THE DEN
David Roberts is a corporate partner and head of the Leisure team at CMS UK, with extensive experience advising investors and operators across various sectors in the leisure industry, including hotels, restaurants, and entertainment. As a co-owner and non-executive director of the London-based restaurant group Blacklock, David has contributed to multiple industry awards and has also served as a non-executive director and investor in high-growth businesses such as Incipio Group and Wolfpack. Additionally, David holds a leadership role as Chair of the Board of Trustees for A Good Dinner UK, focusing on charitable efforts, and has invested in several emerging concepts, such as Daisy Green and Bubala. David's educational background includes degrees in law and political science from UNSW and a Graduate Diploma in legal practice from The College of Law Australia.
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THE DEN
THE DEN is the world's first youth hospitality brand. Using a parent funded model to create mass access to a network of incredible local venues for 12-17s, with inclusive games and unmissable events, membership of THE DEN gives teenagers a kick-ass alternative to their screens and a kick-start to their social confidence. Doing for youth clubs what flight club did for darts, THE DEN is a new commercial concept in early development, and currently raising investment under SEIS/EIS to launch the first location in Kentish Town. The Den has been developed by its co-founders, Cheryl Calverley (ex-CEO eve sleep) & Paul Billingsley (ex-MD adam&eveDDB), and is designed to tackle the most profound challenge facing this generation - record levels of social anxiety and loneliness amongst teenagers. This is a generation scarred by lockdown, swallowed up by social media, and starved of places to go. THE DEN will change all that. It takes the best of membership clubs, youth organisations and hospitality to create a profitable business model that sits at the forefront of the IRL revolution. In five years there will be 11 Dens with over 10,000 members, and every single teenager who joins will be a happier and more socially confident person by the time they leave. THE DEN is currently fundraising, and keen to bring on board investors who realise the unique commercial potential of this venture and share our fundamental belief that life is better in real life.