@@pokekid-64 where I don’t see no worm 🪱 the water does move around the sink and the way it landed with the camera angle looks like a worm but it wasn’t
I'm watching this from the United States and I've never heard of such a thing. I've stayed in nice hotels for $70USD which were clean, in good repair, and came with a free hot breakfast.
How utterly depressing. I feel so sorry for families who save up all year and are met with this when they arrive. I cannot imagine how heart breaking it must be for the parents when their excited children finally see where they are staying for their holiday.
@@WalkWithMeTim I'd rather take my kids on a camping holiday and do some sort of star gazing or something, But I guess that's other peoples preference. I personally wouldn't spend £69 on it, that could go towards something nicer if you save a tad longer.
i used to take my children (and all cleaning equipment) the way I saw it was £200 for 5 people for a week was all I could afford so I made it work, but it just got too bad in the end.
I can't believe that in 2022, they expect 'guests' to pay for electricity as a separate commodity. What a bizarre business model. Into the bargain, they tell their visitors that they're regarded as potential thieves, with a dismal warning about stealing £10 worth of pretty ancient televisions with a fantasy 'tracking chip' that even Cash Converters would guffaw at.. That would be enough for me to walk away and demand a refund.
Imagine actually Stealing a TV from here £10 isn't a lot of money but it's something but imagine if there's a crew of thieves steal lots of stuff TV kettles ect get all the money share the cut bang easy few £100 pounds.
Tbf I've been for one night just to see what it's like. It was full of chavs and the cast of my big fat gypsy wedding. So yeah I can imagine things would get stolen.
No idea how £69 is justified for this when I've stayed in pleasant little hotels for £35 a night with breakfast included. I'm also amazed that its legal for them to advertise activities in the park when they are almost always shut or permanently closed down.
Isn't there a little thing called health & safety that should be shutting them down - with obvious dangers open and clearly a threat to those who stay there, especially children? When was the last health & safety assessment carried out, not to mention electrical evaluation, there was a mains socket behind that mattress in the room. Plug something in and you have a major fire hazard?
@@nathanmiller9381 I could be wrong but I belive for that to happen they would have to have advertised free electricity and bed sheets, then charged for them. in advertising law nothing is assumed.
Recently closed . Someone told me it was like being homeless, but inside. Toilets, with no doors, self catering apartments, with no working, cooking facilities, absolutely filthy et cetera
I’ve had loads of holidays at Pontins as a kid growing up and then with my own family, so for me Pontins hold a special place in my heart. The management of this park is a disgrace, and it’s been this way for a number of years. Total neglect and disregard for the conditions…. So sad
Well Laura bg4 , Remember that a great number of people visited or spent summers there in the distant past and found it rather delightful, although it’s next to impossible for those of us who never had that experience, can’t begin to imagine it as anything but what we now see. We all at one time in our own lives have know or experienced someplace in your younger years that you can remember the fun and enjoyment of partaking in .... but now it’s no where near the same or has disappeared altogether. I certainly can, and start to feel a little melancholy just thinking & talking about it. My mum’s gone, my dad’s gone, three of my four brothers I grew up with are and so are those special places we once frequented those many, many, many years ago. However, luckily there are at least three places of the top of my head that have been maintained or refurbished and much cared for. It means sooo much to those of us who grew up in this environment as to would anyone else I’m sure.😂❤💕🇺🇸
Reminds of my visit to Chernobyl a few years ago. Everything desolate and frozen at a moment in time. So sad. I feel sorry for the local kids who work hard here. Must be so disheartening. They need to demolish it and start again not die by a thousand cuts like this. For God's sake don't let them build another housing development though!
But the difference is, Pripyat is interesting and its not a boring experience. I’ve been a few times with my girlfriend, who lived inside what is now the exclusion zone with her mum when she was a baby. We were supposed to be over there this year, but that obviously isn’t going to be happening now.
It's horrifying to see the owners leave the site in such such such horrific conditions. Someone needs to takeover, destroy and rebuild a brand new holiday park. Also the broken concrete with sticking out rusting rebar is really dangerous and could fall down/break.
@@WalkWithMeTim Pontins is owned by Britannia Hotels Group - voted Britains Worst Hotel Chain for up to the last 8 years by Which. They also own Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool; Grand Hotel, Llandudno and others around the country where the 'experience' matches yours at Prestatyn Pontins (or as we refer to it locally - Stalag IV).
