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]
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.[3] Within a year he had six camps.[4] Over the years he bought more camps and personally ran them for a year, before selling them to the syndicate.[3] He gradually expanded his empire to thirty sites.[5]
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.
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.[7] Wall Park holiday centre was not included in the sale.
In January 2009, Pontins announced the closure of its Hemsby holiday centre.[8] Pontins Blackpool in Squires Gate closed in October 2009 and was subsequently demolished after being acquired by property developer Persimmon,[9] 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.
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[4] 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.[10]
Discrimination against Irish people
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.[11][12][13] This was done to be able to refuse bookings from gypsies and Irish Travellers based on their name; discrimination was also by accent.[14] The practice was investigated by the EHRC, which found Pontins was "directly discriminating on the basis of race", breaching the Equality Act 2010.[11] 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.[15]
Resorts
As of January 2024[update] Pontins operated the following resorts:
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
Wall Park, Brixham; left derelict for years once new owners closed the park. Now demolished and cleared for Devon housing.
In popular culture
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.[19] The same venue hosts professional snooker each year. Prestatyn Sands also hosts the finals for the annual Brass Band Festival;[20] 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.[3]
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
^Hemmings construction firm had originally built the holiday centre at Southport.
