Captain Franko Reliable Entertainment: An introduction

Captain Franko Reliable Entertainment provides quality entertainment for audiences of a variety of ages, right across N. Ireland. All of our experienced entertainers have £10 Million Public Liability Insurance included in the price.

Our entertainers are multi-talented, outgoing & highly creative talented people, with a minimum of eight years experience in showbusiness (and some with over two decades!).

We are proud not to solicit or accept Arts Council grants or government funding - our success is based on the quality of our entertainment & level of service, not on your taxes!

We treat all of our audiences with equal respect, regardless of race, religion, ability or age. If your group have special needs, please feel free to discuss these at the time of booking.

Some of the types of event we can cover:

Expert corporate entertainment, for launches, photocalls, fun days and more. Suitable for restaurants, community festivals, schools, outdoor events, pubs & clubs - the list goes on and on.

Children's birthday parties, end-of-term fun days, leaflet drops, publicity stunts - your imagination is the only limit!

Clowns, Magicians, Punch & Judy, Flea Circus, Stilt Walkers, Street Theatre, Live Statues, Ventriloquists and crazy characters. Inflatable games and full "It's a Knockout" style events. (Click "Ideas" for full details).

You can also see Photos here & Videos here.

Company history.

In response to a gap in the market for a creative family entertainment company, C.F.R. Entertainment was formed in the year 2000. It rapidly grew to it's current sustainable size & now represents seven of the country's top professional variety artistes. The owner, an entertainer himself, has been in showbusiness since 1989. The artsistes we represent are all seasoned professionals met by the owner during his two decades in the business.

About the Owner.

The company is wholly owned by Lee Prior, pictured right. Lee first went into showbusiness over 21 years ago, working in several european cities. He has worked in TV, the variety circuit & as a street performer and is a member of Actors Equity. You'll never guess, but he tries not to take himself too seriously.

Lee is currently setting up a domestic plumbing company, CFR Plumbing, www.cfrplumbing.com,
and also has a Animation company, Antrim County Design.

Lee's Personal Journey.

Born in London in the (very) early 1970's, I left school at 15 to start work as an engineering apprentice. After three years in a factory, I admitted to myself that I was in the wrong job. I floated from job to job, including working as a clown for Smolensky's on the Strand!
I left London in 1989 and headed for Paris, France. Although I had grand plans, things took a drastic change for the worse and I became homeless age 19.

It was while living rough in Paris that I became a street entertainer, working as a fire breather / fire eater* and juggler. The performance skills I developed while working the Parisien streets remain an essential part of my performance to this day.

After more than a year of vagrancy I started work for Exact Change SARL, working up to an appointment as manager of a prestigious foreign exchange office in St. Tropez. This is where I started to develop my business knowledge and professional attitude.
I never stopped street performing (much to the CEO's amusement) and returned to full-time street entertainment in 1995. I settled in Belfast in 1996, entering the professional corporate entertainment circuit in 1997.

Having spotted a gap in the market for an entertainer with a desire to develop new acts I started Captain Franko Reliable Entertainment, first working alone, then expanding to represent other artistes.

If you visit my personal web site, "The Captain Franko Experience", you can find out more about my time as a tramp. Not to mention laugh at some old photos!

*Captain Franko stopped breathing fire in 2001, and due to the serious health dangers associated with fire-eating we do not represent any fire breathers or fire eaters

Satisfied Clients & Testimonials.

Captain Franko Reliable Entertainment have a client list running to nearly a thousand names- here's a small selection:

The following councils: Coleraine; Strabane; Magherafelt; Newry & Mourne; Newtownabbey; Belfast City; Carrickfergus; Derry City; Omagh.

Newry City Centre Management, The Downs Syndrome Association, Microsoft, 02, Waterstone's, BT, The Health Promotion Agency, Mothercare, the BBC, RTE, the Office of the First Minister, The Sports Council NI.
Iceland, Wilson's of Rathkenny, The Ramada & Dunadry Hotels, Belfast Zoo, Riverside Renault, Coca-Cola, The National Trust, Tesco, Vodafone, The Tower Centre, Northern Ireland Electricity, The Tower Museum, Wine Inns, The Bank of Ireland (Dublin), First Trust Bank, Renault & hundreds more including schools, community groups, universities, golf clubs, restaurants and festival committees across the country.

We value our reputation very highly, and approach every booking with an identical level of professionalism - be it large or small.

The results of our customer satisfaction survey included the following:

• Average rating for 'Punctuality': Very Good ('very good' being the highest option in the survey)
• 'Quality of entertainment' avg. : Very Good
• 'Over-all value for money' avg. : Very Good
• 'Over-all Satisfaction' avg. : Very Good
• Every single client responding to the survey said "Yes" they would recommend CFR Entertainment to a friend or relative.
Source: CFR Entertainment client satisfaction survey.

To help ensure reliability, our specially designed booking software ("Entsafe") makes double booking impossible. It also produces a two-stage paper copy of each booking as a fail-safe. All of our bookings are printed on recycled paper.

Client Testimonials:

"The entertainment was extremely professional, entertaining and always reliable, as well as inspired in concept. Above all, CFR Entertainment was a pleasure to work with." Ms M, Carrickfergus.

"Your magic show was excellent and the children were gripped from start to finish!" Mr S, Belfast

"Many thanks for entertaining the kids today - everyone thought it was fantastic, even the parents!" Mrs G, Lisburn.

"I'm sure you already know from the response you received on the evening that everyone very much enjoyed it. Thank you also for the caring way in which you treated our members. We look forward to seeing you again" Mrs H, Coleraine

"Thank you to you & your performers for providing us with an excellent afternoon's entertainment" Mr C, Omagh.

"Thank you so much for your contribution to our festivities this year - it was greatly appreciated" Ms T, Newry.

"Thanks for the excellent children's entertainment you provided ... Your professionalism ensured that everyone had a very enjoyable evening" Lord R., Hillsborough.

"The shows were very entertaining and I have received nothing but gushing praise from the parents" Mr B, Antrim.

"You were amazing - and made the day. your professionalism and your kindness were much appreciated" Mrs H, Co. Down.

"Thanks for being part of our big day and for making it so special" Mr & Mrs M, Ballymena.

"Thanks to you and your staff for the great performance at our carnival" Ms K, Strabane.

"Many thanks... for the invaluable part you played in making our showroom launch so successful" Mr C, Rathkenny.

"Everyone enjoyed the balloon modeling, stilt-walkers and of course the Punch & Judy show" Mrs M, Co. Antrim.

Company Information