Pontins has been a much-loved British family holiday staple for nearly 80 years, but its future looks bleak after the closure of its third holiday park in a matter of weeks means fewer than a handful of sites remain.
Staff at the Southport park site in Merseyside claim they found out by text they had lost their jobs just hours before the shock announcement was made.
Pontins blamed recent flooding caused by Storm Henk saying ‘after assessing the future viability of the park, we have come to the difficult decision to close our doors’.
It comes after the parks in Prestatyn, North Wales and Camber Sands, in Sussex, were immediately shut down at the end of November without warning, with the latest closure raising serious questions about the future of the once much-loved family getaway.
It raises questions over the future of the sites, with the Home Office recently denying rumours the closed down parks would be used to house migrants.
Pontins was bought out of administration by Britannia Hotels for £20million in 2011 with much promise from hotel tycoon Alex Langsam, dubbed the ‘Asylum King’, to reinvent the troubled parks into Disney-style seaside destinations.
The multi-millionaire has amassed an estimated £248m fortune through Britannia Hotels, which enjoys lucrative taxpayer-funded contracts to house asylum seekers across its 60 sites.
But Britannia, which was named the worst hotel chain for eleven consecutive years, has failed to stem the decline of Pontins in the last decade.
The closure of the Southport site in Merseyside means there are only three remaining Pontins. In its heyday there were 30
The famous bluecoat cabaret entertainers at a Pontins Holiday Camp circa 1993
People watch on as a beauty contest takes place at the Middleton Tower Holiday Camp near Morecambe in the 1950s. The Pontins site shut in 1993
The Pontins at the Spanish-style Riviera Chalet Hotel in Weymouth on a hot sunny day in 1987
Sir Fred Pontin first launched Pontins in 1946 offering half-board and self-catering holidays with entertainment at resorts around the country
Britannia Hotels owner Alex Langsam has built up an estimated £248m fortune through Britannia Hotels, which has been handed lucrative taxpayer-funded contracts to house asylum seekers
Families were evacuated from the Southport site by firefighters on New Year’s Day when heavy rainfall caused the old boating lake to burst its banks and flood the park, reported the Liverpool Echo.
In less than 48 hours on Wednesday afternoon, Pontins announced on its Facebook page the park would be closing its doors for good, with The Mirror reporting furious staff were told by text message.
‘It is with great sadness that we announce the closure of Pontins Southport Holiday Park,’ they said in a statement.
‘After assessing the future viability of the park, we have come to the difficult decision to close our doors. Unfortunately, this means that Pontins Southport Holiday Park will be closing from Wednesday 3rd January 2024.
‘Customers whose bookings will be affected by these closures will be contacted by our team and refunded.
‘We apologise for any inconvenience caused.’
Southport’s Conservative MP Damien Moore told the BBC the closure could provide an economic boost to the area with the right investment.
‘Whilst the closure of Pontins is clearly concerning for the staff who I’m sure will be shocked, it provides a fantastic opportunity for a high-quality holiday accommodation provider to take over the site,’ he said.
‘Given its excellent location next to Ainsdale beach, with suitable investment, it could offer a substantial economic boost to Ainsdale and the wider Southport area.’
In its heyday there were 30 Pontins scattered across the country, but with recent closures mean there are only three left standing: Pakefield, in Suffolk; Sand Bay, in Weston-super-Mare; and Brean Sands, in Somerset.
Although Pontins announced last January the Brean Sands park would shut for three years so EDF could house 900 workers while work is carried out on a new nuclear power plant.
The Pontins in Pakefield, Suffolk, (pictured in 2009) is today only one of three remaining parks still left standing
A man and woman take to the dance floor during a Pontins ‘Rhythm Riot Weekend’ at the now closed Camber Sands site in Sussex
The once much-loved family getaway has been on the decline since the 1980s and was saved from administration in 2011
The guests outside the chalets at Pontin’s Holiday Camp, Osmington Bay, Dorset, in 1958
Owners of the Southport park, pictured in 2020, said in a statement ‘after assessing the future viability of the park, we have come to the difficult decision to close our doors’
Family accommodation at a Pontins holiday camp in the 1980s, with the brand a rival to Butlins for a UK getaway
Britannia Hotel Group bought Pontin’s out of administration for a reported £20million lin 2011 and the new owners said it had plans to reinvent the troubled parks into Disney-style seaside destinations (posed picture)
A group of revellers on the chalet balcony at the Rockabilly Weekend at Pontins, Camber Sands, East Sussex, in June 2013
Bluecoat cabaret members take part in a balloon sketch at one of the Pontins holiday parks in the 1980s
Pictured: The Middleton Tower Pontins Holiday Camp, in Morecambe, in 1950
The Home Office was forced to deny the Prestatyn and Camber Sands sites would be used to house 1,600 migrants after rumours began to swirl online.
The Home Office said in December the rumours were not true – and it do not know where they came from.
The Home Office told they are not looking to use the Pontins sites as asylum seeker accommodation – insisting that there are no plans.
A reason behind the closures have yet to been revealed with owners Britannia posting record profits this year.
It posted pre-tax profits of £33.3m for the 12 months to March 31, 2022, after falling to a loss of £9.5m in the prior year, while accounts filed to Companies House shows it achieved a turnover of £117.8m, up from just £38.4 million.
The company, whose multimillionaire boss Andrew Langsam has built up an estimated £248m fortune through Britannia Hotels, enjoys lucrative taxpayer-funded contracts to house asylum seekers across its 60 sites – at least 17 of which are said to have been block-booked.
The octogenarian tycoon launched the company in 1976 with the purchase of the Britannia Country House Hotel in Didsbury, Manchester. He also owns Pontins, which in 2021 tried to ban travellers from its holiday parks.
The entrepreneur has previously boasted of Britannia’s role in safeguarding the future of some of Britain’s most historic hotels, including the Adelphi in Liverpool – which was used by passengers on the Titanic – and the Grand in Scarborough.
The once much-loved UK holiday getaway has been blighted by a raft of closures in the last few decades (Pictured: The closed Pontins in Hemsby, Norfolk, in 2014)
The abandoned former Pontins Holiday Park, in Hemsby, Norfolk, was eerily pictured in 2014, six years after dwindling numbers caused its closure
A general view of derelict holiday chalets as they await demolition at Pontins Holiday Camp in Blackpool in 2012
But Britannia is now notorious for its Basil Fawlty style service, with its entry in the Which? ranking of the best and worst hotels in the country stating: ‘Run-down, dirty and once again the worst hotel chain in the UK. Avoid at all costs.’
Fred Pontin first launched Pontins in 1946 offering half-board and self-catering holidays with entertainment at resorts around the country before its £56million sale to Coral in 1978.
It went through a number of new owners before it was saved in 2011 by Britannia when it fell into administration.
Shane Ritchie, Bobby Davro, Bradley Walsh, and Lee Mack are listed among its former famous bluecoats.
has contacted Britannia Hotels for further comment.