Santa brings Lapland UK a £5m turnover
A FORMER hedge fund manager who has brought a theatrical, ‘immersive’ re-creation of Santa Claus’s homeland to Britain says he expects more than 60,000 visitors this Christmas and a £5 million turnover.
Mike Battle and his wife Alison opened Lapland UK after a Christmas outing with their four children left them deeply disappointed.
But their disenchantment convinced the couple there was a gap in the market.
He recalled their visit to a stately home where the Father Christmas was ‘a 22year-old with a joke shop beard and Santa Claus outfit’, adding: ‘My four boys, at the time between four and eight years old, were given a toy but the quality was so poor that when one of them opened it, it broke immediately and it sliced his finger.
‘My wife and I were just despairing, thinking, “This is just crazy, why is nobody looking after this market?” ’
Battle – who had just left his City job at Security Pacific bank and had begun trading from home – added: ‘We said, “Why don’t we do something about it?” ’ That was a decade ago. Now, each year, they put on a ‘theatrical experience’ that involves more than 400 people in the preparation of a £2 million theatrical set in Berkshire.
Battle – who once turned down a job at Goldman Sachs because he was worried it would mean signing away his life – said: ‘The lady who organises the set for us did the sets for Gladiator. We have West End performers, so you are effectively getting the pantomime and an immersive celebration of the subject at the same time.’
Visiting families are taken through the elves’ workshop and a Christmas kitchen before paying a visit to Santa Claus.
The 2017 event, where tickets range from £49 to £120 based on the proximity of Christmas, has already sold out. Visitors have included Elton John’s family, several Royals and the Beckhams who ‘come every year’. Tickets went on sale in July.
Now the couple are toying with the idea of replicating the event elsewhere, possibly abroad.