Given the lingering taboos and sadness around funerals, most Britons find planning for or organising one a tricky task. Contemporary funeral parlour Exit Here aims to improve the experience by offering bespoke services that encourage people to plan ahead and create personal rituals. We explore the insights behind the goal of getting people thinking about the unthinkable.
Founded by restaurateur Oliver Peyton, Exit Here is a London-based funeral parlour that aims to give people more control over their funeral – or the funeral of a loved one – by offering a broad range of services from totally personalised ceremonies to traditional wakes. Its eclectic services seek to break down the taboos around death by making the experience of organising a funeral more accessible and less scary. Peyton was inspired by his own experience arranging the funeral of his parents. “After my parents’ deaths, I just kept thinking, there’s no choice. You’re just on a conveyor belt,” he says. “I didn’t achieve the things I know that certainly my father would have wanted. I was too traumatized.”
Organising a funeral is a daunting task at an incredibly emotional time. According to a study conducted by Beagle Street life insurance, 44% of people who’ve organised a funeral felt daunted by the pressure to get it all right and 39% said it was difficult to arrange something so important while grieving. Exit Here hopes to minimise the pressure on loved ones by making the prospect of organising one’s own funeral less intimidating. Given that 41% of UK adults want their funeral to be a celebratory affair, but only one in ten Britons have a written plan for the occasion, Exit Here could help close the gap between people's desires and their actual behaviour.
Katy Young is a senior writer and researcher at Canvas8, which specialises in behavioural insights and consumer research. She has a degree in American Studies and Film and an MA in Journalism. Her interests include wild swimming, thinking of podcast ideas and singing in an all-female choir.
