Twenty years before the Covid pandemic made it fashionable for city workers to rethink their lifestyle, Tristram and Rebecca Mayhew quit their London-based jobs as marketing and fundraising managers and relocated to the country. Their move followed a chance sighting of a treetop attraction in France, which inspired them to launch Go Ape.
The Mayhews’ high rope adventure company is now an international brand operating 35 courses in woodland and urban parks across the UK. A sister operation in the US has 14 sites.
The pandemic put it all at risk. Go Ape was forced to close its UK sites in March 2020 due to the government lockdown rules and could not reopen until July, curtailing its busiest season.
The challenge was to keep the company afloat. The process of doing this — in which staff flexibility and willingness to help out was key — convinced the Mayhews to turn Go Ape into an employee-owned business.
The immediate impact of lockdown was that the company’s £1.5mn emergency cash reserve was consumed by Go Ape’s £500,000 monthly…
