Biography

The Mellors family have a long history in the British fairgrounds stretching four generations. Henry Mellors Snr., a farmer from Hyson Green, Nottingham, diversified his business into showmanship by starting to operate a swing boat and a shooting gallery in 1890. His son Henry (Harry) Mellors Jnr. followed up his father’s footsteps into the fairground and by the 1950s he had expanded the business with side stalls, a coconut shy, swings and other children's rides.

Already well established in the fairgrounds, the third generation of the family was led by Henry Jnr’s son, James Mellors Snr, who started to invest in large rides such as The Paratrooper and the Mini Jets from the 1960s onwards. In order to finance his ambitious expansion of the family business, he partnered up with Carlsbro Sound Equipment, a sound company in Nottingham, to supply sound equipment to other showmen throughout the country. From this point the Mellors diversified their business into the supply of entertainments as well as travelling the fairs, and in 1986 James established JEM Amusements to provide Arcades and Bingo Halls.

James Mellor served as Regional Chairman of the Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain for twenty years and received a lifetime achievements award from them in 2001 in recognition of services to the event industry.

The current generation of the Mellors family is led by James Snr’s sons, James Frederick and Edward James.

James Jnr. and Edward joined the family business in the mid-1990s. They spent their early years learning the trade by moving, maintaining and operating rides in the UK. Since then they have greatly helped developed the family company in the UK and abroad, operating over 100 rides globally. In 2019, Mellors Group was awarded a five-year contract by the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia to create, build and manage the world’s largest touring Theme Park. They have also built a large Water Park on an island off the coast of Jeddah and delivered funfair services for Dubai’s Global Village between 2013 and 2017. Mellors Entertainment LLC continue to have a strong presence in Dubai and the Middle East today and continue to invest in their British based businesses, which include Fantasy Island acquired in 2016, Skegness Pier acquired in 2021 and other UK projects, such as The Beach and Winter Wonderland in Nottingham.

Mellors Group Events have supplied some of the most iconic events in recent British history such as the giant observation wheel in Hyde Park to celebrate the royal wedding in 2011 and the attractions at Victoria Park and every official London Olympic venue in 2012.

In 2020, Mellors Group joined the UK’s Government Taskforce to create a reopening strategy to save the British economy following the Covid-19 pandemic.

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