Former CEO leads Pontin’s buy-out

Pontin’s has been acquired for an undisclosed sum, believed to be more than £45 million, by a company headed by a former CEO, Graham Parr. 

The new owners plan to re-vitalise the brand, with a vision of capturing a growing market for “value and environmentally conscious” UK holidays.

The business, comprising seven holiday village sites around the UK, has been acquired with the assistance of finance from Abbey UK Corporate Banking.

A new investment and management company Ocean Parcs has been formed by Parr, former Matalan finance director Ian Smith, Gaming International chief executive Clarke Osborne and Manchester barrister John Parr. 

The new team plans to develop Pontin’s holiday villages and holiday experience to ensure that they are environmentally sound whilst still representing value for money. 

The seven holiday villages attract arounf 750,000 holidaymakers a year in Blackpool, Southport, Prestatyn, Brean Sands, Camber Sands, Hemsby and Pakefield.

“The business case for the investment has at its heart a belief that, in the coming years, British families will increasingly prefer to holiday in the UK, concerned not only about the environmental impact of frequent short haul air travel but also increasing concerns about security and the ‘stress factor’ of poor airport experiences,” according to a statement from the new owners.

CEO Ian Smith said: “With people becoming increasingly aware of carbon emissions and the increased costs associated with environmentally unfriendly travel, more and more people are choosing to holiday more frequently and closer to home.

“I believe Pontin’s has significant potential to increase the number of guests to its sites by adapting to the needs of the 21^st century holidaymaker by adopting a modern and stylistic approach to holidaying in the UK.

“Pontin’s has some great people and I am looking forward to working with them to take the business forward in the months and years to come.”  

Osborne, who becomes property director, added: “Pontin’s have strong and capable management and some great locations.

“I know that we can add value to this brand and can enhance the quality of the experience, whilst maintaining its acknowledged value for money. We are all very excited by the prospects for this business.”

Executive chairman Parr has spent more than 25 years in the leisure industry including a number of years as part of the senior management team at Pontin’s.

He was the first CEO of Arena Leisure, where he led the development of the business into the UK’s leading race course operator. He was responsible for the formation and development of “Attheraces”, a joint venture with BSkyB and Channel 4 providing live feeds to betting venues.

He is currently chairman of Gaming International, a property, leisure and gambling company, and chairman of Probability PLC, an operator of mobile phone gambling services worldwide.  

The team has pledged to work closely with Pontin’s current management headed by operations director George Edwards.

Pontin’s was established by Sir Fred Pontin at Brean Sands in 1946. Within a year he had grown Pontin’s to six holiday villages, together able to accommodate over 1,300 holidaymakers at one time.

Pontin’s continued to grow, rapidly expanding the number of villages and capacity and in the early 1960’s introduced the Pontin “Bluecoats” that remain today.

Pontin’s changed hands over the next few years until it was sold in 1989 to Scottish and Newcastle, which embarked on a major revamp and modernisation of facilities.  The process of continual modernisation and rationalisation of villages has been maintained by its current owners.

by Phil Davies