Thrive Childcare and Education has acquired children’s nurseries Tots N Tykes in Pudsey, near Leeds, and the Culcheth Day Nursery in Culcheth, near Warrington, both single site nurseries for children aged from newborn to five years old.

Qualified nurse and midwife Lesley Maughan established Tot N Tykes in 1990, originally as part of a partnership. After taking over the partnership with her husband Chris 14 years ago, she completely refurbished the nursery and developed the garden as a natural outdoor area for the children to explore.

Lesley said: “We hit it off with Thrive from the start. Their values are the same as mine, they are really keen to maintain quality. I wanted to be sure the nursery was in the hands of a group that had the experience and longevity to make it thrive. As a single site nursery, we need a bigger organisation to move us to the next phase of development.”

The Culcheth day nursery near Warrington, was rated as outstanding by Ofsted in 2019 and won the Early Years Award at the Warrington Guardian Education Awards in 2019 and this year.

Debbie Byrne-Davies, a qualified nursery nurse, became the owner in 2001 after returning from a period of maternity leave. She originally joined as a nursery nurse in 1994, before progressing to become the nursery manager, a role she has held ever since. She said: “I felt this was the right time for me to pass the nursery to new owners. With the nursery team, we have worked very hard to grow the business and I am very proud of what we have achieved.

“Like many other nurseries, the pandemic was a particularly difficult time, but the team has worked extremely hard and built the nursery back up.”

Thrive chief executive Cary Rankin said: “It has been a pleasure to work with Lesley and Debbie. They clearly care deeply about their nursery teams and are passionate and incredibly knowledgeable about early years education and care. With the support of Thrive, we are confident the nursery teams will excel, maintaining the high standards the former owners’ set, whilst keeping their standing in the local area and continuing their own individual progression.” 

Michael Forrester, head of acquisitions at Thrive, added: “At Thrive we only buy successful nursery businesses, so were very pleased to acquire Tot N Tykes and the Culcheth Day Nursery. I would like to thank Lesley and Debbie for their hard work and perseverance during what is a difficult juggling act of selling and running a business simultaneously, our legal team at TLT, our financial team at Mazars and our early years external consultant.”  

Thrive operates almost 50 nurseries across the north of England and Scotland. Nursery owners interested in selling their nursery are invited to contact Thrive’s acquisitions team at: [email protected]