Dragons’ Den stars whose companies collapsed into | UK News
BBC’s Dragons’ Den has been working for nearly twenty years and has seen a whole lot of would-be entrepreneurs pitching tasks to some of the UK’s most high-profile high-net-worth people. The show has had many highs and lows, with some gives brutally rejected and some others turning into major offers price hundreds of thousands.
We take a look at some of the companies that have had fairly the rollercoaster experience since showing on the BBC show, with one entrepreneur even admitting that it did “more harm than good” for him. Here are some corporations that secured offers and began on an all-time high, only to crash and burn their means into administration at a later date.
Didsbury Gin
Manchester-based company Didsbury Gin fell into liquidation early last yr, with them owing collectors around £200k.
Owners Mark Smallwood and Liam Manton appeared in the Den in 2018, initially wanting £75k for 15% of the business.
Jenny Campbell made an offer for a third of the business, which the co-owners accepted.
A press release from the company’s annual basic assembly dated 4 December 2024 read: “It has been proven to the satisfaction of this meeting that the company cannot, by reason of its liabilities, continue its business and that it is advisable to wind up the same and accordingly that the company be wound up voluntarily.”
(Image: Instagram / Didsbury Gin)
GripIt Fixings
Jordan Daykin was the youngest ever businessman on Dragons’ Den. In 2014, aged just 18, he secured £80,000 from Deborah Meaden for his firm GripIt Fixings.
Gripit Fixings made a product designed to repair heavy objects to plasterboard.
However, he left the once-booming business back in 2019 as an insolvency company was called in.
At the time, the firm’s board told buyers it was in “a precarious position”.
(Image: BBC)
Ploughcroft Building Services
In 2011, Chris Hopkins, a photo voltaic panel entrepreneur and his company Ploughcroft sought a £120,000 investment for a 10% stake from the Dragons.
Dragons’ Den judges Deborah Meaden and Theo Paphitis paid £120,000 to buy 25% shares in the company in November 2011. Just six months later, Mr Hopkins paid £200,000 to buy back their stake in his firm.
The company went into administration a yr later, as he said that going on to the BBC show “probably hurt me more than it did me good”.
He blamed it on the fact that turnover grew by nearly 400% in the month after going on the show, and the business expanded too quickly in the months afterwards.
(Image: BBC )
Luxe Collective
Luxe Collective, established by Formby brothers Ben and Joe Gallagher in 2018, gained success by promoting second hand, ‘pre-loved’ luxurious items.
In January 2024, the business obtained a document £100,000 investment on BBC show Dragons Den from Diary of a CEO host Steven Bartlett.
However, by May 2025 the business had closed. They blamed the closure on a warehouse transfer, which was adopted by a break-in.
Ben said the business had to borrow money to keep afloat. Despite making £2.5m in the ultimate 12 months of operation, he says a lot of that went to paying the money back.
(Image: BBC)
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