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Pontins

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For other uses, see Pontins (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Pontings.

Pontins Holiday Parks
Pontins
Company typePrivate limited company
IndustryHoliday / Leisure
Founded1946 (1946)
FounderFred Pontin
HeadquartersSt Helier, Jersey (registered office)
Hale, Greater Manchester, England (contact address)
Number of locations
2 (2024)
ProductsFamily holiday parks
OwnerBritannia Hotels
Number of employees
715
Websitepontins.com

Pontins is a British company operating holiday parks in the UK, founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin. It was acquired by Britannia Hotels in 2011.[1]

Pontins specialises in offering half-board and self-catering holidays featuring entertainment at resorts, or "holiday parks", as they have branded them. Accommodation is usually in the form of chalets (which Pontins calls "apartments").

In 2022, it was rated the worst British holiday park chain out of a field of 19 in a survey by consumer association Which?[2]

As of April 2024, two of the remaining Pontins resorts (Brean Sands and Pakefield) were closed to the public for a temporary but extended period due to serving as accommmodation for construction workers on nearby projects.[3][4]

Company history

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Brean Sands holiday park in 2008

Fred Pontin opened his first holiday camp in 1946 on the site of a former U.S. army base (built during World War II), at Brean Sands near Weston-super-Mare in Somerset at a cost of £23,000. Pontin formed a syndicate, in which he held 50% control, to own the camp.[5] Within a year he had six camps.[6] Over the years he bought more camps and personally ran them for a year, before selling them to the syndicate.[5] He gradually expanded his empire to thirty sites.[7]

Entrance to Camber Sands camp in 2017, a few years before its closure in 2023

The camps were smaller and less expensive than Butlin's holiday camps.[6] Pontins had Bluecoats to entertain their guests, as opposed to Butlins Redcoats. Among the Bluecoats were Stu Francis, Shane Richie, Bobby Davro, Bradley Walsh, Nick Wilton, Lee Mack and Carol Lee Scott (who later played "Grotbags").[6][8]

In 1978, the company was sold to Coral for £56 million. In 1980, Coral (including Pontins) was taken over by Bass Brewing, who sold Pontins in 1987 to a management buyout team led by Trevor Hemmings.[a] It was sold again in 1989, to Scottish & Newcastle.

Play equipment at the now-closed Camber Sands camp in 2017

Over the next ten years, the company closed or sold off multiple sites. In a three-year programme in the mid-1990s, the remaining camps were modernised. By 2000, the company was operating only eight camps, and was sold back to Hemmings. In 2008, the company was sold to Ocean Parcs for £46 million.[9] Wall Park holiday centre was not included in the sale.

In January 2009, Pontins announced the closure of its Hemsby holiday centre.[10] Pontins Blackpool in Squires Gate closed in October 2009 and was subsequently demolished after being acquired by property developer Persimmon,[11] leaving only five parks still operating under the Pontins brand.

Pontins headquarters were relocated to the Southport Holiday Park, Ainsdale in Southport. From the original Hemmings buy-out until then, the headquarters were at Sagar House in the village of Eccleston, Lancashire.

Wick Ferry Pontins camp in 1971

In September 2009, Pontins announced a five-year multi-million investment plan for the remaining five parks. Refurbishment work completed in 2010 included a new half-board restaurant and ice skating rink at the Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park, and a new roller skating rink at the Brean Sands Holiday Park. Proposals of rebuilding the Camber Sands and Southport Holiday Parks and doubling the capacity of the Pakefield Holiday Park were also made.

In November 2010, Pontins entered administrative receivership[6] and in January 2011, the company was bought out of receivership by Britannia Hotels.[1] In 2014, the former Pontins resort at Sand Bay was purchased by the group and it became the sixth resort to be operated under the new Pontins brand.

On 30 November 2023, Britannia Hotels, owners of Pontins, suddenly closed the parks at Prestatyn and Camber Sands with immediate effect, affecting people who had made bookings for the Christmas period.[2] On 3 January 2024 the park at Southport was suddenly closed following flooding in Storm Henk.[12]

Discrimination against Irish Travellers

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In March 2021 a whistleblower provided the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) with an internal Pontins document listing what were considered to be common Irish surnames, deeming people so named to be "undesirable guests" whose booking was to be refused.[13][14][15] This was done to be able to refuse bookings from Romani and Irish Travellers based on their name; discrimination was also by accent.[16] The practice was investigated by the EHRC, which found Pontins was "directly discriminating on the basis of race", breaching the Equality Act 2010.[13] The Britannia Hotel Group, which owns Pontins, made a legal agreement with the EHRC to investigate and end the practice, and change its policies and systems accordingly.[17]

Resorts

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As of January 2024 Pontins operated the following resorts:

class=notpageimage|
Location of current Pontins holiday camps

Resorts closed or sold

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Entrance to Blackpool camp in November 2009, shortly after closure
Balloon car 707, seen with an all over advert for Pontin's, at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 1990
Chalets at former Camber Sands camp

This is a list of some former Pontins resorts in the UK and Ireland that have either closed or been sold:

