How entrepreneur overcame £82k debt to transform former prison into successful tourist attraction
An entrepreneur has revealed how he went from being nearly £100,000 in debt to buying a former prison and turning it into a successful tourist attraction.
After his first company failed, Joel Campbell had bailiffs at his door threatening to take away his car and furniture, but said a chance conversation with the bank gave him the drive to keep going and eventually buy Shrewsbury Prison.
In March 2013, the Ministry of Justice announced it was to close the prison in a bid to cut costs. Ten years on, it has become one of the region’s most popular tourist attractions and offers guided tours, ghost hunts and escape rooms.
It has also become a popular destination for film production companies and has appeared in hit TV shows Time, Casualty, Holby City, Coronation Street, The Apprentice and Celebrity Hunted.
Speaking to The Graveyard Shift podcast, Joel said: “When the MoJ announced it was closing the prison I was in a difficult situation at the time. My first company failed, I was £82,000 in debt and I was just trying to make ends meet.
“We had bailiffs at the door and just had our second child. They were threatening to take the car and came into the house to see what they could take like TVs and sofas.
“As an entrepreneur I have a thousand ideas a day - some of them stick and some don’t.
“At the time my entrepreneurial flair was flying, I was throwing different things at the wall and seeing what would stick. The prison came up and I thought I’m just going to put a bid in to buy this. That’s how it kind of started really.
“I remember speaking with the bank and saying to them the way I’m paying this debt back, you should write it off because it was going to take me something crazy - like 400 years - to pay it back. The guy just went ‘you haven’t got the money now, but you might do one day’.
“I put the phone down and thought this guy has got so much faith in me, but he was right and I did get the money and managed to pay off the debt.”
Shrewsbury Prison was eventually sold to property developer, The Osbourne Group, in January 2015. Development plans included converting the Grade II listed prison wings into student accommodation, with the rest of the prison being converted into housing.
An outline planning application was eventually granted, but the need for student accommodation in Shrewsbury disappeared when the new university never materialised.
In July 2015, Joel saw an opportunity to create a heritage-led tourism attraction at the prison and agreed a short-term lease to take over the site.
It soon became a tourism hotspot through its guided tours and also became popular with paranormal companies.
Despite the prison’s success as a tourist attraction, The Osborne Group decided to put the site up for sale. It was at this point Joel decided to buy the prison and secure its long-term future.
Joel, who is CEO of the Cove Group, said: “We started running four tours a day, seven days a week for the first six months. Five-star reviews started on day one and haven’t stopped.
“I have to hand it to our team. I might have had the vision and taken the risk, but these are the guys that execute it every single day.”
During his appearance on the podcast, Joel touched on many other subjects including why he hated school, why he bought the prison, the impacts COVID-19 had on the business, and ambitions to take over the running of more attractions in the future - including Shrewsbury Castle.
“I would really like to take over the castle and it has been on our list for a long time.
“It would be fantastic for us, but also for Shrewsbury as we bring in hundreds of thousands of visitors already. Being able to share that across the castle makes absolute sense,” Joel added.
Joel can be heard in full on The Graveyard Shift podcast, which is out now.
