Flint & SilverBike, thx for some sensible replies
FW have just had brand new Infernos, about 3 weeks ago and a new manager, about 6 weeks ago. I did some training with the marshals up there a couple of months back and they were all really keen to learn and are polite guys & girls. IMO it's a well run site in a nice location. We have a few planning issues there as it's on a private estate so we can't erect permanent structures like we can at other locations. Therefore basecamp is mainly army tents, but they serve their purpose.
Re set-up costs, our set up costs are much higher than £80k.. for an average DF site the guns and Co2 cylinders alone would be 30k, a van another 15k, one castle costs 15-20k and we have 6 fields at each centre. Our latest site at Bournemouth has been 8 weeks in the build so far and was built from nothing. A swamp was filled in and roads built before the guys could even start on the fields. It took 30 dumper-trucks of hardcore/planings to create a hardstanding for basecamp alone. It takes a long time to start making a profit from a new site but all people are interested in is 'oh my God, they charge £5/£6 per 100'. We gain nothing from 'entry fee' via the VIP tickets, out only profit is what people spend on the day and out of that come the running costs, wages etc.
Gups, come on mate, I have owned a site and if they cost upwards of £80,000 to set up you'd hardly have any sites in the UK whatsoever...
Baby Dave I thought the cr@p was supposed to come out the rear end of a baby ... leastwise that's the theory...