A Plymouth board game café has been able to expand its capacity and develop its food menu with the help of a South West Investment Fund loan through SWIG Finance.
At Twist Board Game Café & Bar in Mayflower Street, founder Hayley Summers designed her own “dream hangout”: a place to chill with friends over board games, tasty homemade food and quality drinks.
Six years after opening, the cash injection has enabled her to upgrade the kitchen and expand the covers in order to meet a demand for larger group bookings, increase the dessert offer to appeal to more diners, and invest in staff training and marketing.
Twist has a library of over 600 games, from Scrabble and Kerplunk to Exploding Kittens and Pictionary. For a small fee, customers get a four-hour session at a table, with staff on hand to recommend games that suit your group and mood, and even show you the ropes if necessary.
Hayley Summers, Founder of Twist Board Game Café
Plymouth-born Hayley was born into a games-loving family, from card games like rummy to classic board games including Frustration, Mousetrap and Downfall. In her 20s, Hayley found board games had “improved exponentially, resulting in a whole new generation of complex, strategic, exciting games”.
However, while board game cafés had sprouted around the UK, Hayley was disappointed to find her home city lacked one, and set about rectifying the situation with the help of a British Business Bank Start Up Loan in 2019, delivered by SWIG Finance. Things went so well, Hayley returned to SWIG Finance for a second loan in 2022 to support post-Covid growth by expanding the kitchen.
Fast-forward to 2025, and Hayley felt the potential for growth was once again evident. “We were at capacity, and getting requests for bigger bookings, which we were struggling to meet with our existing equipment.”
“Our season is the opposite of the normal tourism template – the summer months are the quietest time of the year for us; then come September/October, the nights draw in and students come back to university. That’s when it goes crazy, and we needed to maximise that period to get us through the leaner times.”
The South West Investment Fund loan enabled us to refurbish the upper floor and purchase a larger pizza oven to cater for bigger parties and, increase capacity from 72 to 98. This will also help meet burgeoning demand for corporate events.
And expansion means more jobs, with Twist employing the equivalent of nine full-time staff, including extra provision in the kitchen and front of house to cope with the growth in custom.
Hayley has always worked in hospitality and events, but this is her first stint as a business owner. “It has been challenging, but in a good way. It’s nice to have something permanent that’s my own. It feels like investing in something more tangible.”
Applying for funding with the help of SWIG Finance “has been really easy. Everyone I have come across has been fantastic. You can spend a lot of time as a business owner chasing things up, but with SWIG people were efficient and professional; they were also genuinely curious and keen to help. They were invested in the process, and it’s always nice to deal with people like that.”
Rachel Thomson, Business Manager for SWIG Finance, said: “I love the idea of having a meal or a drink and also being able to play board games – it makes socialising more interesting. Plus I like the idea of doing something, and not just sitting looking at your phone. Hayley could see the potential in such a business, and her drive to succeed shines through. She loves what she does and has made a success of it, and I am glad to have helped her on her journey.”
David Tindall, Senior Investment Manager at the British Business Bank, which operates the South West Investment Fund, said: “Hayley spotted a gap in the market back in 2019 and since then has continued to drive the business forward. We’re delighted that the South West Investment Fund is able to support Twist’s continued growth.”
The South West Investment Fund covers the entire South West region and provides loans from £25k to £2m and equity investment up to £5m to help small and medium sized businesses to start up, scale up or stay ahead.
The purpose of the fund is to drive sustainable economic growth by supporting innovation and creating local opportunity for new and growing businesses across the region. It is increasing the supply and diversity of early-stage finance, providing funds to firms that might otherwise not receive investment and helping to break down barriers in access to finance.
About SWIG Finance
SWIG Finance is a people-based lender that provides loans and support to help smaller businesses in the South and West Country grow. We base our lending decisions on potential rather than collateral, which means that we can often support businesses when others can't.
We’re growing every year. In 2024/25, we lent £14.8m to 501 businesses, helping to create and secure over 1,272 jobs and generate £75.7m in social impact. Download the report here.
If you’d like an informal chat about your funding requirements, get in touch with our friendly and professional team to see how we can help: info@swigfinance.co.uk / 01872 227 930