Park Holidays UK

The company was founded in the mid-1980s and originally called Cinque Ports Leisure. Frenchmans Beach, renamed Rye Harbour, was the first park to be owned, and as the company expanded to include other Kent and East Sussex parks, the name Cinque Ports Leisure was introduced to emphasize the regional base; the name being associated with the port towns that helped defend the UK during the Napoleonic wars.

The company significantly expanded in 2001 with the purchase of ten parks from Haven Holidays, which extended the company's presence west into Dorset and Hampshire and north into Essex and Suffolk. It has continued to expand over the intervening years with significant park acquisitions.

In 2006 the business was acquired by Graphite Capital, and changed name to Park Holidays UK in 2007, to reflect its expansion away from the Kent and East Sussex area, and the growing holiday and short break aspect of the business.

In 2008, the company acquired two new holiday parks in Dawlish Warren, Devon: Golden Sands Holiday Park and Peppermint Holiday Park. These were later amalgamated in 2013 to a single park location.

In November 2013, Caledonia Investments became the owners which facilitated continued investment and further acquisitions.

In December 2015, Park Holidays UK relocated its head office from Coghurst Hall, Hastings, to Glovers House, Bexhill-on-Sea with approximately 90 staff members, the first development to be completed in the newly built Bexhill Enterprise Park. Keeping with the company’s growing ambition Glovers House is a modern, low-energy building with panoramic views over the surrounding Sussex countryside, housing a three-floor, 25,235 square foot set of offices. In December 2016 it was announced that Caledonia Investments had agreed terms on a sale to Tiger Bidco Ltd, a company incorporated by Intermediate Capital Group (ICG), who remain the current owners.

Other parks locations have been added to the company over recent years. Broadland Sands Holiday Park in Suffolk was completed in December 2014, followed by Two Chimneys Holiday Park in 2015, which was renamed Birchington Vale, to reflect its location in the tranquil North Kent countryside. Tarka Holiday Park near Barnstable, North Devon was added in April 2016.

In June 2017, Park Holidays UK purchased Carlton Meres in Suffolk, just ten miles inland from the picturesque seaside town of Aldeburgh. In August 2017, the company bought Martello Beach Holiday Park (renamed as Pevensey Bay Holiday Park) near Eastbourne, East Sussex. In May 2018 they purchased another park named Martello Beach Holiday Park (keeping the original name) which is next to their St Osyth Beach resort, and then, in December 2018, the company purchased Dovercourt Holiday Park in Essex. Finally, in November 2019 they acquired a park on Mersea Island (Seaview Holiday Park), renaming it West Mersea Holiday Park, currently making it the 31st holiday park to join the group.

Over the last 5-10 years Park Holidays UK have carried out major refurbishments to its holiday parks, in particular focusing on infrastructure, clubhouses, new swimming pools, additional facilities, and upgraded holiday accommodation, with a strong focus on developments for luxury lodges.

Park Holidays UK operates six parks in Devon (Riviera Bay, Landscove, Waterside, Dawlish Sands, Golden Sands, Tarka), one in Dorset (Sandhills), one in Hampshire (Solent Breezes), six in Sussex (Beauport, Coghurst Hall, Chichester Lakeside, Winchelsea Sands, Rye Harbour Holiday Park, Pevensey Bay), six in Kent (Marlie, New Beach, Alberta, Seaview, Harts, Birchington Vale), seven in Essex (Steeple Bay, Oaklands, Seawick, St Osyth Beach, Martello Beach, Dovercourt, West Mersea) and four in Suffolk (Felixstowe Beach, Suffolk Sands, Broadland Sands, Carlton Meres).

• Official website