Peter Jones acquired Red Letter Days after the company entered administration in 2005.
Red Letter Days sold vouchers for experiences such as driving days, spa visits and leisure activities. Rachel Elnaugh, one of the original Dragons, had founded the business and appeared on the programme’s first investor panel.
The company ran into financial trouble and entered administration in 2005. Peter Jones bought the assets and relaunched Red Letter Days, preserving the brand while changing its ownership. The story became one of the most memorable examples of a Dragon becoming involved with a business connected to the show outside the filming of a pitch.
Red Letter Days is not the same business as Reggae Reggae Sauce, which became famous after Levi Roots’s pitch, or Ryman, the stationery retailer associated with Theo Paphitis. Those companies are often mentioned alongside it in lists of notable Dragon-related businesses, but Jones’s acquisition concerned Red Letter Days.