Competitive socialising brand Activate has signed for a 12,700 sq ft site at Metrocentre in Gateshead.
The company, which opened its first site at The O2 in London in December, is set to open a further location in Leicester this summer with a fourth site on London’s Oxford Street to open in the autumn.
The immersive, tech-led group gaming attraction launched in Canada in 2017 and was brought to the UK by experiential leisure group We Do Play.
Rich Beese, co-founder of We Do Play, said: “We welcomed 50,000 fun seekers through the doors of the first Activate at London’s O2 in the first six weeks of opening, making this location the number one best-performing Activate out of 60 in North America, Canada and Dubai, and it is already ranked at number five on Tripadvisor’s ‘fun activities and games in London’ with all five-star reviews.
“And we are thrilled to be announcing three new openings with Newcastle’s Metrocentre leading the way with a summer launch. Metrocentre felt like the perfect location for Activate’s first launch outside of London, already home to a fantastic variety of leisure concepts. The team at this incredible retail, leisure and entertainment destination are great to work with and we can’t wait to bring Activate to the North East. We just know that families and fun seekers in the region are going to love it!
“Leicester and London’s Oxford Street will follow hot on the heels of the Metrocentre launch – and we have more openings planned later this year. Activate is going to be the biggest competitive socialising experience to launch in the UK in 2025!”
Ben Cox, director at Sovereign Centros from CBRE, asset manager of Metrocentre, added: “Activate is unlike anything we currently have at Metrocentre, or indeed anything that exists in the North East, so it will offer a real point of difference to a destination that already dominates its region.
“We know there is growing demand from our visitors for more competitive socialising concepts and Activate is the perfect operator to deliver a dynamic and unique experience, one that at the moment can only be found in London. Our ability to appeal to an international operator, taking their team on that critical first journey outside London, only highlights Metrocentre’s position as a ‘must-have’ destination in the North East for the best brands.”
