Freeklime: Meet the Yorkshire entrepreneur who is on a mission to make climbing more inclusive

So instead of joining his peers in applying for graduate roles for multinational organisations, he put his passion to good use and as part of his master’s thesis he wrote a business plan for a new type of climbing centre.

Five years later, Whitehead, now 28, is building an independent chain of bouldering walls under the Freeklime brand.

With two under his belt already in Huddersfield and York, his sights are set on a third in 2025.

“All along the way there have been challenges,” he said. “From getting planning permission or delays on the construction site and then Covid. We opened our first site in Huddersfield in 2019 and then we had to shut in 2020 due to Covid. It was really challenging to keep on top of all of all the government and industry guidance and to keep the team motivated.”

Freeklime employs 15 people across the two sites and is fast approaching a £1m turnover.

It specialises in providing facilities for beginners to bouldering - a discipline of climbing specialising in short technical challenges without ropes and harnesses - and Mr Whitehead’s aim for both sites is to create an inclusive environment.

"One of the core pillars of the brand is equal opportunities so I’ve hired people with experience in that field,” he said. “Sam in Huddersfield has a background in adaptive skiing and Tommy in York has done a lot of work with SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) children and adults.

"Those guys have been able to bring their experiences to the table and we’ve had some really strong successes in that area.”

Freeklime works with specialist schools and offers private coaching for people with SEND across both sites.

“It’s a way to introduce new skills, like perseverance and communication,” he said.

"From a design point of view, the holds are as bright as possible which develop contrast for people who are visually impaired.”

On a Sunday evening both centres turn down the music and lights for a quieter session.

"You can make reasonable adjustments for SEND climbers,” Mr Whitehead said.

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Originally, Mr Whitehead’s vision was to take a modern, high quality bouldering centre and combine it with a no frills Pure Gym-style approach, ditching a shop and a large part of the cafe. “These things are not particularly cost effective, unprofitable and have a high degree of staffing requirements,” he said.

However, he soon realised that he needed to make the centres more personable, approachable and inclusive.

"Anecdotally, and what our operational stats tell us, is that we have a few more different customer groups than our competitors,” said Mr Whitehead.

"Other centres tend to have a predominantly 18-35 customer base who are looking for an alternative to the gym. and we have a slightly more diverse set of faces.”

Now the centres have small cafes and are much more focused on adding a social element to their sessions.

The Huddersfield site hosts successful mental health nights.

Mr Whitehead realised there was another market he could tap into when he met Pan Hollingworth, founder of The Queer Climbing Club,

“When I met Pan, they spoke quite honestly about the lack of things to do, particularly that are sober, for that community so that kickstarted the LGBTQ+ nights at our Huddersfield centre and they’ve been really popular,” he said.

Born in Harrogate, Mr Whitehead discovered climbing as a teenager after breaking his leg.

"I played a bit of rugby but then I broke my leg and I was struggling to find out who I was in life,” he said.

"You have to be big and fast when playing rugby and, particularly after breaking my leg, I was neither.

"When a climbing centre arrived in Harrogate it opened up a new world for me. A family friend then took me outside to climb locally and it was really exciting.

Mr Whitehead, now 28, started the business when he was just 23, which he admits had both advantages and disadvantages.

“You can certaintly get away with things that you might not get away with as a slightly older person,” he said. “You can ask silly questions and people let you off a little bit.”

Mr Whitehead said his father and business partner, Rob, a confectionary businessman in Harrogate, had been a ‘fantastic’ mentor.

"I’m always looking at the day-to-day running of the business so having that person in the background who isn’t part of the climbing community but has a strong business background and is looking ahead a bit more has been fantastic,” he said.

"Particularly in those early stages, he gave us a bit more credibility when it came to meeting landlords and negotiations and all that sort of stuff.”

He describes himself as passionate and driven. “I’m also quite single minded when it comes to climbing and that takes precedent,” he said.

Mr Whitehead spends most weekend climbing or bouldering either locally or in North Wales or the Lake District with his friend, Damien, or his girlfriend, Anna. He also enjoys climbing on holiday in the Alps.

He said: "Yorkshire is probably the best place to be based as a climber in the country because we’ve got fantastic gritstone for bouldering and traditional climbing.”

He added: "Climbing has been my passion for a long time and now to share my passion with others through the Freeklime business is a real privilege.”