Who owns The Entertainer? From the Grant family to employee ownership
The Entertainer is now employee owned through a trust. Its own site says the Grant family transferred 100% of its holdings into an employee ownership trust in 2025. Companies House records trace The Entertainer (Amersham) Limited through TEAL Group Holdings Limited to Ludus Trustee Limited. Gary and Catherine Grant founded the business; that history is different from its current ownership.
Checked 5 October 2026.
The ownership trail
| Company or brand | Control | What the record says | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Entertainer (Amersham) Limited · 02057757 | TEAL Group Holdings Limited | Active corporate PSC: at least 75% of shares and voting rights, plus the right to appoint or remove directors. Notified 20 September 2017. | Operating-company PSC register |
| TEAL Group Holdings Limited · 10862657 | Ludus Trustee Limited | Active corporate PSC: at least 75% of shares and voting rights, plus the right to appoint or remove directors. Notified 26 September 2025. | Holding-company PSC register |
| Ludus Trustee Limited · 16681370 | Trustee company | Active private company limited by guarantee without share capital; incorporated 29 August 2025. The legal trustee is distinct from the employee beneficiaries. | Trustee-company record |
| Employee ownership | The company’s public explanation | The retailer states that the Grant family transferred all its holdings into an employee ownership trust. The exact 100% statement comes from the retailer, not the PSC threshold bands. | The Entertainer: About us |
The old family-business answer needs a date
Gary and Catherine Grant opened the original Amersham toy shop in 1981. That remains the origin story. The company’s current account of its history marks 2025 as the change to employee ownership, so repeating only the founders’ names leaves out the event that changes the answer.
The operating company’s 2017 corporate parent is not evidence of a new 2017 buyer. It is one link in the legal structure. The important later record is the holding company’s active trustee PSC, notified in September 2025.
What employee owned means here
Shares held through a trust are not the same as every employee personally appearing on the company’s shareholder register. The trustee sits in the ownership structure, with employees benefiting through the arrangement described by the business. The PSC register identifies the legal controller; the company’s explanation identifies the employee-ownership model.
The register’s ‘75% or more’ bands do not prove an exact percentage by themselves. The retailer’s separate statement that the family transferred 100% of its holdings is why this page gives that exact figure with a different source.
A concession does not establish ownership
The Entertainer’s history describes branded concessions in Tesco stores and online with Moonpig from 2024. Seeing the toys inside another retailer does not establish that the host owns The Entertainer. Its recorded control trail leads through TEAL to the trustee.
Employee ownership also does not turn a national chain into a single locally owned shop. We describe the ownership arrangement here without assigning an independent-business badge to the retailer or its concessions.
Questions
Is The Entertainer still owned by the Grant family?
Its current site says the Grant family transferred 100% of its holdings to an employee ownership trust in 2025. The family-founded description is historical; the current ownership model is employee owned.
Does Tesco own The Entertainer?
The Entertainer’s own site describes Tesco concessions. Its Companies House control trail runs through TEAL Group Holdings to Ludus Trustee Limited, rather than Tesco.
Who is Ludus Trustee Limited?
It is the active corporate PSC of TEAL Group Holdings, notified on 26 September 2025. Companies House lists it as a company limited by guarantee without share capital. The trustee company and the employees benefiting from the trust are different roles.
Company records tell you who controls a business; the shopfront name alone cannot. Search another owner.
Who owns UK bookshop chains: compare employee ownership with the family, listed and investment-fund structures behind other retailers
These are dated public-record checks. Shareholdings and corporate structures can change. Send a correction with its source.