) Ltd
It all started in 1998, I was running a small car repair business in Yeadon with a friend Graham, we was doing ok and earning a living. Around the beginning of the year, me and my wife Julie found out we was having a 4th baby. When Me and Graham spoke about this at the garage, I said I could do with increasing my income with child No 4 on the way and we started joking around what we could do to earn some extra cash. With Graham having 2 young children and us having 4 the talk came around to hiring out bouncy castles and if it did no work we would have something for our kids to use. So we did a very small amount of research and off we went. The first purchase we made is the bouncy castle mans bread and butter 11ft x 15ft standard multi coloured castle. No roof, no pegs and no mats we had a lot to learn. We made the purchase from a company down in Armley, Leeds I think back then they was called Children's Leisure Products which after a few name changes and owners is still trading now from Morley Leeds as Better Bounce Direct. So we was off hiring our one castle out at £30 a day we no real knowledge of what we was doing but SLG Bouncy Castles was trading (Silver Lane Garage). We was learning as we went and I would never advise this way of doing things but we was one of only a very few hiring these things out there was no mass internet so information was a lot harder to get. In no time we was getting up to speed home made pegs, invested in a detachable rain cover and some safety mats improving as we went. So baby number 4 arrives in September of 1998 and we made a move from Cookridge to Yeadon, closer to the garage. At this time Graham and I decided to go our separate ways and has the garage was really his project when the partnership split he carried on with the garage and as part of our arrangement I got the bouncy castle. The move to Yeadon gave us a brick built shed so that formed our first storage unit and more PVC followed. Our 2nd asset was another 11 x 15 flat beam castle this time from Bradford Leisure Products. The flat beam allowed us to do indoor hires because of the lower ceiling height. The 3rd was a secondhand purchase of a very strong box castle and the 4th another 11 x 15 flat beam castle and 5th the first 12 x 15 inflatable slide. We was now an inflatable hire company working from a ram packed brick shed in the back garden but we was on the up. At this time we purchased our first family computer and started to explore the internet and have email. Soon we found the start up of the BIHA (British Inflatable Hire Association) late renamed Alliance for legal reasons and we became founder members. As part of our ever increasing learning curve we soon learnt the the Yellow Pages was the way to get business (no websites back then) and your position within the yellow pages mattered. It was a very expensive way to advertise more books more areas, more categories but it was the only way to go. So was was now a growing inflatable hire company with lots of other companies popping up we made the decision to change the company name to better reflect what we did and give us an advantage in the battle for better positioning in the yellow pages. We came up with Active Hire and after consultation with our Accountant Active Hire (Leeds) Ltd was incorporated and SLG Bouncy Castles was no more. It was just a name change in real terms all part of learning but we was still limited to the amount of units we could have because of the shed in the back garden. Things where still growing nicely so the purchases of more PVC was inevitable Gladiator Joust, Bouncy boxing and more slides. Storage was a problem borrowing space from friends and family as well as transport after using the family car and trailer for some time we now made to first van purchase. The Citroen berlingo was purchased from the auctions and a tow bar added so now we have the family car and trailer and the berlingo and trailer and we are not talking ifor williams box trailers these were home made wooden trailers. We still had the storage issues and it was getting worse with every purchase made so 2003 saw another house move staying in Yeadon but this time we have a garage :-) Very soon after moving in to the new house plans where drawn up for extensions this included the garage growing up and out but as always more space we had the more we expanded. At around this point Martin one of the lads that helped us on a weekend suggested he would like to invest and take us into the adult and corporate side of the market yes pubs, clubs and shopping centres. After some negotiations Martin became part of Active hire and we used the investment to buy our first rodeo bull and surf simulator a new chapter had started.
From 2003 and 2009 we was so busy it was unbelievable but we just reinvested and reinvested in more and more equipment with wider and wider choice. We moved out of the garage into our first rented unit at Green Lane Mill in Yeadon and soon outgrow that and added a lock up container at Coney park still busy still growing. The work meant it was 24/7 and all the family mucked in our girls was growing up quick and not just helping out they was part of the team. In 2007 we made a move to what was for us a big unit on a proper industrial estate down in Armley Leeds about 10 miles away from where we lived. This was a very good unit but again we filled it very quickly but the distance to our home with the hours we was working it was a big problem. So we move again back to Yeadon and Coney Park but this time not a container but a 3000 sq ft warehouse where we are still to this day even though we added 2000 sq ft mezadeen and 4 containers a office unit and a lean to its still our home. None stop hard work took its toll and in late 2009 Martin decided to leave to start his own business over in Cheshire. A big shock to the system we was just getting on top of everything and now I lost my main man and friend. The loss because of work and how I handled work was hard but we had to move on. It was a setback and a recession had just hit so thing where tough and on top of it 2010 we started the process of adding another bow to the Active Hire arsenal Rodeo Sales was born in house development and build of our very own ride simulators. An extra stress we could of probably done without but we never make things easy for ourselves. We found that Rodeo Sales took off really well after the launch in 2011. But Active Hire stood still or grew at a lot less pace than we was used to in the first 13 years. soon Rodeo Sales was booming and expanding its product range which also allowed Active Hire to grow and prosper with the newest most up to date items available. Now with a choice of over 200 different items in the range we was and still are leading the way in a ever growing leisure hire industry. We now have web sites online ordering and no more yellow pages the business is so different from when we started but has moved on beyond my capabilities without help. Kym to the rescue 2014 saw Kym come to take over the administration of the business. This was a lift the business needed at the right time for her and for us. At this time the old big garage at home had been converted into a office and Kym settled in and bringing her own systems and ways. We soon found the home office was not always perfect so we purchased a office unit and added it to the Coney park set up. 2014 also sees the start of a new business opportunity The Leisure Supplies Show. It was only meant to be a one off show case for rodeo sales products and March 2014 was the very first soon to be followed in October 2014 with number 2 and with that fixing our annual date slot of October 2015 and 2016 saw a show move and then again like the sister company did years before 2017 and 2018 saw another move and finally (probably) again in 2019 we find a new home for The Leisure Supplies Show at The Staffordshire Showground hopefully where we will stay for along time to come. so back to 2015 and the continued growth of Active Hire we are now building our own bespoke games and sourcing games from around the world with annual trips the world shows to make sure we have the best the newest and keep ahead of any market trends. Still growing but under Kyms now directorship we have first moved away from he back yard bouncy castles very much into the corporate and promotions market and as of 2018 even more away (but not completely) from the inflatable market. Now with bespoke rodeo bull rides all around the world and a good client base in the UK for our own branded games such as the market leading Roll A Ball Donkey Derby or the bit hit from Canada Strike A Light we are more than happy with the way things are moving. form one bouncy castle in a shed and a car in 1998 to 200+ items in a 6000 sq ft facility and a fleet of vehicles we and that is a big we because without hard work from all my family big mention to my wife, friend and business partner Julie this would not have been possible.
2020 started off so well but then Friday the 13th of March everything stopped for us and the whole world went bad. A week later we was in lock down and as of now 1st of June sat in the garden in the sunshine we have not earnt a penny. But as always we are holding tight and ready to go again as soon as is possible. We will quickly bounce back from this with hard work and determination that got us here in the first place.
Please check us out on Facebook, Instagram and twitter and as soon as all is clear call us on 0113 345 9252 or Email info@activehire.co.uk we will be here and ready.
Stay safe Stay well.
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