Young Chester entrepreneur Nathan Pearson takes his creation to the Dragons’ Den.

Oct 13 2011 by Katie Bamber, Chester Chronicle

A YOUNG father-of-two from Chester dared to enter the Dragons’ Den – and managed to escape only slightly scorched.

Nathan Pearson, 26, is the inventor of the Romeo Shelf, which can be attached to balconies for al fresco entertaining.

The entrepreneur – who lives in Handbridge – asked the show’s formidable panel for £50,000 to help expand his company and bring his creation to a wider audience.

The episode, filmed in March, was recently broadcast on BBC2.

“I had a few friends round on Monday evening,” said Nathan, who grew up in Lache and attended Queen’s Park High School and West Cheshire College.

“My heart was in my mouth because you never know how you are going to be portrayed, but I thought I came across very well,” he added.

After leaving school, Nathan began a business degree at Nottingham University. But, only a year into his course, he returned to Chester to care for his ill mother.

Undeterred, Nathan moved into property development.

He then came up with the Romeo Shelf while hosting a party in his apartment by Chester Racecourse.

“Everyone was putting their drinks on the floor and someone spilt a bottle of wine,” he said.

After looking for – and failing to find -– a shelf for the flat’s balcony, Nathan decided to make one himself.

He juggled weeks of preparation for his Dragons’ Den pitch with a full-time job and bringing up his two sons, aged two and nine months.

“We didn’t find out until the day we were there what order we would be on in. All of a sudden someone grabbed me and said ‘you’re the first one’.

“You may have noticed I looked tired because I’d only had two hours sleep the night before. You build up to it for so long that you want to maximise every second in there. It did get a little bit heated.”

Sadly none of the Dragons offered Nathan the investment he was seeking – but he remains optimistic about the future of his business.

“There was a point during the show when we nearly had an offer, but it didn’t make it to the final show.

“But it was all a really good experience because they make you question things which, from your own perspective, you often overlook.

“We got just shy of 1,000 hits on the website on Monday and 700 on Tuesday night. We’ve had a few companies contacting us already saying they want to stock the product.”

For more information about Nathan’s creation, visit romeoshelf.com.