Pontins

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 entertainment at resorts, or "holiday parks", as they have branded them. Accommodation is usually in the form of chalets (which Pontins calls "apartments").

Founded

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, although the corporation has contracted since.

Company history

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 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. Wall Park holiday centre was not included in the sale. In January 2009, Pontins announced the closure of its Hemsby holiday centre. Pontins Blackpool in Squires Gate closed in October 2009 leaving five parks still trading under the Pontins brand.