Pontins Investing £50m (the future of Camber & Southport)

[Lory]

NEWS...

Pontin's holiday firm bought by Britannia Hotel group

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12311266

The quote below made me laugh..

"Our extraordinary buildings are enjoyed by ordinary people.

[Maxine]

NEWS...

Pontin's holiday firm bought by Britannia Hotel group

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12311266

The quote below made me laugh..

This sounds like really good news for us weekenderholics. I don't even mind being thought of as ordinary, if I can still dance

[David Bailey]

The quote below made me laugh..

"Our extraordinary buildings are enjoyed by ordinary people.

Well, I think "extraordinary" is quite an accurate description myself.

[DavidY]

NEWS...

Pontin's holiday firm bought by Britannia Hotel group

I think it's promising that it's been bought by someone in the same business rather than eg. J Bloggs Property Development Ltd, but it will be interesting to see what they do with the sites, chalets and facilities.

Even Pontins were planning to develop Southport in a way that may have stopped our weekenders there.

[Lory]

I think it's promising that it's been bought by someone in the same business rather than eg. J Bloggs Property Development Ltd, but it will be interesting to see what they do with the sites, chalets and facilities.

Yeah, I think the first hurdle for us is, to see if they want to continue with allowing dance weekenders, the exclusive use of the camps?

I wont be in the slightest bit interested on what they do with the venues or chalets, if we can't use them!

[philsmove]

Its difficult to imagine they will have the resources to redeveloped or even refurbished, all the sites at once, or that they would turn down a block booking for several thousand puters
So I thnk we are safe for at least another year

[philsmove]

looks like we may be dancing with Mikey Mouse

Pontins to get 'Disney' makeover

[Minnie M]

looks like we may be dancing with Mikey Mouse

Pontins to get 'Disney' makeover

hmmm............ make sure you are only 'dancing' with my man

[philsmove]

hmmm............ make sure you are only 'dancing' with my man

I wonder if Jessica Rabbit will be availabel

[cederic]

Announcement at the Cabaret on Saturday at Southport is that the Southport Pontins is poised for redevelopment - they apparently have flooring and other stuff stacked up ready to go.

The hope is that some attendees in May will have shiny luxury chalets to stay in. (The rest of us get the same squalid tat we're used to)

Sounded and felt very positive at the time

[glads]

Announcement at the Cabaret on Saturday at Southport is that the Southport Pontins is poised for redevelopment - they apparently have flooring and other stuff stacked up ready to go.

The hope is that some attendees in May will have shiny luxury chalets to stay in. (The rest of us get the same squalid tat we're used to)

Sounded and felt very positive at the time

I missed the annoucement as we didn't go out until after the cabaret on Saturday. Bookings for May aren't open yet though, I looked this morning

[Lory]

The hope is that some attendees in May will have shiny luxury chalets to stay in. (The rest of us get the same squalid tat we're used to)

The bookings for Scorch are open now and from the look of FB this morning, its selling fast!
But, I was chatting to a friend (shortly after I'd booked) and she mentioned about some of the chalets being done up in time for it. And I said, I wonder where they'll start?
She immediately said, I should imagine they'll do the worst ones up first = Budget!

So, I wonder how that will all pan out? Will some very lucky 'Budget bookers' get lucky and get better accommodation than 'Club'?

Or will they do the 'Clubs' up first, leaving the budgets till last, even though they're in greater need?

Or will the Budget become the Clubs for a while.... meaning that the Clubs, temporarily wont be in the 'inner circle'?

OOh the intrigue!

[David Bailey]

The bookings for Scorch are open now and from the look of FB this morning, its selling fast!
But, I was chatting to a friend (shortly after I'd booked) and she mentioned about some of the chalets being done up in time for it. And I said, I wonder where they'll start?
She immediately said, I should imagine they'll do the worst ones up first = Budget!

So, I wonder how that will all pan out? Will some very lucky 'Budget bookers' get lucky and get better accommodation than 'Club'?

Or will they do the 'Clubs' up first, leaving the budgets till last, even though they're in greater need?

