Industry Leisure / Holiday Owner Alchemy Partners (65%) Founded 1999 | Successor Parkdean Resorts Headquarters Newcastle upon Tyne Number of employees 2,028 | |
Type Private Limited Company Fate Merged with Park Resorts Number of locations 24 holiday parks in the UK Key people John Waterworth
Michael Wilmot
Judith Archibold
Ian Gill
Maggie Pavlou
Barry Gifford Revenue 142.6 million GBP (group, 2015) Net income 4.96 million GBP (group, 2015) Profiles | ||
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.
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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.
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.
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. 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.
In 2015 Parkdean and Park Resorts merged to create 'Parkdean Resorts'. 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.
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".
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.
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