WARRINGTON-based Palaemon Divers have been shortlisted for Leisure and Tourism Start Up of the Year with Start Up Awards 2023.
The awards celebrates start up businesses and what they have brought to the economy within three years of their launch and Palaemon Divers is delighted to be named a finalist!
Palaemon Divers, started by Leanne Clowes in the midst of Covid lockdowns, walked out of her very well paid corporate sales job with no savings after a redundancy in a previous role and spending the majority of the year before on Covid to follow the dream! After the redundancy and Covid, life struck just a little differently, and the pull to become a full-time instructor became impossible to ignore!
So with that, here notice was handed in, no savings, nothing physical to start being a full time dive instructor other than personal kit at the time and the fact Leanne was actually an assistant instructor at the time and hadn’t attended the instruction exam at that point, as there had been none available due to Covid.
However, the first instructor exam that was happening after Covid was booked – no pressure at all with no full time job, no money as a back up, mortgage and bills to pay.
Starting freelancing as an instructor in the North West using various outdoor locations for training, the business snowballed and quickly gained their first physical dive centre in January 2022 along with finding their own private in water training facility at Princes Dock in Liverpool where 100s of new people from Liverpool and wider were introduced to the amazing sport of scuba, and experiencing the abundant life under the surface of the dock itself.
In a time of no travel to outside your area or abroad, Palaemon Divers found something new and exciting to introduce the city of Liverpool to those who spend 5 days a week in the office looking down at the dock and not really being able to appreciate what the dock actually means to Liverpool!
It became apparent during 2022 that although Liverpool was fantastic, more growth was to be had which came in the form of a second location Palaemon Divers – Warrington. An ex micro brewery in Warrington in a central location of the M6, M62 and M56, spread over 2 floors which includes a classroom, workshop, compressor and a floor dedicated to retail.
The efforts in building this business has not gone unnoticed with the shortlist for Startup Awards, and also another shortlist which will be announced in the next month.
