New Pontin's owner Alex Langsam wants to add a touch of Disney to the Bluecoats tradition in revamp of holiday camps
California, Florida, Paris and … Prestatyn Sands? Disney-style resorts could be on the way to Britain under plans to revamp the struggling Pontin's holiday camps as themed seaside destinations for children.
Alex Langsam, whose Britannia Hotels empire includes the Adelphi in Liverpool and the Grand in Scarborough, reportedly paid £20m to rescue cash-strapped Pontin's from insolvency last week, averting a threatened closure of the business founded by Fred Pontin in 1946.
Langsam, who accuses Pontin's previous management of 'tremendous arrogance' and of starving the business of investment, is promising a £25m makeover. He wants to supplement Pontin's famous 'bluecoat' entertainers with Disney-style cartoon costumes and attractions.
'There are things we don't manage to do so well here that the Americans do so well,' Langsam said. 'If I go to the Disney site in Florida, I'm back to being a child – I see all those individuals dressed up. It's the adults that enjoy it as much as the kids.'
Insisting that Pontin's five remaining resorts are in 'wonderful' locations, Langsam believes he can spark a revival by aiming for the pre-teen market: 'The most important thing for me is getting some of the kiddie generation in, getting the kind of stuff kiddies like into parks on a large scale. The bluecoats will stay, because if it ain't broke, you don't fix it. But there will be people dressed up in all sorts of different ways, too.'
During its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s, Pontin's had 24 sites, but today only Brean Sands in Somerset, Camber Sands in Sussex, Pakefield in Suffolk, Southport in Merseyside and the Welsh resort of Prestatyn Sands remain.
Demand for domestic short breaks and so-called 'staycations' has been relatively strong as holidaymakers cut back on foreign trips during the recession. But Pontin's struggled to compete with the likes of Butlins, Haven Holidays and Center Parcs. Its troubles were aggravated by a BBC Watchdog investigation that highlighted shabby conditions, poor cleanliness and tatty rooms. The business went into administration in November, owing £40m to the high-street bank Santander.
Langsam accused former managing director Graham Parr, who led a management buyout of Pontin's in 2008, of 'milking it for money' in order to repay loans and of failing to invest: 'There's been tremendous arrogance – that you don't have to control costs, you don't have to control service, you don't have to control staff.'
These allegations were flatly rejected by Parr, who said any money taken out of Pontin's was used to service hefty borrowing taken on to refinance the business in 2008. 'We did everything we possibly could to keep the business afloat. We were just beaten by the amount of money we borrowed in the good times to buy it.'
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