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The Wave surf pool at Bristol(Image: The Wave \/ ImageCabin)<\/p>\nBookings have been cancelled but its majority owners say they have a refinancing package<\/p>\n
16:14, 26 Jun 2025Updated 16:17, 26 Jun 2025<\/p>\n
The Wave surf pool at Bristol(Image: The Wave \/ ImageCabin)<\/p>\n
Britain\u2019s first inland surfing lake – The Wave, on the edge of Bristol – has closed suddenly and its website has stopped working after the company that runs it went into administration.<\/p>\n
Surfers with bookings for the popular facility have been told their bookings have been cancelled, and people trying to access the website have been met with a holding page saying the page they were looking for cannot be found.<\/p>\n
The majority owners of The Wave, which is located on the other side of the M5 near Cribbs Causeway north of Bristol, said the company had run into trouble because of the bankruptcy of a director of another funding partner, called JAR Wave.<\/p>\n
But Bristol Live has found issues and changes in who runs the facility dating back to April, ahead of the appointment of administrators, and the resignation from the board of the man who founded the project and created The Wave, Nick Hounsfield.<\/p>\n
Back in late April this year, the registered office of The Wave Group Ltd, the firm set up by Mr Hounsfield back in 2017, was moved from Bristol to London, and at the same time, the firm went into administration, with the appointment of Asher Miller and Stephen Katz from insolvency firm Begbies Traynor Group.<\/p>\n
That same week, Nick Hounsfield resigned his position as a director of the firm, and at the end of May, the firm\u2019s name was changed from The Wave Group to SBL Midco.<\/p>\n
Administrators published a 47-page report on May 22, detailing how The Wave had struggled to repay loans and financing it had brought in to cover the millions of pounds it cost to build the facility in the late 2010s. The facility opened in 2019 and a year later was hit by the Covid pandemic.<\/p>\n
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Nick Hounsfield, the founder of The Wave<\/p>\n
The administrators report outlined how, during May, the facility was effectively put up for sale, with new investors sought who could clear the Wave\u2019s debts.<\/p>\n
The report from BTG outlined the web of various companies set up to finance and re-finance the debt, and how different companies share around \u00a315 million of debt associated with The Wave.<\/p>\n
A month on from that first administrators\u2019 report, a rescue package had not been finalised in time, and a decision was taken to close down The Wave.<\/p>\n
A plan is now being put together to refinance The Wave, which would see it reopened soon, according to majority owners Sullivan Street Partners.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Wave Group team apologises unreservedly for any upset caused and is doing its best to ensure the situation can be remedied,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Wave Group, owners of the surf park in Bristol, has lined up a refinancing alongside its exciting London developments, which would see all creditors repaid in full within a week and is offering to continue to operate the park,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n
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