Two Stirling nurseries sold to first-time owner

  • 15th October 2024

Leocropt Nursery, Bridge of Allan

Two local nurseries and an afterschool care provider have come under new ownership.

Lecropt Nursery in Bridge of Allan and Dunblane’s Old Doune Road Nursery will become part of the newly-formed Fourwinds Group, founded by Tharfa Razzaq earlier this year, along with Bridge of Allan Out Of School Care.

The two nurseries have been serving local families for 20 years, providing care for up to 88 children aged up to five years old, while the out-of-school care provider, which provides a breakfast and after-school service for children aged between 4-12, was opened in 2006 and operates from the grounds of Bridge of Allan Primary School.

This will be Razzaq’s first entry into the world of childcare service ownership, but she comes with plenty of experience.

For the past seven years she has been a social worker for children and families and also has a first-class honours degree in social work from the University of the West of Scotland.

Already operating at full capacity, and with ‘very good’ ratings from Ofsted, Razzaq plans to leverage her specialist experience to further enhance the offering of the nurseries and out-of-school care.

She was helped with the purchase by a six-figure loan from Allica Bank, a challenger bank that focuses specifically on supporting established businesses in the UK and has a dedicated childcare team.

Razzaq said: “I am absolutely delighted to have completed the purchase, meaning I can now turn my attention squarely towards how I can start enhancing further what we can offer local parents and children.

“Lecropt, Old Doune Road, and Bridge of Allan Out Of School Care are all important community services and I am so grateful for the welcome we’ve already been given.

“Having not owned a nursery before, it was a challenge finding a bank open to talking to us. But, thankfully, Allica was willing to sit down and listen to our plans and understand my experience and vision for the business.

“We are looking forward to working hand-in-hand with our relationship manager in the coming years.”

Brian Bovell, Razzaq’s relationship manager at Allica Bank, added: “Bridge of Allan and Dunblane have got themselves an energetic and passionate new local business owner in Tharfa.

“She has some really-impressive experience and big ambitions for what she can do to support parents and their children in the area and Allica will be there to help her every step of the way.”

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