Haven Holidays

Holiday, caravan park and campsite operator

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Haven

Company type| Private
Industry| Leisure
Predecessor| Warner Holiday Camps, British Holidays
Founded| 1985; 39 years ago (1985) (Haven Holidays, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK)
Headquarters|

Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire

Number of locations

| 41 caravan parks

Area served

| UK

Key people

| Paul Flaum, Chief Executive
Simon Palethorpe
Products| Caravan holiday parks
Caravan sales
Revenue|  £271.1 million (2013)[1]

Operating income

|  £35.2 million (2013)

Net income

|  £25.6 million (2013)

Number of employees

| 2,802 (2013)
Parent| Bourne Leisure Limited
Website| www.haven.com

Haven Holidays is a company operating 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 38[2] sites in the UK in predominantly coastal locations.

The company was established in 1985 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 in January 2021.[3]

## History[edit]

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). After deciding to focus more on its gaming operations such as Mecca Bingo, the Rank Group decided to sell its holiday arm. In October 2000, Bourne Leisure purchased part of the Rank Group's UK leisure arm, Rank Leisure, for £700 million, which included the Haven, Butlins, Warner Leisure Hotels and Oasis Forest Holiday Villages which were sold to Center Parcs. 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.[4]

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, 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.[citation needed]

## Acquisitions[edit]

In 2007, Bourne Leisure purchased Far Grange Park & Golf Club. The park was initially a Haven site for both holidaymakers and caravan owners, as seen in the 2008 brochure, however after just one season, the park became Owners Only.[citation needed]

In April 2015, Bourne Leisure purchased the Thornwick & Sea Farm Holiday Centre and Greenacre West caravan parks from Flamborough Holidays Ltd;[5] 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, Pembrokeshire, 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.[6]

It was announced on 23 February 2022 that Haven had completed the acquisition of its first park since being taken over by Blackstone. Acquiring a previously family run site in Skegness, Richmond Holiday Centre, which since 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.[7]

On the 13 March 2024 it was announced that Haven had purchased Holivans Caravan Park in Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire. The park is situated next door to current Haven park Golden Sands and will form part of the parks expansion. Once both parks are joined together they will form one of the biggest holiday parks in region. The acquisition forms part of Haven's growth strategy, reflecting the companies confidence in the UK's domestic tourism market, development work is due to start on park in Winter 2024 and will complement the £10 million already invested into the park. [8]

## Sponsorships and partnerships[edit]

In March 2018, Haven partnered with the charity Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).[9]

In February 2019, Haven became an official sponsor of Team GB, supporting the team in the build up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.[10]

## Seaside Squad[edit]

Haven sport 4 mascots under the name “Seaside Squad” aimed to entertain younger guests, these mascots are known as:

Rory, Annie, George and Jaz.[11]

They take part in shows in the entertainment venues during the day and the evening. The Seaside Squad also participate in meet and greets with guests at other times during the day such as at Breakfast in the site restaurants and photo opportunities in the entertainment venues. [12]

Former 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.[citation needed]

Other characters starring alongside Rory and Bradley were on Rory's side: Greedy the Gorilla, Anxious the Elephant, Sylvester the Snake and Manic the Parrot and on Bradley's side: Polly, Naughty Ned and Magical Merlin the Wizard, 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 alias for the first time namely the 'Zoo Troop' and all had new costumes by this time, in 2010 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 themed brand. The characters once again received new costumes.

In August 2022, Haven announced that the 'Seaside Squad' would be rebranded for the next season, with the characters performing their first show beginning from October 1st 2022 – Rory will remain however he has been redesigned, Anxious has decided to use her real name "Annie" and has also had a redesign, Greedy also decides to use his real name "George" and gets the biggest redesign in which he is dyed blue. Bradley Bear will be replaced by his niece, "Jaz".[13] In a letter on the Haven website, it was further explained that Bradley Bear was moving to Florida.[14][15] Their real ages have also been revealed: Rory is 14, Jaz is 13, Annie is 12 and George is 11. They have also been given new voices. 3 of the 4 voice actors are unknown but Annie has a Yorkshire accent instead of her original American one, Jaz has a Midlands accent, Rory has a Cockney accent instead of his original American accent and George still has a Scottish accent, but is voiced by a different individual, namely Aaron Spendelow.[16]

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 over 3500 signatures, and is still active today.[17][18] [19]

The new Squad also sport new costumes. They each have a casual outfit and a superhero outfit. Rory's casual outfit is a Hawaiian-style button-up shirt, green shorts and white trainers, Annie wears a hot pink dress with blue polka dots and a hot pink bow situated in her hair, alongside matching blue boots each adorned with a hot pink bow. Jaz's casual outfit is a pair of yellow dungarees, a blue checkered shirt, white glasses, an orange headband and a pair of orange boots. Whereas George's casual outfit is a white t-shirt covered with multiple colours of paint splattered on, a pair of orange shorts and yellow/blue mix trainers. Their Superhero outfits are each similar with slight changes relating to what colour belts they wear and what type of sleeves they have, alongside differences in the lower half of the outfit.

### Current mascots[edit]

* Rory the Tiger (1988–present)
* George the Gorilla (1991–present) (formerly known as Greedy the Gorilla until 2022)
* Annie the Elephant (1991–present) (formerly known as Anxious the Elephant until 2022)
* Jaz Bear (2022–present)

### Former mascots[edit]

* Bradley Bear (1993–2022) (Originally British Holidays)
* Sylvester the Snake (1990–2009)
* Manic the Parrot (1990–2009)
* DJ Ned (2000–2023) (formerly known as Naughty Ned until 2010) (Originally British Holidays) Who remains in the form of a puppet, adorning a big personality change alongside multiple other differences
* Polly the Lifeguard (1998–2023) (Originally British Holidays) Who also remains in the form of a puppet, adorning a big personality change alongside multiple other differences
* Magical Merlin the Wizard (2001–2009) (Originally British Holidays)
* Prudence the Giraffe (1991-2004)
* Sailor Sue (1998–2000) (Originally British Holidays)
* Tommy the Soldier (1998–2000) (Originally British Holidays)
* Rooster the Hillbilly (2000–2002) (Originally British Holidays)

## Holiday parks and resorts[edit]

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There are currently 38[20] 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.

