Wake The Tiger

Wake The Tiger is a UK immersive visitor attraction operator that describes its Bristol venue as the world's first 'amazement park' - a format positioned between a theme park, an art experience and a gallery. The attraction opened in a former warehouse in Bristol in July 2022 with 27 spaces, including ice chambers, secret passageways, underwater worlds, mechanical chambers and psychedelic forests, built by more than 100 installation artists, robotics specialists, costume-makers, architects, videographers and prop-makers. A 1,000 sq m expansion, the OUTERverse, opened on 2 February 2024, roughly doubling the size of the visitor experience at the St Phillips site; the venue now offers over 40 immersive spaces across two levels, plus a licensed bar called Junktion.

The experience is built around an original narrative IP: visitors enter an abandoned paint factory, pass through a portal to a parallel world called Meridia that has suffered climate and societal breakdown, and encounter 'Sub-Communities' (Explorers, Visionaries, Disruptors and Inventors) working in a 'Dream Factory' to restore ecosystems using four types of 'funga' that, when balanced, unlock a fifth element, Aether, and access to the OUTERverse. The company states values of inspiring positive change, believing action today can change tomorrow, and disrupting convention, and takes its name from Peter Levine's book 'Waking The Tiger'. Accessibility was designed in from the outset, with testing involving wheelchair users and visitors with impaired vision, an online access document, sensory sessions and trained staff.

Alongside standard daytime admission, the company runs an adults-only (18+) 'After Hours' programme with scheduled evening dates and third-party takeover events, and hosts private and corporate events for up to 600 guests with flexible spaces and event support.

Founding story

The concept originated with Graham MacVoy and Luke Mitchell, who had spent roughly two decades working on the Boomtown Fair music and arts festival, where Mitchell is Creative Director. They had long discussed a permanent, year-round version of the festival's storytelling and creative expression, and when COVID-19 forced the festival's cancellation in 2020 and closed the music sector, they used the gap in their schedules to develop the idea. Boomtown already owned a derelict Bristol warehouse that had hosted four sold-out club nights before the pandemic, and the pair converted it into the attraction, deliberately removing music and theatre from the format to widen the potential audience. They coined the term 'amazement park' and built and designed simultaneously, deploying incoming tranches of £50,000-£100,000 into the build before full funding was in place.

Business model

Wake The Tiger operates permanent, ticketed immersive attractions it builds and owns, generating revenue from admission tickets, a membership plan, food and beverage through its Junktion bar, adults-only After Hours evenings and takeover nights, paid add-ons such as a photo booth and drinks packages, and venue hire for events of up to 600 guests. The model was deliberately designed to avoid heavy reliance on live performers, which the founders identify as a barrier to profitability in permanent immersive venues; staffing nonetheless accounts for at least 50% of expenses.

Ticket sales are the primary revenue line, with pricing initially set below £20 per ticket to drive volume and user-generated content, supplemented by memberships intended to raise repeat visitation, bar and food sales, event and venue hire, and paid experience upgrades.

Traction

More than 300,000 visitors in the first 18 months after the July 2022 opening, with 70% families, bookings from six continents and over 60 countries, and a 9% return-visit rate. The attraction recorded over 250,000 visitors during 2023 and had passed 500,000 cumulative visitors by July 2025. The Bristol site doubled in size with the OUTERverse expansion in February 2024, and a second, larger London venue is scheduled for 2026.

Latest developments

In July 2025 the company announced an 80,000 sq ft second venue at Westfield London, described as its most ambitious project to date and set to open in 2026, transforming a major anchor space at the shopping centre and extending the Meridia story world. Prospective investors were directed to contact chief commercial officer Lucy Jarjoura for an investment pack. The Bristol venue continues to schedule adults-only After Hours evenings and takeover events into late 2026.