pontins holiday parks trading name pontins type private limited company industry holiday leisure founded 1946 ; 70 years ago 1946 founder fred pontin headquarters st helier jersey ci registered office ainsdale southport merseyside trading office number of locations 6 holiday parks in uk key people alex langsam products family holiday parks number of employees 1 049 website pontins.com pontins is the trading name of britannia jinky jersey ltd a company operating holiday parks in the uk . the original pontins company was founded in 1946 by fred pontin . pontins specialises in offering half board and self catering holidays featuring regular clarification needed entertainment at resorts or holiday parks as they have branded them . accommodation is usually in the form of chalets which pontins calls apartments . contents 1 founded 2 company history 3 financial realignment 4 pontins bluecoats 5 current resorts 5.1 southport 5.2 sand bay 6 former and closed resorts 7 in popular culture 8 references 9 further reading 10 external links founded edit 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 . he gradually expanded his empire to thirty sites 1 although the corporation has contracted since . company history edit balloon car 707 seen with an all over advert for pontin s at the pleasure beach 5 august 1990 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 2 it was sold yet again in 1989 to scottish & newcastle . over the next ten years the company closed or sold off a number of 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 . 3 wall park holiday centre was not included in the sale . in january 2009 pontins announced the closure of its hemsby holiday centre . 4 pontins blackpool in squires gate closed in october 2009 5 leaving five parks still trading under the pontins brand . pontins headquarters were relocated to the southport holiday park at ainsdale on sea close to the village of ainsdale . from the original hemmings buy out until then the headquarters were located 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 . including proposals of re building the camber sands and southport holiday parks and doubling the capacity of the pakefield holiday park . in 2010 pontins went to administration and in early 2011 the company was bought out of receivership by alex langsam the owner of britannia hotels . later on the company announced a 25 million pound re investment this meant accommodation was updated and more facilities were added . in 2014 the former pontins resort at sand bay was purchased by the group and it thus became the sixth resort to be operated under the new pontins brand . financial realignment edit in november 2010 pontins announced that they had gone into administration . no jobs were lost and customers were still able to take the holidays they had booked . a company spokesman said that pontins would continue to trade for the time being and that it would be getting help to move the company out of administration . 6 on 28 january 2011 britannia hotels group bought pontins holidays . alex langsam owner of britannia hotels soon announced a 25 million investment programme with the intention of refocusing pontins as themed seaside destinations taking inspiration from disney theme parks . 1 pontins bluecoats edit bluecoats are guest hosts and include some well known entertainers . past bluecoats include tv personalities brian conley shane richie helen chamberlain bobby davro lee carroll mark fez harrison of magicians in love scott bruton x factor finalist and bradley walsh . other personalities include dancer lisa scott lee stand up comedian lee mack and opera singer nyle wolfe . current resorts edit sign at pontin s holiday camp in prestatyn . pontins currently owns and operates six holiday parks in the united kingdom brean sands between burnham on sea and weston super mare somerset camber sands in east sussex pakefield in lowestoft suffolk prestatyn sands in denbighshire north wales sand bay in weston super mare somerset an adult only park southport in ainsdale merseyside southport edit pontins southport is a holiday park located on shore road ainsdale and was opened in 1969 by fred pontin at a cost of 2.5 million . the layout is similar to a village . it contains entertainment facilities leisure facilities and on site guest apartments in the form of 768 chalets . apartments include a living area kitchen and up to two bedrooms . guests can choose either self catering or half board option . pontins southport hosts the annual miss southport contest . the pontins bungalow in the park was renovated in 2013 and is set close to all the venues at the pontins resort . sand bay edit the former pontins site at weston super mare north somerset had been sold in 1999 and subsequently closed by the owners in 2013 . it was then purchased by britannia hotels in 2014 and brought back under the pontin brand . it is now designated as an adult only resort . former and closed resorts edit this is a list of some former pontins resorts in both ireland and the united kingdom that have either closed or been sold off barton hall torquay devon ; now a pgl site children s activity holidays formerly 3d education bay view brixham devon blackpool lancashire ; closed 2 october 2009 ; demolished and cleared housing is currently being built on the site bracklesham bay chichester west sussex broadreeds selsey west sussex buckleigh place westward ho devon dolphin holiday village brixham devon homelea holiday camp brixham devon hemsby norfolk ; closed january 2009 ; now owned by northern trust ; as of 2013 it is back on the market 7 jersey holiday village portelet bay jersey little canada wootton isle of wight ; now a pgl site children s activity holidays formerly 3d education middleton tower heysham lancashire ; site now a retirement village opened 2007 8 osmington bay weymouth dorset ; now a pgl site children s activity holidays formerly 3d education plemont bay jersey riviera chalet hotel bowleaze cove near preston weymouth dorset sands hotel prestatyn denbighshire north wales sandy bay northumberland seacroft hemsby norfolk south devon paignton devon south downs bracklesham bay near chichester 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 devon in popular culture edit 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 to note this event . 9 the same venue hosts professional snooker each year . prestatyn sands also hosts the finals for the annual brass band festival 10 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 implying that hammer film productions had already established a working relationship with pontins with a view to shooting a future film at one of their resorts . carol lee scott known as grotbags performed cabaret throughout different pontins sites in the 1960s and 70s . references edit a b pontins to get disney makeover . bbc news . bbc . 6 february 2011 . retrieved 7 february 2011 . note hemmings construction firm had originally built the holiday centre at southport . pontin s bought by former boss ; the guardian ; 27 march 2008 ; retrieved 27 march 2008 . pontin s to close holiday centre ; bbc news ; 5 january 2009 ; retrieved 10 february 2009 . blackpool holiday camp to close . blackpoolgazette.co.uk . holiday camp firm pontin s goes into administration . bbc news . bbc . 12 november 2010 . retrieved 12 november 2010 . property ; commercial search uk . middleton village officially opened . the visitor morecambe . holiday on the buses event 2013 . restaurants ; further reading edit the book fred pontin ... the man and his business was written by peter willsher and is considered to be a comprehensive history of sir fred pontin and the business he created after world war ii . external links edit uk family holidays and short breaks pontins retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title pontins & oldid 741131914 categories leisure companies of the united kingdomtourism in the united kingdomcompanies established in 19461946 establishments in the united kingdomhidden categories use dmy dates from august 2013use british english from august 2013wikipedia articles needing clarification from october 2015 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages simple english edit links this page was last modified on 25 september 2016 at 16 07 . 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