Cricket-themed hospitality chain Sixes enters administration as advisers explore sale options

UK experiential hospitality operator Sixes Cricket entered administration following a period of trading pressure across its estate, with all but one of its 15 UK venues continuing to operate while advisers pursue a sale of the business and its strongest-performing sites.

Joint administrators Tony Wright and Alastair Massey from FRP Advisory were appointed last week, assuming control of the company’s affairs, business and property. One venue in Southampton has closed since the appointment, resulting in three redundancies, while the remaining locations continue to trade and honour existing customer bookings through the Christmas period and beyond.

Founded in 2020, Sixes operates cricket-themed social venues combining food and drink with interactive batting experiences, positioning itself within the fast-growing “competitive socialising” segment of the hospitality market. The brand expanded rapidly across major UK cities and competes with other experience-led operators for discretionary consumer spending.

The business is backed by Ben Stokes through 4Cast, an investment vehicle also associated with current and former England players Jofra Archer and Stuart Broad, alongside agent Mike Turns. 4Cast is understood to have injected funding into Sixes in 2023, although the extent of its shareholding has not been publicly disclosed.

According to the administrators, Sixes entered administration amid uneven site performance, intense competition for experiential venues, and reduced consumer spending linked to broader economic uncertainty. While a core group of locations continues to trade profitably, other sites have underperformed, prompting a review of the estate and the potential for further closures.

FRP said discussions are ongoing with a number of interested parties regarding a potential transaction, which could involve the sale of the brand and selected venues rather than the entire footprint.