Or will the Budget become the Clubs for a while.... meaning that the Clubs, temporarily wont be in the 'inner circle'?

OOh the intrigue!

Scorch is in May, right? That's not a lot of time to do up several hundred chalets - from the reports it sounds like most of the chalets were in an abysmal state. So yes, I'd guess it makes sense to do the worst ones first, but you'd need to do that assessment first, and that itself will take a fair amount of time.

I'm sure you could get all of them back to "normal" (i.e. grotty-but-bearable) in a couple of months, but actually upgrading them would be a bigger job, I'd be surprised if they were all transformed into super chalets by May.

[Lynn]

The bookings for Scorch are open now and from the look of FB this morning, its selling fast!
But, I was chatting to a friend (shortly after I'd booked) and she mentioned about some of the chalets being done up in time for it. And I said, I wonder where they'll start?
She immediately said, I should imagine they'll do the worst ones up first = Budget!

So, I wonder how that will all pan out? Will some very lucky 'Budget bookers' get lucky and get better accommodation than 'Club'?

Or will they do the 'Clubs' up first, leaving the budgets till last, even though they're in greater need?

Or will the Budget become the Clubs for a while.... meaning that the Clubs, temporarily wont be in the 'inner circle'?

I think they'll probably fix all the broken things in all the chalets - doors, heaters, pipes etc. Then replace carpets/flooring, repaint water damaged ceilings etc where needed - stuff like that rather then completely refurbished. As long as everything works and is not damp/broken, most people will be happy enough.

[daveb9000]

a clean floor...ooow

[Gav]

Scorch is in May, right? That's not a lot of time to do up several hundred chalets

Depends if 'do up' means just cleaning them properly for the first time ever.

[DavidY]

But, I was chatting to a friend (shortly after I'd booked) and she mentioned about some of the chalets being done up in time for it. And I said, I wonder where they'll start?
She immediately said, I should imagine they'll do the worst ones up first = Budget!

The maintenance guy who came to fix the shower did say that "all these" would be done up soon - and I was in Budget.

He said something else too... that the Sofa bed would be replaced by a Sofa (non-bed).

If this is right (and it could be wrong, I guess), what will it do to all the Share with a Stranger options or the people that plan on having a bedroom plus a sofabed...?

[Northants Girly]

Scorch is in May, right? That's not a lot of time to do up several hundred chalets - from the reports it sounds like most of the chalets were in an abysmal state. So yes, I'd guess it makes sense to do the worst ones first, but you'd need to do that assessment first, and that itself will take a fair amount of time.

I'm sure you could get all of them back to "normal" (i.e. grotty-but-bearable) in a couple of months, but actually upgrading them would be a bigger job, I'd be surprised if they were all transformed into super chalets by May.

I'd be surprised if they have even started by May. The builders will probably be in when everyone gets there . . .

[Lory]

I wonder if Pontins will do a survey, to find out what's important to their customers?

For me...

The only things that are 'really' important are, being warm enough
Cleanliness
And hot water!

But, it would be nice to have...

Curtains that shut out the light (and aren't a design from the 80's)
A Fridge, with ice compartment
An oven, which works and has a grill pan that fits.
Utensils that aren't broken or blunt
Cups and glasses that are bigger than thimbles

A bathroom, with a door that locks
And toilet roll holder, that actually holds the toilet roll
And a toilet seat with both hinges attached
Hooks on all the doors
A heated towel rail
And a shower that stays on (a power shower would be nice HA HA)
A sofa that doesn't collapse

Mirrors ( with lights above)
More power points
More than 4 hangers
Better lighting!

Anything else?

[David Bailey]

The maintenance guy who came to fix the shower did say that "all these" would be done up soon - and I was in Budget.

He said something else too... that the Sofa bed would be replaced by a Sofa (non-bed).

If this is right (and it could be wrong, I guess), what will it do to all the Share with a Stranger options or the people that plan on having a bedroom plus a sofabed...?

Cor, gossip, innuendo, speculation. It's like Eastenders meets Cowboy Builders, so it is.