Current Haven Parks:

* Blackpool: Cala Gran, Marton Mere
* Cornwall: Perran Sands, Riviere Sands
* Devon: Devon Cliffs
* Dorset: Littlesea, Rockley Park, Seaview, Weymouth Bay
* Essex: The Orchards
* Kent and Sussex: Kent Coast (formerly Allhallows),[21] Church Farm, Combe Haven
* Lake District: Lakeland
* Lincolnshire: Golden Sands, Cleethorpes Beach (formerly Thorpe Park[22]), Skegness Holiday Park (2023)[23]
* Norfolk: Caister-on-Sea, Hopton, Seashore, Wild Duck
* Northumberland: Berwick, Haggerston Castle
* Scotland: Craig Tara, Seton Sands
* Somerset: Burnham-on-Sea, Doniford Bay
* Wales: Greenacres, Cardigan View (a sister park to Greenacres), Garreg Wen (a sister park to Greenacres), Hafan y Môr, Lydstep Beach, Celtic Haven (a sister park to Lydstep Beach), Kiln Park, Penally Court (a sister park to Kiln Park), Presthaven, Quay West
* Yorkshire: Blue Dolphin, Primrose Valley, Reighton Sands, Thornwick Bay, Far Grange (owners only)

### Former & closed holiday parks (both Haven and British Holidays)[edit]

* Cornwall: Duporth, St. Minver, Trelawne Manor, St Ives, Mullion
* Devon: Bideford Bay, Challaborough Bay, Lyme Bay, South Bay, Torquay, Devon Valley
* Dorset: Chesil Beach, Sandhills, West Bay
* Essex: St. Osyth Beach (formerly Bel Air), Steeple Bay
* Hampshire: Mill Rythe, Solent Breezes
* Isle of Wight: Harcourt Sands, Lower Hyde, Nodes Point, Thorness Bay, Fort Warden
* Kent and Sussex: Alberta, Sheerness, Ashcroft, Winchelsea Sands
* Lancashire: Beacon Fell View
* Lincolnshire: Coastfield
* Norfolk: California Cliffs, Heacham Beach, Cherry Tree
* Northumberland: Riverside
* Scotland: Wemyss Bay, Erigmore House, Sundrum Castle, Grannies Heilan Hame, Tummel Valley, Nairn Lochloy
* Suffolk: Felixstowe Beach, Suffolk Sands, Kessingland Beach
* Wales: Brynowen, Carmarathen Bay, Manorbier, Pendine Sands, Tŷ Mawr, Lido Beach
* Yorkshire: Barmston Beach, Cayton Bay, Whitby

## Holidays Date[edit]

* Haven Doniford Bay (1988, Then: 1989 – Present)

### Holiday parks and resorts – Doniford Bay Date[edit]

* Haven 1989 (1989)
* Haven 1990 (1990)
* Haven 1991 (1991)
* Haven 1992 (1992)
* Haven 1993 (1993)
* Haven 1994 (1994)

#### Doniford Bay[edit]

* Haven 2004

## References[edit]

1. ^ Haven Leisure Ltd, Report and Financial Statements, 31 December 2010
2. ^ "38 UK Holiday Parks | Family Holiday Parks in UK". Haven. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
3. ^ "HavenHolidays.com – Review – We want Rory!!!!".
4. ^ Power, Ben (28 September 2000). "Rank says goodbye to redcoats in £700m sale". The Independent. Archived from the original on 9 May 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
5. ^ "Holiday parks in national deal". Bridlington Free Press. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
6. ^ "Holiday giant buys Pembrokeshire cottage resort". www.westerntelegraph.co.uk. 19 August 2019.
7. ^ "Major east coast holiday park bought by Haven". 23 February 2022.
8. ^ https://moderncampground.com/europe/united-kingdom/haven-expands-golden-sands-holiday-park-with-holivans-acquisition/
9. ^ "Haven Holidays partners with the RNLI to save lives at sea".
10. ^ "Team GB announce partnership with Haven".
11. ^ "Meet the NEW Seaside Squad". Haven. 6 September 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
12. ^ "Meet and greets: be among the first to meet the new Seaside Squad | Haven". Haven ®. 17 November 2023. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
13. ^ "Meet the NEW Seaside Squad". Haven. Archived from the original on 3 August 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
14. ^ ""While I'm away, remember to always help keep our beaches clean"" (PDF). Haven. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 September 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
15. ^ "Letters from the new Seaside Squad". Haven. Archived from the original on 2 September 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
16. ^ "x.com". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 18 May 2024.
17. ^ ""Haven Holidays announces changes to its characters - and parents are angry"". Wales Online. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
18. ^ ""Haven holiday fans blast mascot character "glow up""". Great Yarmouth Mercury. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
19. ^ ""Save The Seaside Squad!"". Save The Seaside Squad. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
20. ^ "38 UK Holiday Parks | Family Holiday Parks in UK". Haven. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
21. ^ "Kent Coast Holiday Park in Rochester, Kent". Haven. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
22. ^ "Cleethorpes Beach Holiday Park, Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire". Haven. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
23. ^ "Skegness Holiday Park, Skegness, Lincolnshire". Haven. Retrieved 21 September 2023.

## External links[edit]

* Haven Holidays Official Website