Smashing up objects set to be all the rage
A 22-YEAR-OLD entrepreneur is ‘smashing’ his way onto Newcastle’s activities scene with the launch of the North of England’s first rage room.
Andy Reynolds is the owner and manager of Smash Space, where participants are invited to pick up a weapon and batter a range of items to let off steam.
The space is also home to a new escape room and more relaxing ‘art launch’ sessions, where customers are encouraged to fling paint at a canvas to create their own masterpiece.
Andy, who graduated from Northumbria University this summer with a master’s in law, spent three months researching the venture before launching the company on Scotswood Road.
He said: “People are absolutely loving the introduction of the rage room to Newcastle.
“We’ve had people on dates, family nights out, and even people coming for solo sessions after an awful week of work.
“Sometimes you just feel like you could put a hammer through a TV – and now you’ve got the chance.”
Andy, who is originally from Carlisle, made sure that his sessions are “more affordable than the others currently on offer in the UK – which can only be found in London, Birmingham and Glasgow”.
Rage room sessions last 15 minutes, and cost £25 for up to four people, while art launch sessions last 45 minutess and cost £32.50 for groups of up to four.
“We’ve found those timings work best because the rage room is a short but really intense physical work-out, whereas the art launch is a calmer experience” Andy explained.
“Both hold mental health at their core because the physicality helps you get out your anger, while creating artwork is very therapeutic.
“At first we tried with paint balls, but they went straight through the canvas, so now we’ve opted for 300 minisponge balls and 12 cups of paint.
“Customer are free to take home their Jackson Pollock-inspired works at the end.”
The material for the rage room, which includes glass, electric and wood items, is collected from a range of sources including public donations.
Smash Space has a deal with the Switch nightspot to pick-up their glass bottles and also receives broken computers from several local IT companies.
“We split everything up afterwards
and make sure it gets recycled in the right place” assured Andy.
He currently has four employees, who are all students at Northumbria University.
Andy said: “They are all really passionate about the start-up, and it’s a great partnership because they are constantly coming up with great creative ideas.”
Their space is located five minutes from Newcastle Central Station on Scotswood Road.
“I’m really happy with the location” said Andy. “We’ve got four floors, so there’s scope to do a lot with it.
“In the long term we’re planning more escape rooms, a smash lane, and to transform the attic into a hire space for gaming.
“We will kit it out with Dungeons and Dragons-style tables.”
Although Andy has some experience of running a business already, having set up a hot tub hire company during his studies, he said that the launch of Smash Space has been “a lot of hard work”.