  • Barton Hall, Torquay, Devon; now a PGL site from 2010 (children's activity holidays)
  • Bay View, Brixham, Devon
  • Blackpool, Lancashire; closed 2 October 2009; demolished and cleared, housing is now on the site
  • Bracklesham Bay, Chichester, West Sussex
  • Broadreeds, Selsey, West Sussex
  • Buckleigh Place, Westward Ho!, Devon
  • Camber Sands, Camber, East Sussex (closed 30 November 2023)
  • Dolphin Holiday Village, Brixham, Devon
  • Homelea Holiday Camp, Brixham, Devon
  • Hemsby, Norfolk; (closed January 2009); now owned by Northern Trust; as of 2023 it is back on the market[19]
  • Jersey Holiday Village, Portelet Bay, Jersey
  • Little Canada, Wootton, Isle of Wight; now a PGL site (children's activity holidays) (formerly 3D Education from 1995 to 2002)
  • Lydstep Haven, near Tenby, South Wales
  • Middleton Tower, Heysham, Lancashire; site now a retirement village (opened 2007)[20]
  • Osmington Bay, Weymouth, Dorset; now a PGL site (children's activity holidays) (formerly 3D Education from 1995 to 2002)
  • Plemont Bay, Jersey
  • Pendine Sands, Carmarthenshire, South Wales
  • Riviera Chalet Hotel, Bowleaze Cove (near Preston), Weymouth, Dorset
  • Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park, North Wales (closed 30 November 2023)
  • Sands Hotel, Prestatyn, Denbighshire, North Wales
  • Sandy Bay, Northumberland
  • Seacroft, Hemsby, Norfolk, Opposite side of the road from the other Hemsby site. Since 1998, owned and run by Richardson's as Hemsby Beach Holiday Park
  • South Devon, Paignton, Devon
  • South Downs, Bracklesham Bay, near Chichester
  • Southport, Merseyside[12]
  • St Mary's Bay, Brixham, Devon; now a Park Holidays UK site
  • Torbay Chalet Hotel, Paignton, Devon
  • Tower Beach, Prestatyn, Denbighshire, North Wales
  • Trabolgan, County Cork, Ireland; currently operating as "Trabolgan Holiday Village"
  • Wick Ferry, Christchurch, Dorset
  • Wall Park, Brixham; left derelict for years once new owners closed the park. Now demolished and cleared for Devon housing.
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  • The 1973 British film Holiday on the Buses was filmed at and set in the Prestatyn resort. A plaque was erected in 2004 at the main entrance gates (unchanged since the film was shot) to note this event.[21] The same venue hosted professional snooker each year. Prestatyn Sands also hosted the finals for the annual Brass Band Festival;[22] historically, the qualifying rounds were held in other Pontins centres.
  • The previous On The Buses film, Mutiny on the Buses (1972), depicted buses carrying adverts with the slogan "Go Pontinental", a chain of holiday villages set up in Continental Europe.[5]
  • In November 2020, Liverpool-based indie band Courting released their fourth single 'Popshop!' which mentions the resort (in particular the Southport site) in its lyrics saying: "take the lads on tour, we'll go to Pontins."

Notes

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  1. ^ Hemmings construction firm had originally built the holiday centre at Southport.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Pontin's holiday firm bought by Britannia Hotel group". BBC News. 28 January 2011. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
  2. ^ a b Sweney, Mark (1 December 2023). "Pontins to close Prestatyn and Camber Sands resorts 'with immediate effect'". The Guardian.
  3. ^ a b Leaman, Tom (11 January 2023). "Holiday park closes to accommodate hundreds of Hinkley Point C workers". Bridgwater Mercury.
  4. ^ a b "Pontins Pakefield to house 500 Sizewell C construction workers". BBC News. 24 April 2024. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Barker, Dennis (4 October 2000). "Obituary: Sir Fred Pontin". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  6. ^ a b c d Finch, Julia; Treanor, Jill (13 November 2010). "Pontin's falls into administration as fond memories fail to save firm". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  7. ^ "Pontins to get 'Disney' makeover". BBC News. 6 February 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  8. ^ "Grotbags actress Carol Lee Scott dies aged 74". BBC News. 6 July 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  9. ^ "Pontin's bought by former boss". The Guardian. 27 March 2008. Retrieved 27 March 2008.
  10. ^ "Pontin's to close holiday centre". BBC News. 5 January 2009. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  11. ^ "Blackpool holiday camp to close". Blackpool Gazette.
  12. ^ a b Wearn, Rebecca; Horsburgh, Lynette (3 January 2024). "Pontins closures: Southport site shut after 'viability' assessment". BBC News.
  13. ^ a b "Pontins used 'undesirables list' of Irish surnames". BBC News. 2 March 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  14. ^ Booth, Robert (2 March 2021). "Secret Pontins blacklist prevented people with Irish surnames from booking". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  15. ^ Rodger, James; Shaw, Megan (3 March 2021). "Full list of Pontins banned surnames excluded from booking holidays". Yorkshire Live. Archived from the original on 20 May 2022.
  16. ^ "Pontins used 'undesirable guests' list to discriminate against Gypsies and travellers, EHRC says". Sky News. 2 March 2021.
  17. ^ "Pontins used blacklist of common Irish surnames to keep Traveller families out of holiday parks". inews.co.uk. 2 March 2021.
  18. ^ Mumby, Daniel (17 September 2024). "Pontins holiday park future decision demanded with tourism fears". Somerset Live. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  19. ^ "Property". Commercial Search UK. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013.
  20. ^ "Middleton Village officially opened". The Visitor, Morecambe.
  21. ^ "Holiday on the Buses Event 2013".
  22. ^ "Restaurants". Archived from the original on 11 February 2009.
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