@@WalkWithMeTim sadly holiday parks like this , butlins, pontins etc are a dying breed hence the reduction of the many holiday parks they used to have but at least Butlins still invests in their parks Pontins sadly have just let em go to rack and ruin and don't care as they are serving the cheap budget end of the staycation market these days and they KNOW they will still get custom from families that are on major low income like universal credit that can't even afford a decent staycation in the UK ..even I have looked at places and sadly you get what you pay for ( or in this case substandard for what you pay for) TBH FOR WHAT SOME HOTELS OR OTHER CARAVAN or holiday parks are charging still (even through the pandemic I noticed prices increased captive audience syndrome ) its prob on par with going abroad still! makes me sad, to be frank as a kid all my holidays were staycations be it Blackpool or Cornwall and devon I NEVER went abroad till I was 21 and that was to Benidorm (and that's geared up to the brits so like going to a foreign Butlins lol)
I worked part-time at Pontins in 2006-2008. The staff there really did bring some life into the park for a while. Before I handed in my notice for personal reasons, the place was starting to transform into what you see now. If a bit of money was thrown into giving this place a facelift, the staff would not need to work so hard to justify the poor quality of the park. Too much time and effort is being put into keeping this rotten corpse of a place alive XD
If my choice was between take my (nonexistent) kids on holiday here or never go on holiday ever I’m picking the latter, they’d deserve better than this
I live near the Southport Pontins and it's such a shame. Butlins have completely refurbed/rebuilt their camps to a much higher standard and now are doing really well. Brittania Hotels never put a penny into their properties and now the Pontins brand has been left to rot. Such a shame as with the right investments there definitely is still a market for holiday camps imo.
I was brought up in Prestatyn but now live in NZ. It's always nostalgic and amusing when videos pop up on RUclips now and again showing the bad side of Prestatyn's Pontins. It makes you wonder why they don't either close it or do it up. Surprised how few people were outside but then surprised when you went inside and one of the rooms was packed. Maybe they get enough customers that Pontins feel it's worth keeping it ticking over. Thanks, though, for the comprehensive tour which was fascinating.
We’re from California and have never heard the term Holiday Park. Pontins is completely new to us, but has now become a byword of what you don’t want for a vacation. We are enjoying your channel very much, thank you! You know, I guess Disneyland is a holiday park. Hmmm.
I think we had a sun holiday there as a child and my father wrote a strongly worded letter to the management and we got a refund. We bought some plates, cups and cutlery from a local charity shop to have something decent to use and I think we left it there...
I love these videos as I’m oddly fascinated with hotels. One common theme though, among ALL the videos I have watched so far for terrible and dirty hotels/parks. Britannia. Hotels. They are one of the most shocking companies in this country. So cynical and they take nice but struggling hotels or chains like Pontins. And ruin them by doing the bare minimum and everything on the cheap.
I stayed in a Britannia once. Boss paid for it, said the low ratings were all guff and she was willing to give it a chance. Crawling with insects, and broken CRT TVs in the rooms, looked like a scene out of only fools and horses. Lol she booked us in with a Ramada hotel that very night. Night and day.
I worked there once as a cleaner. Think I probably lasted a fortnight working there. Their mentality was to clean as many rooms as possible in a day to a sub-par standard than to spend actual time on cleaning fewer properly. The things I found when cleaning though... dear god! :| Condoms, human feces smeared on walls, drugs!! The only way you fix a problem like this place is to have a complete overhaul and spend at the bare MINIMUM a whole winter season hiring people to fix what's broken, but seen as they want to spend as little money as possible regardless of how it impacts the customer's experience, and so long as people keep spending their money there, this place won't see any improvement because complaints never reach the top (especially when the inquiry place is hardly ever open!) :D
I remember cleaning the chalets at a different park as a kid for cash in hand, we'd have to do 8 chalets in a day, it was hard going, and as you say some people would be absolutely disgusting, the hardest £13.50 i ever earned
Hotels tend to do that, give the cleaning staff more and more rooms to clean every day. (or not at all). Cuts down on the staff numbers and saves money until your reputations goes to hell.
can't believe I'm seeing this!! last year about 4 of us booked for this place for about a week. the first night we were there we could hear arguments and fights breaking out in the room nearby. We never really figured out what happened but we know police were involved. After staying there for the night (we booked for a week or so) we immediately packed our bags headed for McDonald's and started searching for a new place to stay. many things in the park looked abandoned and looked as if they shouldn't be opened.
As I said in a previous post I made, this place is a haven for druggies, and drug dealers. When we were there in '12, walking to the 'entertainment' centre, saw lots of BMWs, Jags etc, brand new some of them were, parked randomly around the park. Yeah, like the owners of brand new Beemers and Jags would be holidaying THERE!😂 My young daughter and her elderly gran witnessed a hard drug deal go down right in front of them, outside the park supermarket. I think that explains the new posh motors maybe? We beat a hasty retreat from the park as soon as they told me about it, and for a brief moment I even considered calling the police, but thought what is the point?
