Parkdean Holidays

Parkdean Holiday Parks Limited
(PD Parks Holdings Limited group)

Type	Private Limited Company
Industry	Leisure / Holiday
Fate	Merged with Park Resorts
Successor	Parkdean Resorts
Founded	1999 (1999)
Headquarters	Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Number of locations	24 holiday parks in the UK
Key people	John Waterworth Martin Robinson Ian Gill Mark Harper Judith Archibold Maggie Pavlou
Products	Self catering holiday parks
Revenue	£142.59m (group, 2015) [1]
Operating income	£39.79m EBITDA (group, 2015) [1]
Net income	£4.96m (group, 2015) [1]
Owner	Alchemy Partners Nominees Ltd (65%) [1]
Number of employees	2,028
Parent	PD Park Holdings Limited group
Website	http://www.parkdeanholidays.co.uk

Parkdean Holidays was a self-catering holiday park operator with 24 sites in the UK: fifteen in South West of England, six in Scotland, two in South Wales and one in East Anglia. Parkdean offered a range of accommodation, including caravan holiday homes, lodges, cottages and apartments.^[2]

In 2015, Parkdean Holidays merged with Park Resorts to create Parkdean Resorts, the UK's largest holiday park operator, managing 73 holiday parks across the UK.^[3]

The company was awarded "Best UK Holiday Park Operator" at the 2015 British Travel Awards, the sixth year in row Parkdean Holidays have won the award.^[4]

History

Parkdean Holidays was formed in November 1999 with a management buyout of Trecco Bay Holiday Park in South Wales for £21.4 million, and has since grown through a buy and build strategy.

In July 2000 Parkdean Holidays acquired an additional three parks in Cornwall: Newquay, Holywell Bay and Crantock Beach for a combined cost of £4.2 million.

In March 2001 Parkdean bought a further three holiday parks in the South West of England (Challaborough Bay, West Bay and St Minver) and four in Scotland (Grannie’s Heilan' Hame, Nairn Lochloy, Tummel Valley and Sundrum Castle) for a combined cost of £15.5 million. The head office in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne was also opened in March 2001.

March 2002 saw Parkdean Holidays acquire Ruda Holiday Park in Croyde, North Devon, which is home to the GoldCoast Oceanfest surfing festival.^[5] Two months later Parkdean Holidays was floated on the Alternative Investments Market of the London Stock Exchange.

In May 2003 White Acres and Sea Acres Holiday Parks in Cornwall were obtained for a combined £18.5 million.

In March 2004 Parkdean acquired Southerness Holiday Park in Scotland for £5.3 million, with a further five parks obtained in October (Warmwell, Cherry Tree, Torquay, Wemyss Bay and Pendine Sands) for £41.8 million.

In July 2007 Parkdean Holidays bought Weststar Holidays for £83 million. Weststar Holidays had 4 holiday parks in the South West, including Mullion and Looe Bay in Cornwall, Sandford in Dorset and Hayling Island in Hampshire.^[6]

In 2015 Parkdean and Park Resorts merged to create 'Parkdean Resorts'.^[7] Parkdean Resorts operates 73 holiday parks across the UK, serving 1.8 million customers, with 22,200 caravan owners, 35,400 pitches and 400,000 domestic holiday sales across their estate. The business continued to operate under two separate brands "Parkdean" and "Park Resorts" during 2016. The merger created the largest holiday park operator in the UK - alongside with the purchase of Vauxhall Holiday Park in Great Yarmouth in 2016.^[8]

Entertainment

Parkdean Holidays offered on-site entertainment as part of its holiday offering, including live performances from the "Parkdean Troupers" and children's entertainment hosted by Parkdean Holidays' own mascots "Sid" and "Lizzie".^[9]

Sid the Seagull and Lizzie the Lizard were the 2 mascots of Parkdean Holidays, hosting a number of children's activities and clubs at Parkdean Holidays' holiday parks. During the 2016/2017 entertainment revamp, it was announced that Parkdean's mascots would be merging with "Sparky's Krew Club" (Sparky, Sparkle and Naarky) from Park Resorts to create the "Starland Krew" under the new Parkdean Resorts brand.

The entertainers, known as the "Parkdean Troupers" produced live shows across the 24 parks as part of the Parkdean Holidays entertainment package. During the entertainment revamp of 2016/17 the Park Resorts "Team Stars" merged with the Parkdean Troupers to create the "Parkdean Resorts Troupers". These troupers now perform live shows around all 73 holiday parks, under the new Parkdean Resorts brand.

Holiday Parks

The following parks were operated by Parkdean Holidays.^[10]

Cornwall

Newquay

Holywell Bay

Crantock Beach

St Minver

Sea Acres

White Acres

Mullion

Looe Bay

Devon

Challaborough Bay

Ruda

Torquay

Dorset

Warmwell

West Bay

Sandford

Hampshire

Hayling Island

Norfolk

Cherry Tree

Scotland

Grannie's Heilan' Hame

Nairn Lochloy

Tummel Valley

Wemyss Bay

Sundrum Castle

Southerness

Wales

Trecco Bay

Pendine Sands

References

External links

• Holidays Site