Product Update
Is Ploughcroft Solar Still in Business? (2026 Update)
Is Ploughcroft Solar from Dragons’ Den still around in 2026? The deal it made, the dragons who invested, and where to buy Ploughcroft Solar today.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Ploughcroft Solar pitched a solar panel installation business at a moment when government incentives were pulling homeowners toward renewable energy in a hurry. The honest answer is more complicated than a simple yes or no, because the company that took the Dragons' money did not survive in its original form, even though solar installation work under related branding has continued in some form since.
The Short Answer
The original Dragons' Den company, run by founder Chris Hopkins, went into administration in 2012, only a few years after the investment closed. Hopkins later bought the assets out of administration and continued trading under a new entity, Ploughcroft Ltd, which was itself acquired by the roofing group Avonside Group Services in 2017, with Hopkins staying on as a divisional director.
That later entity, Ploughcroft Ltd, was dissolved on Companies House in March 2024. So while solar and roofing installation work associated with Hopkins and the Ploughcroft name has continued in various corporate forms over the years, the specific company that pitched in the Den, and its direct successor, are no longer active businesses in their own right today.
The Pitch
Chris Hopkins brought Ploughcroft to the Den in Series 9, Episode 1. The business installed solar panels for homeowners, riding the wave of interest in renewable energy that followed the introduction of the UK's feed-in tariff scheme, which paid households for generating their own solar electricity.
Hopkins asked for £120,000 in exchange for 25 percent of the company, a fairly standard ask for a growing installation business looking to scale up ahead of rising demand.
The Deal
Deborah Meaden and Theo Paphitis backed the pitch jointly, investing the full £120,000 for the 25 percent equity stake on offer. At the time, both Dragons were reportedly enthusiastic about the renewable energy sector, seeing solar as an industry with genuine long-term tailwinds behind it.
That optimism was not misplaced about the sector as a whole. It was the specific business that ran into trouble, which is a useful reminder that even a well-timed industry bet does not guarantee a founder or their company survives the execution.
Solar installation in the early 2010s was a genuinely fast-growing niche, driven almost entirely by government subsidy rather than organic consumer demand for renewable energy on its own merits. That kind of subsidy-driven growth can be a trap for a scaling business, because it tends to attract a wave of new entrants and rapid expansion right up until the moment the subsidy is cut, at which point demand can fall away faster than a company built for growth can adjust its cost base.
What Went Wrong
The UK solar installation industry hit serious turbulence when the Department of Energy and Climate Change made sharp cuts to feed-in tariff subsidies, a change that hurt the economics for installers across the board, not just Ploughcroft. Reports from the time describe the business making its workforce redundant as the wider solar slump took hold.
The company entered administration roughly six months after the Dragons had pulled their backing. When news of the collapse broke, Deborah Meaden reportedly responded publicly asking what had happened, suggesting she had not been closely tracking the business's finances in its final months, a detail that says something about how loosely some on-air deals are monitored once the cameras move on.
Chris Hopkins himself did not disappear from the industry after the collapse. He secured the company's assets out of administration and kept trading under the new Ploughcroft Ltd banner, eventually taking the business into a larger group through the Avonside acquisition in 2017 and continuing to work in a divisional director role there for several more years. That is a genuinely common pattern after a Dragons' Den company fails: the founder survives and keeps working in the same industry, even when the specific entity that pitched on television does not.
Where Things Stand Now
Ploughcroft pitched in Series 9 for £120,000 at 25 percent, and closed that amount with Deborah Meaden and Theo Paphitis. The original company entered administration in 2012, and its direct successor, Ploughcroft Ltd, was dissolved in March 2024 after having been folded into Avonside Group Services in 2017.
So the straight answer, following the evidence rather than assuming a happy ending, is that the company from the pitch is not still trading as an independent business today. This is one of the clearer examples on our list of a Dragons' Den deal that ultimately did not survive, despite a promising industry backdrop and a joint investment from two experienced Dragons.
Where to buy Ploughcroft Solar
Still selling as of 10 July 2026. Check today's price and availability.
Affiliate link — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
See the full Ploughcroft Solar deal breakdown and term sheet →
