Origins
business. “Being in Amersham and seeing employees of the business, we didn’t want to be embarrassed because we’d let them down with the sale process,” says Duncan, “and although we don’t own the business I think we still have a legitimate sense of pride and connection.” The ownership Board meets regularly and Duncan says there is a genuine warmth and excitement about the business. He questions whether that would be true had the family chosen a different exit route.
The Entertainer was founded in Amersham in 1981 by Duncan’s parents Gary and Catherine Grant when they purchased The Pram and Toy Bar and rebranded it as The Entertainer. By the time Duncan and his brother Stuart joined the business in the early 2000s, the company was trading from 35 stores, generating around £40 million revenue. A period of expansion followed with the formation of Addo Play (2015) and the acquisition of Early Learning Centre (2019). By 2025, the company had grown to 1,000 stores across Europe and about £330 million revenue. It’s a period Duncan describes as “an exciting 20 years” of growth, but also adapting to changing economic and customer dynamics like the rise of the internet and e-commerce, rapidly rising costs, subdued consumer spending growth and, of course, the pandemic.
EOTs gained in popularity in 2014 when the Government introduced 100% relief from Capital Gains for owners selling a controlling interest (more than 50%) to an EOT. That 100% relief from CGT was halved in the Autumn budget 2025, meaning exits now attract Capital Gains at 12%. Companies controlled by an EOT can also pay bonuses to employees, free of income tax, of up to £3,600 a year. For family businesses with no immediate or obvious generational succession options, employee ownership – which shares many of the core values of putting people and the welfare of employees at the heart of decision making – is often cited as one way of securing a family legacy built over generations. “The more we researched the employee ownership model, the more it felt comfortable and the right place for our business to be,” says Duncan. “It is the ownership model most akin to family ownership. It doesn’t make
Pride
As the process of embedding the Entertainer as an EOT moves forward, Duncan is still very much involved with his new role as a Director of the Trust board that owns the company, ensuring it continues to thrive for its new employee owners. He also remains close to the business, physically, in Buckinghamshire – something that, in part, influenced how the family chose to exit the
We still have a huge love for the business and we’re still cheering it on from the sidelines. If you look on the high street, there are some amazing former family businesses that have managed to maintain their values and distinctiveness despite the commercial pressure. I hope that’s where the Entertainer will be in 50 years’ time.
running the business any easier, it doesn’t make tough commercial pressures go away or stop the need to make difficult decisions. But it can inform how you choose to implement decisions in a kind and caring way.”
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