Deer farming isn’t quite as much fun as running a children’s adventure centre. So when John Martin-Smith flew his young family to Scotland with an eye on investing in the former, it was probably a good thing he came home with visions of elaborate slides and climbing frames instead.
Today, Fort Lucan in Dublin is a model of outdoor adventuring, with an emphasis on getting children to realise the fun that can be had in the great outdoors.
“I think most parents like the idea of their children doing something physical outside,” says general manager Gillian Martin-Smith, who took over from her father in 2007 – though he is still actively involved in the business.
“Kids might not admit it when they are playing their Xboxes but kids love playing with their friends and climbing up a high tower. In their minds, it’s a huge achievement, that’s part of the reason they love it,” she says.
Such simplicity of focus and execution has remained at the centre of Fort Lucan since it opened in 1993, about a year after John’s expedition to Scotland, in the belief that deer farming was the future for his 200 acres (most of which has since been sold).
'Bit of a struggle'
"He was farming and it was a bit of a struggle," says Gillian. "People were looking for different ways of making money. Deer farming was the rage at the time and he went over to Scotland to look at a farm."
But in one corner of the Scottish fields he visited, there lay a secret: an adventure centre and the source of the real income, his hosts told him.
Back home, “he put the word out in the village and people said it was exactly what was needed,” says Gillian.
The process – unknown here at the time – involved finding equipment and expertise from the UK, not to mention a seal of approval for the safety standards John insisted upon; he had to fly in his own inspectors.
No brightly lit amusements, the Fort is about traditional outdoor fun tucked behind the high wooden walls built by the Western Log Company from Wales.
This 5½ acre site has entertained more than one million children since opening – that’s about 50,000 a year.
“There was no competition. It was more of a challenge to get the word out about it and letting people know that it was there,” says Gillian. “After 3½ years, they realised it was going to have to be physically bigger.”
In came crazy golf and water slides. The original five strong-staff has grown to as many as 60 part-time, seasonal workers today. On a busy day, there would be 25 people working. Last year the park turned over €650,000.
Although Fort Lucan rose from the ashes of the 1980s recession, it was not spared the impact of our most recent downturn. In fact, it was dealt a double-blow. “We are very affected by the weather and, if you noticed, the bad weather coincided with the recession. So on top of people having no money, we had an awful lot of rain as well,” Gillian says.
Consequently, the business model shifted from one in which children were charged separately for additional attractions like crazy golf to one where an “all-in” wristband, valued at €18 today, includes everything. Adults are charged a €4 entrance fee.
“We never came close to closing down but definitely everything became very tight,” says Gillian.
Now with a burgeoning corporate client list, Fort Lucan is performing well. The camp noticed a rise in spending last year as a sign of an emergence from the gloom and Gillian’s expansion plans include a larger restaurant and more climbing equipment.
'Very conservative'
Banks have generally been restrictive in recent years but this has not been a major problem in Lucan.
“We would always have been very conservative in our expansions and that meant we didn’t have a lot of debt going into the recession.”
So the future is about growth – both physically and on the balance sheet – and with an eye on the original philosophy of what fun ought to look like.
“You can look at the children today running past you and one will be playing Star Wars and one will be playing princes and princesses, and they are all on the same slide,” says Gillian. “It’s old-fashioned. We wouldn’t adapt it; it’s so important.”
