Haven Holidays is a chain of holiday parks in the United Kingdom. It operates self catering static caravan holiday parks with many also including touring and camping facilities. The company operates 41 sites in the UK in predominantly coastal locations. The company was established in 1964 and bought by the Bourne Leisure Group in 2000. In November 2004 Bourne Leisure merged its existing British Holidays chain into the Haven Holidays brand. Bourne Leisure was sold to the

Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate bu ...

in January 2021.

History

The current Haven chain is formed from a number of acquisitions by its former brands, including Warner Holiday Camps (now trading as

Warner Leisure Hotels Warner Leisure Hotels is a hospitality company owning 14 country and coastal properties around the UK in North Wales, Somerset, Herefordshire, Berkshire, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Isle of Wight, Suffolk, Hampshire and Warwickshire. Since ...

). After deciding to focus more on its gaming operations such as

Mecca Bingo Mecca Bingo (formerly called Top Rank) is a British operator of bingo clubs, with 76 locations throughout the country. Mecca Bingo is owned by the Rank Group, which operates bingos, casinos and online gambling in Belgium, Spain and Britain. The ...

, the Rank Group decided to sell its holiday arm. In October 2000, Bourne Leisure purchased the Rank Group's UK leisure arm, Rank Leisure, for £700 million, which included the Haven,

Butlins Butlin's is a chain of large seaside resorts in the United Kingdom. Butlin's was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families. Between 1936 and 1966, ten camps were built, including one in Ireland and o ...

and

chains. Haven parks used to come under four categories and were defined by four different colours, All Action Parks (Red), Lively Parks (Blue), Leisurely Parks (Yellow) and Relaxing Parks (Green). Each park category would reflect what type of Entertainment and Activities would take place at that park and also reflect the size of the park. Following the purchase of Haven by Bourne Leisure they decided to restructure the company and sold off the smaller parks in the company, 12 of these smaller parks were subject to a management buyout and went on to form a new holiday company;

Park Resorts Park Resorts was a holiday park operator with 48 holiday parks located across the United Kingdom. Holiday parks were mainly located at or near the seaside, primarily on the south and east coasts of England, but also extending to Scotland, ...

, some other parks were sold to Parkdean and Park Holidays UK, with Park Resorts and Parkdean later merging themselves to form Parkdean Resorts. Haven retained its larger parks and Bourne Leisure began integrating both Haven and its existing British Holidays chain in 2002, trading entertainment and facilities between the two brands, until the two companies merged in November 2004 under the name 'Haven and British Holidays'. Due to Haven being the better known name the British Holidays identity was eventually dropped completely by the end of the 2007 season.

Acquisitions

In 2007, Bourne Leisure purchased Far Grange Park & Golf Club. The park was initially a Haven park for both holidaymakers and caravan owners, as seen in the 2008 brochure, however after just one season, the park has since become an Owners Only park. In April 2015, Bourne Leisure purchased the Thornwick & Sea Farm Holiday Centre and Greenacre West caravan parks from Flamborough Holidays Ltd; Thornwick & Sea Farm holiday centre's complex was redeveloped for the 2016 season and was rebranded 'Thornwick Bay'. In 2019, Haven ventured into a new type of resort with the purchase of Celtic Haven Spa Holiday Cottage Resort in

Tenby Tenby ( cy, Dinbych-y-pysgod, lit=fortlet of the fish) is both a walled seaside town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, on the western side of Carmarthen Bay, and a local government community. Notable features include of sandy beaches and the Pembroke ...

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a county in the south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The county is home to Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The Park oc ...

, Wales. The resort is a sister park to Lydstep Beach Holiday Village, situated in the village of Lydstep. The Celtic Haven resort is the first in the Haven brand to operate 365 days a year. It was announced on the 23 February 2022 that Haven had completed the acquisition, of its first park since being taken over by Blackstone. Acquiring a previously family run park in Skegness, Richmond Holiday Centre, which for the 2023 season has been renamed Skegness Holiday Park. The park offers more than 700 pitches of accommodation, swimming pool, entertainment venues and restaurants and not far from Skegness beach.

Sponsorships and partnerships

In March 2018, Haven partnered with the charity

Royal National Lifeboat Institution The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. It i ...

(RNLI). In February 2019, Haven became an official sponsor of

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. I ...

, supporting the team in the build up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Mascots

The first mascot of the Haven brand was Rory the Tiger, first introduced in 1988. Bradley Bear was introduced in 1993 as the mascot of British Holidays, Haven Holidays' former sister brand. As the two brands merged when acquired by Bourne Leisure, the two mascots began to appear alongside each other, despite Bradley Bear not being a part of the 'Tiger Club' brand. Other characters introduced alongside Rory and Bradley were Greedy the Gorilla, Anxious the Elephant, Sylvester the Snake, Manic the Parrot, Polly the Ragdoll and Naughty Ned, though by the end of the 2009 season, Haven ditched Merlin, Sylvester and Manic, and it was explained by Haven that Merlin had whisked himself, Sylvester and Manic away to a magical place and he didn't know how to get themselves back. In 2007, the characters had a group name for the first time and were called the 'Zoo Troop' and all had new costumes by this time and Naughty Ned was renamed DJ Ned. However, the previous brand would continue to be used alongside the 'Zoo Troop' brand until the end of the 2012 season when Haven rebranded their characters for 2013, choosing to ditch the jungle setting in favour of a Seaside setting. This resulted in a rename to the 'Seaside Squad' and Polly becoming a Lifeguard to fit in with the new Seaside Squad brand, and the characters again received new costumes. In August 2022, Haven announced that the 'Seaside Squad' would be rebranded on the 1 October - Rory will remain however he has been redesigned, Anxious will be renamed to "Annie", Greedy renamed to "George" and Bradley Bear will be replaced by his niece, "Jaz the Bear". In a letter on the Haven website, it was further explained that Bradley Bear was "moving to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

