Staff at Pontin’s holiday park in Brean have been reassured their jobs are safe for now, despite the firm going into administration on Friday evening (November 12th).
The chain of holiday camps announced it had called in administrators after suffering badly during the economic downturn.
Its five parks, which include Brean Sands, will keep trading as normal, accountancy firm KPMG announced and no redundancies have been made among Pontin’s 850 staff. The company says it is optimistic that the “iconic British brand” still has a future.
Pontin’s Chairman Graham Parr said in a statement on Friday evening that the business was profitable but had been a victim of the credit crunch and had gone into administration because its bank had withdrawn its support.
“The business is strong, it’s going really well – we have 3,000 holidaymakers staying with us this weekend,” he said.
“But the bank has simply said it is not prepared to support our credit facilities any more. It’s very annoying and the most non-sensical business situation I have ever been involved in.”
Pontin’s was established in 1946 and its first park was the one at Brean. At its height, it owned more than 30 parks. It was bought by Oceans Park for £46m in 2008.
The administrators have set up a helpline number for customers, which will be open from Monday 15 November. It is 0844 576 8481.
