Lecropt Nursery in Bridge of Allan and Dunblane’s Old Doune Road Nursery will become part of the newly-formed Fourwinds Group, founded by Tharfa Razzaq earlier this year, along with Bridge of Allan Out Of School Care.

The two nurseries have been serving local families for 20 years, providing care for up to 88 children aged up to 5 years old. While the out-of-school care provider, which provides a breakfast and after school service for children aged between four and 12, was opened in 2006 and operates from the grounds of Bridge of Allan Primary School.

This will be Tharfa’s first entry into the world of childcare service ownership, but she comes with plenty of experience. For the past seven years she has been a social worker for children and families, and also has a first-class honours degree in social work from the University of the West of Scotland. Already operating at full capacity and with ‘very good’ ratings from the Care Inspectorate, Tharfa plans to leverage her specialist experience to further enhance the offering of the nurseries and out-of-school care.

It can often be a challenge for aspiring nursery owners to find a bank willing to support them. But Tharfa was helped with the purchase through a six-figure loan from Allica Bank, a challenger bank that focuses specifically on supporting established businesses in the UK and which has a dedicated childcare team.

Tharfa says the opportunity to takeover the businesses was a dream come true:

“I am absolutely delighted to have completed the purchase, meaning I can now turn my attention squarely towards how I can start enhancing further what we can offer local parents and children. Lecropt, Old Doune Road and Bridge of Allan Out Of School Care are all important community services, and I am so grateful for the welcome we’ve already been given."

“Having not owned a nursery before, it was a challenge finding a bank open to talking to us. But thankfully, Allica were willing to sit down and listen to our plans and understand my experience and vision for the business. We are looking forward to working hand-in-hand with our relationship manager in the coming years.”

Brian Bovell, Tharfa’s relationship manager at Allica Bank, said,

“Bridge of Allan and Dunblane have got themselves an energetic and passionate new local business owner in Tharfa. She has some really impressive experience and big ambitions for what she can do to support parents and their children in the area. Allica will be there to help her every step of the way.”