". Many regular holiday makers felt that this was too much of a change in one go, and a petition to keep the characters the same has reached close to 3,312 signatures. Although Polly and Ned are no longer with the Seaside Squad, they are still appearing in puppet form throughout 2023. In letters explained on Haven website, Polly has gone to help the

RNLI The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. It i ...

save people's lives, whilst Ned has gone to

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its la ...

to go DJing at the clubs there.

Current mascots

* Rory the Tiger (1988–present) * George the Gorilla (1993–present) (formerly known as Greedy the Gorilla until 2022) * Annie the Elephant (1993–present) (formerly known as Anxious the Elephant until 2022) * Jaz the Bear-Bradley's Niece (2022–present)

Former mascots

* Bradley Bear (1993–2022) * Sylvester the Snake (1993–2009) * Manic the Parrot (1993–2009) * DJ Ned PenDragon (2000–2022) (still appears in puppet form) * Polly Popkins (1998–2022) (still appears in puppet form) * Magical Merlin (2001–2009) * Sailor Sue(1998–2000) * Tommy The Soldier(1998-2000) * Rooster the Hillbilly (2000–2002)

Holiday parks and resorts

There are currently 41 Haven parks in the United Kingdom. The number of Haven parks peaked at 56 in 1999, not long before their merger with British Holidays in 2002, however many of the smaller parks were sold off throughout 2001 and again in October 2004 in a move that Haven said was to improve the standards of the larger and more profitable parks. The majority of parks were sold were to

, Parkdean (both of which now merged into Parkdean Resorts) and Park Holidays UK (at the time known as Cinque Ports Leisure). *

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and is ...

: Cala Gran, Marton Mere *

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

: Perran Sands, Riviere Sands *

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

: Devon Cliffs *

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

: Littlesea, Rockley Park, Seaview, Weymouth Bay *

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

: The Orchards *

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...

: Allhallows, Church Farm, Combe Haven *

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or '' fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

: Lakeland *

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

: Golden Sands, Thorpe Park, Skegness Holiday Park *

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

: Caister-on-Sea, Hopton, Seashore, Wild Duck *

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

: Berwick, Haggerston Castle *

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

: Craig Tara (previously Butlins Ayr), Seton Sands *

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

: Burnham-on-Sea, Doniford Bay *

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

: Greenacres, Cardigan View (a sister park to Greenacres), Garreg Wen (a sister park to Greenacres), Hafan y Mor (previously Butlins Pwllheli), Lydstep Beach, Celtic Haven (a sister park to Lydstep Beach), Kiln Park, Penally Court (a sister park to Kiln Park), Presthaven, Quay West *

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

: Blue Dolphin, Primrose Valley (part of this park now occupies land that formed Butlins Filey), Reighton Sands, Thornwick Bay, Far Grange (owners only)

Former holiday parks (both Haven and British Holidays)

: Duporth, St. Minver, Trelawne Manor, St Ives, Mullion *

: Bideford Bay, Challaborough Bay, Lyme Bay, South Bay, Torquay, Devon Valley *

: Chesil Beach, Sandhills, West Bay *

: St. Osyth Beach (formerly Bel Air), Steeple Bay *

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

: Mill Rythe, Solent Breezes *

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Is ...

: Harcourt Sands, Lower Hyde, Nodes Point, Thorness Bay, Fort Warden *

and

: Alberta, Sheerness, Ashcroft, Winchelsea Sands *

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

: Beacon Fell View *

: Coastfield *

: California Cliffs, Heacham Beach, Cherry Tree *

: Riverside *

: Wemyss Bay, Erigmore House, Sundrum Castle, Grannies Heilan Hame, Tummel Valley, Nairn Lochloy *

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...

: Felixstowe Beach, Suffolk Sands, Kessingland Beach *

: Brynowen, Carmarathen Bay, Manorbier, Pendine Sands, Ty Mawr, Lido Beach *

: Barmston Beach, Cayton Bay, Whitby

Parks owned by British Holidays before 2004

: Cala Gran, Marton Mere *

: Rockley Park *

: The Orchards *

and

: Allhallows, Church Farm *

: Lakeland *

: Thorpe Park *

: Hopton *

: Berwick, Haggerston Castle *

: Seton Sands *

: Burnham-on-Sea *

: Greenacres, Kiln Park, Lydstep Beach, Penally Court, Quay West

References

{{reflist

External links

Haven Holidays Official Website
Travel and holiday companies of the United Kingdom British companies established in 1964 Transport companies established in 1964