This Durham entrepreneur is planning crimes, come solve them at The Detective Rooms

Sometimes, a business concept shows up that blows you away with its ingenuity and potential. Concepts like that aren’t developed overnight. Jen Jarvie, founder of The Detective Rooms, is drawing on decades of criminology and investigative experience for her big idea.

Jen is one of only three people in the UK with a first-class honours degree in Death Investigation. Her early career was split between teaching and working as a real-life private investigator, winning awards for both. When the time came for a change, she decided to combine those two loves.

“At the time, I was providing a portable crime scene experience from a mobile lab in the back of my car,” she explains. “Taking it to companies, setting it up for senior leadership teams to solve and things like that.

Then I got the opportunity to do the same thing, but have people come to me. I had the skills and experience to write these scenarios, making something that's entertaining, that's intriguing, delving into that true crime market that people love. Something not just for businesses, but all sorts of people. Families, armchair detectives, anyone who wants to get their mystery fix without involving real people.”

That was the inspiration which would become The Detective Rooms. Cases based on real situations, which anybody could take part in and learn something about real criminal investigations.

But that emphasis on accessibility, creating an experience for everyone, came with complications. Not just any location would do, it needed to be wheelchair-friendly, and big enough to satisfy Jen’s rapid growth ambitions.

To secure the funding she needed, Jen came to Business Enterprise Fund North East. A £25,000 loan arranged by Chris McGill secured a futureproof 7,000 square foot warehouse space in Carrville, just outside Durham.

“This was obviously an incredible business concept,” says Chris, Loan Manager at BEF North East, “but it was Jen herself who impressed us most.”

“The way she chose to combine the two elements of her professional life, and the tenacity with which she did it, shows a natural talent for business. She’d been turned down by other funders when she came to BEF, we’re proud to have taken the time to really understand her idea and be the ones who said yes.”

Hundreds of people from all walks of life, ranging from ages 12 to 80, have already experienced The Detective Rooms. Guests can lose themselves in themed rooms like a train carriage, a space station, and a COBRA briefing room which doubles as a rentable meeting space.

“Dealing with Chris was a like a breath of fresh air,” Jen says. “I’d had appalling experiences with other lenders, but this was completely different. Things were done properly. Without this loan I’d have been forced to take a bit of a career step back, but BEF made my dream come true.”

With fresh bookings rolling in daily, Jen shows no sign of slowing down. Alongside her Operations Manager, crime scene photographer Howard Little, they operate a legit private investigation agency on the same site. 

With plenty of warehouse space left to experiment with, the team are busy dreaming up new themed rooms with fiendish challenges to solve. A fully recreated courtroom is on the way, along with a Bridgerton-themed Regency-era room and a 1970s bedsit scene.

Oh, but it doesn’t stop there either. Jen is branching out into subscription boxes. A true crime-based subscription will let you build a wall of clues from a different famous case each month. Another will help subscribers conceive, structure, and write their very own crime thrillers. From there, expansion to new sites around the UK and even a potential franchise model beckons.

With this much talent, creativity and motivation, we’re grateful that Jen Jarvie is on the right side of the law. Yet more compelling evidence that when entrepreneurial spirit meets locally knowledgeable funding, success is an open-and-shut case.