Inventive Leisure is a city centre bar chain with headquarters in Ashton-under-Lyne

Ashton-under-Lyne

Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it lies on the north bank of the River Tame, on undulating land at the foothills of the Pennines...

, Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The bars trade under the name Revolution.

It was founded by Roy Ellis and Neil Macleod, who had met in London in the 1980s. They opened their first bar in Ashton-under-Lyne in 1991, with nightclubs and a music venue following soon after. In 1996 they moved away from the previously unbranded bars and clubs to start the Revolution chain, with vodka as the principal concept.
In 2000, the company floated on the Alternative Investment Market

Alternative Investment Market

AIM is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange, allowing smaller companies to float shares with a more flexible regulatory system than is applicable to the main market....

, by this point having 21 bars. It was bought out in 2006 by Alchemy Partners

Alchemy Partners

Alchemy Partners is a British private equity firm, which specialises in leveraged management buyouts, management buy-ins and the provision of later stage development capital.Alchemy was founded in 1997 by Martin Bolland and Jon Moulton...

 amid competition from Regent Inns

Regent Inns

Regent Inns was the parent company of Walkabout, Jongleurs/Bar Risa and Old Orleans chains.It went into administration in October 2009.The part-time executive chairman was Bob Ivell.-Brands:...

 and Ultimate Leisure. The deal valued the company at £42.5m.
The company was ranked 49th in the 2009 The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For

The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For

Since 2001, the Sunday Times newspaper has published annual lists of the best companies to work for in the UK. The award is highly valued by its winners.The list ranks Britain's best companies to work for based a number of criteria...

list, and employs about 1,800 people. Its turnover in the year ending June 2008 was expected to be £71m with profits of £11m.