About Us & Our Brand
Better Bounce Direct is one of the UK's leading manufacturers of high-quality play inflatables, bouncy castles, and play structures. The Betterbounce brand is officially the longest established inflatable manufacturing company in the UK. A trophy we are extremely proud of and one we hope to pass down to future generations for year to come.
The brand was established over 40 years ago. We have sold over 20,000 products to countries on every continent around the world, and we offer a famous 1,2,3 guarantee on all of our products. We use only the highest quality bouncy castle materials and work with a team of skilled professionals to design and manufacture our inflatables. We have a wide range of bouncy castles & Inflatables Games available, including Inflatable Obstacle courses, Gladiator duels, Knockout inflatables, Fairground slides, Disco bouncy castles, Velcro bouncy castles, Event inflatables and much more, all of which are designed to be safe, durable, and fun for all ages and abilities.
Our staff have gained an enormous wealth of knowledge over the years and are some of the country’s top machinists. Our longest-standing staff members have worked for Better Bounce for over 20 years each, ensuring an unbeatable skill level in the inflatable industry that we are extremely proud of.
All of our weird and wonderful inflatables are manufactured under our full control, and we take full control of the design, manufacture, sales, and dispatch process within our huge 22,000 sq ft factory located in the heart of Leeds, West Yorkshire in the UK. We welcome customers to visit our factory for an informal chat and to see the production process for themselves.
Please take the time to browse through our extensive website and see if there is anything that catches your eye. If you do not find anything you like, please feel free to contact us or view our Custom Designs & Bespoke Inflatables section where we can help bring your inflatable dreams to life.
The company is run by myself Lee, the mother of my two beautiful children, Samantha, and our two small business partners, Sophie and George. Despite Sophie and George only being seven and eight years old, they certainly do not mind telling me what to do on a day-to-day basis, and they know what products are hot and what is not, making us a really good team!
"Email us today to receive your in depth 70+ page intensive bouncy castle hire startup guide Free of charge! Info@better-bounce.co.uk" or click on the link below to checkout FREE online!
The Start
I started a small inflatable hire company back in 2003 at the age of 17 while I was working on an apprenticeship scheme with Leeds City Council, attending Leeds University, and working part-time at a local pub to fund my education.
The formation of Funbounce was a complete accident. I was tasked with organising a bouncy castle for the pub in which I worked. The bouncy castle was to be placed in the beer garden for the long summer 8-week holidays, and I was told there was a budget of only £500, which I soon realised was an impossible task after contacting several hire companies, as many were fully booked or wouldn't entertain the idea.
Later that evening, by pure chance, I was reading the local paper where I saw an advert that simply stated "Bouncy castle for sale £600 ONO". Well, I couldn't believe my luck, and after two or three phone calls and a bit of negotiation, I had my very own bouncy castle and my very first customer - the pub!
After the holidays passed and it was time for me to take the bouncy castle home, I couldn't help but think, "what the heck have I bought this thing for, and what am I going to do with it?" But after a few days and a few laughs and jokes from family and friends, one of them decided to hire it for a birthday. A few weeks later, another member hired one, then a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth, and before long, they were all arguing about who was to have it and when, so I bought another, and another, and another. Before long, my friends heard about it, then friends of friends, and then the business grew and grew until I had around 5 or 6.
By this time, three years had passed, and I had finished my apprenticeship at Leeds City Council and qualified as an engineer from Leeds University. The pub job was long gone, so I had a bit of time again and turned back to the hire company and worked out a plan.
This plan was simple: Expand! And expand I did, ensuring that Funbounce Entertainments, as it was now named, evolved to be one of the largest and most competitively priced companies to supply bouncy castles, rodeo bulls, bungee runs, sumo suits, gladiator duels, inflatable bouncy slides, inflatable bouncy assault courses, event management, promotional services, and many other entertainment services in Leeds, Wakefield, Huddersfield, Halifax, York, and the rest of the UK for both private and corporate occasions
The Middle
Over the years, Funbounce Entertainments has grown from strength to strength. Drawing upon my skills and knowledge acquired from 10 years at Leeds City Council designing roads and bridges, I turned to the design and manufacture of bouncy castles. After 18 months, we started building inflatables from a hire company's point of view, and that is where things really got interesting.
At the same time, we had attracted attention from one of our old suppliers, Martin at Betterbounce. I often joked with Martin about buying him out one day, but it was always in jest. The only year I did not ask was the year he asked me. He had heard about the success we were having and decided that if we did to the manufacturing game what we did to the hire game, then his time was up.
After several months of negotiations, a deal was struck, and I took over as Director of Betterbounce Direct, one of the most respected inflatable manufacturing companies in the UK. With Better bounce's resources and expertise, we continued to innovate and improve upon our already high-quality products. Today, Better Bounce Direct is a leading manufacturer of play inflatables, bouncy castles, inflatables, and play structure equipment. We have sold over 20,000 products and have shipped to every continent around the world. We stand behind our famous 1,2,3 guarantee on all of our products, and we are committed to customer satisfaction.
The next chapter
In the early days, our focus was on building inflatables from a hire company's perspective, emphasizing durability and longevity. However, as we continued to refine and improve our designs, we quickly realized that our inflatables were far superior in strength, robustness, and visual appeal than any of our competitors.
As we entered our 3rd year of operation, one of our staff members suggested that we try selling our inflatables brand new instead of just rotating stock.
While initially met with some skepticism, we decided to give it a try. To our surprise, business began to boom, and customers couldn't get enough of our high-quality inflatables. However, as our success grew, we experienced inefficiencies and bottlenecks in the production process. Our old methods were no longer adequate, and we were running out of space.
Fast forward 3 more years and Betterbounce was growing form strength to strength. We had invested heavily in the company, staff, new designs, awesome PVC specifications and we were taking the industry by storm. Literally/!
The following year, year we were unfortunate enough to be in a position where we were about to lose our trading premises due to a number of external factors out of our control. Believing in the business so badly, We managed to pull a deal together to and went on to purchase the mill we operated in. All 22,000 square foot of it, ensuring the massive space we needed for growth and grow we did!
The End?
The company has grown from strength to strength, and we continue to expand our reach. In 2019, I joined the PIPA panel, which works closely with the RPII, British Standards & the HSE to help regulate and raise standards within the industry. I am proud to be part of a team that is making a difference and giving back to an industry that is interesting and always keeps me on the ball.
Today, we ship millions of pounds of bouncy castles and have almost 2,000 items in stock. We ship over 3,000 products a year to 40+ countries and have a great team behind us as we continue to grow.
In 2020, we made the decision to sell our hire company after almost 20 years to focus solely on Betterbounce and spend more time with our children outside of work.
We're still a few years away from handing anything over to our children, and we continue to learn something new every day. As long as this continues, we will be here doing what we love!
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about our company and the way we operate. We hope that this information has given you a better insight into our business and will help you make an informed decision.
Best wishes,
Lee, Samantha, Sophie, George, and the team x
Contact us
Should you have any queries regarding our company, Please feel free to contact us direct via the details mentioned below.
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