Chesterfield Escape Rooms set to celebrate one-year anniversary after becoming one of best in the UK

Chesterfield Escape Rooms, based on Soresby Street, has become one of the highest rated escape rooms in the country in just under a year.

Nick Hogan, founder and owner of Chesterfield Escape Rooms, said: “What a year after opening in the middle of a pandemic. We have had 10,000 players and unbelievably achieved the number one escape room in the UK according to TripAdvisor. Our intention was to get into the top 50 but to achieve the number one spot among 800 other escape rooms is a real coup.”

Nick also explained how pleased he was to offer something unique and modern for visitors to Chesterfield’s historic town centre. He said: “I for one am delighted to have opened in the town centre, giving something back to the town I have called home for 20 years.

“We believe in the region of 30% of our players have come from outside of town and most will stay for drinks and food elsewhere, therefore contributing to the wider hospitality sector. When we opened in May 2021, our building was unused and pretty derelict, so it’s great to see something vibrant shine from something so run down.”

In addition, the Escape Rooms has helped boost the Chesterfield Games Quarter, featuring VR and retro gaming for visitors alongside Geeks HQ, which hosts regular trading card tournaments and board game events.

Nick said: “The Games Quarter is quite unique in that it’s a collaboration of four local businesses coming together in one space to offer lots of different gaming requirements. We have started offering cross-business party packages for groups of varying sizes which have proved so popular so far.

“In the early days of opening, there was a government employment scheme called Kickstart and I focused very much on this. I initially employed six Kickstarters, who were people under the age of 24 who had been unemployed for over six months.

“12 months later, four ex-Kickstarters are now on our payroll as permanent employees. We have employed over 30 people so far since opening and every one of them has contributed to our success – I can’t thank them enough.”

Nick is encouraging people in Chesterfield and beyond to keep an eye on further developments at the Games Quarter and Escape Rooms, with further plans to refresh the attractions to keep people coming back for more.

He said: “We try to refresh the games as often as possible, and have had five in operation over the year. We are also considering adding at least one new title this year, as well as a new Christmas game from November.

“For those people that have played all of our physical rooms, maybe it’s time to try some of our state of the art Virtual Reality rooms – these are proving very popular and getting rave reviews.”

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