$35 Million UK Wave Pool Mysteriously Closes

Originally posted on SURFER | By Dashel Pierson | Last updated Jun 27, 2025 9:29 AM ET

As the first public wave pool in Europe featuring Wavegarden Cove technology, The Wave in the UK was at the forefront of the modern-day surf park spark. Located in Bristol, the wave pool opened in 2019. But suddenly, The Wave has shuttered its operations.

On Thursday, everything went dark at The Wave. The website went down. Surf sessions were canceled. And, as expected, eyebrows were raised, mouthfuls of Earl Grey spat out in disbelief. What had happened?

A sign outside the park, scribbled in dry erase marker, read: “Due to circumstances beyond our control, The Wave is closed to all visitors today. We are incredible sorry for any inconvenience caused and are working hard to rectify the issues and reopen as soon as possible. Please keep an eye on our socials, website, and your emails for more information.”

By the sound of it, The Wave has run into some sort of financial troubles.

A statement read: "The Wave Group, owners of the surf park in Bristol, has lined up a refinancing alongside its exciting London developments, which would see all creditors repaid in full within a week and is offering to continue to operate the park."

And per the BBC, The Wave CEO Hazel Geary said: "This decision has not been driven by operational failure or lack of customer demand - but for a financial technicality completely unrelated to commercial matters."

When The Wave opened, as aforementioned the first in Europe to utilize Wavegarden’s state-of-the-art Cove design, it reportedly came with a price tag of $35 million. Of course, that wasn’t just the pool, though; that included the entire facility, with all its bells and whistles.

Since its opening, reportedly, it has welcomed over 400,000 surfers. Here’s hoping they get this all sorted out, and begin welcoming even more surfer back soon.

Surely, more updates to come.

This article first appeared on SURFER and was syndicated with permission.

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