The story
Blue Reef was formed as Newquay Leisure Limited in January 2000. In July 2001, Blue Reef acquired the Sea Life Centers in Portsmouth and Tynemouth and announced their intent in November 2001 to refurbish them under the Blue Reef name for an opening in 2002.
In November 2007, Blue Reef announced they had acquired the Hastings-based attraction Underwater World from Hastings Heritage and would refurbish it as a Blue Reef Aquarium in time for 2008. On the same day, they also announced that they would also begin to operate Smugglers Adventure attraction nearby.
On 7 April 2008, Aspro Parks announced the purchase of Blue Reef Leisure for an undisclosed amount. The purchase was for Aspro to expand its UK offerings. On the same day, it was announced that Blue Reef would open a branch at At-Bristol in Bristol for 2009 at the former Wildwalk and IMAX Cinema sites under a 65-year lease.
From Wikipedia’s article on Blue Reef Aquarium, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4