Two ex-girlfriends of mine used to work as Chalet Maids there in the late 80's, early 90's and the stories they use to tell me about the working conditions there would shock you. I've said it before on your previous videos that The Britannia Hotels Group are solely responsible for running & ruining each and every hotel and camp site they own. Everything they own has turned to crap, and that's curbing my language and being polite. Prestatyn is a beautiful small seaside town. The beach there is always clean, and you can have a lovely relaxing walk along to Rhyl on the promenade. It sickens me that something that was once so bustling with holidaymakers, and was one of the UK most popular holiday parks, now looks like something out of Colditz. The site itself used to have many more chalets too, but they've knocked them down over the years, and grassed the area. I agree with what you said about the entertainment they have there. It's brilliant, and when they used to host an Ibiza Reunion weekend the place was absolutely buzzing, and the same with Southport Pontins too. With regards to spending a bit of cash on each chalet your looking around £300 per room to bring it up to date? A set of cutlery, £1-£2. A new double mattress, maybe £150. A kettle, toaster and microwave around £100. A lick of paint for around £40. It's not a lot of money to invest and make the place liveable again is it, yet I'm sure Britannia Hotels are waiting for the place to fall down and sell the land to a developer, because this one in Prestatyn is a prime location. Keep up the excellent videos Tim!
You also have to factor in that some of the chalet buildings themselves are not structurally sound; as Tim demonstrated in the video, multiple chalets have had the upstairs walkways missing a lot of material, in some cases going all the way down to the exposed rebar.
@@legoferrari14 Exposed rebar is merely a cosmetic issue. Unfortunately, this site is now closed but the both Prestatyn and Southport sites are being assessed by Butlins, as they don't have a site in the North of England.
Sad to see these kind of places slowly falling to pieces. When families save up all year and they get this it's disappointing. These places are still important for many families as they offer an affordable holiday and give the communities much needed work opportunities. The owners won't care as long as the money is still coming in. Another excellent vid Tim, keep up the great work. 🙂🍻
Hi Tim. Wow so sad to see how they have let the park deteriorate. I am showing my age again but back in about 1968 when I was 9 me and some of my cousins and aunties all went to Butlins at Pwillheli. The holiday camps in those days were good fun and clean. Thanks for sharing. Have a good weekend.
I can't imagine how the various local health and safety departments even allow that place to remain open when it's literally/structurally falling apart. Is the local economy that dependent on them they give it the Nelsons eye?
I worked there for a couple of seasons in the 1990's. That chalet you stayed in looked like one of the chalets that the staff used to live in. The chalets are dirty because they are under staffed, and the chalet cleaners are only given a short amount of time to clean them. The camp is in a terrible state, but only because the government allow the companies who own these places to let them get like that. The blue coat shack is where all the blue coats sleep. There's 18 bunk beds in there.
That concrete rot on those access balconies is absolutely terrifying. No wonder they've closed them all off, but with rot that bad it's just a matter of time before one of them falls off!
It used to be magic here as a child (45 years ago) The kids were split into 2 groups & would compete against each other ..the groups were called Embassy or Castelllo!! sponsored by cigarette companies!! 😂 but it was so much fun! Best childhood memories here 🎉
How the hell can Pontins let those chalets out thinking that its acceptable I'm shocked,as for the wee stained matress and vile linen I don't know which was worse the state of it or the fact you sniffed it 🤢🤢 you are very brave .
I spent a weekend there in 2009. Payed for the ' silver ' accommodation. It was depressingly dated, I don't think it had seen any paint since 1970 judging by the curtains & bedding. The shower and sink were coated in limescale, even the carpets were stained with goodness knows what. I've never been back.
Let's be honest, the rear end dropped out of British holiday camps years ago when you could get cheap all inclusive holidays to Spain, Greece etc...Not much of a contest now
Went with my girlfriends parents to my first British holiday camp place at Centre Parcs. When I found out how much it was I was like “why in the fuck do people come here? Can get a return flight to anywhere in Europe and a weeks stay for cheaper. Hell you can probably even do a 2 week holiday in Thailand for the same cost”
The closing shot of the film reminds me of a story I once was told working there in the 80's, when they filmed one scene, Reg's character backed his bus into the gate post at the then security office at the main gate, and damaged it. The damage was never repaired, and slightly cracked the cement on the stone gate posts. Probably is still broken.
We went in there on a day pass on the late 70s it was a hell hole the swimming pool was full of broken crockery the diving board was covered in hession sacking no games worked no pride at all
I remember staying there about 40 years ago and it didn't seem too bad then, although we mainly used it as a base to tour north Wales. Great video Tim.
The CEO should hang his head in shame, so it's a cheap getaway for a couple of days but doesn't excuse the fact that no-one is responsible for checking the housekeeping essentials. I would be totally embarrassed if I was the manager of this place and I most certainly would not have stayed given the scenes you filmed.
When you went into the queen vic it suddenly brought back a few memories. The queen vic was a wacky warehouse type of place in 1991 when I worked there in the cleaning department. We were called over to there, and when we got there we were told that a young boy had done a poo in the ball pond. We had to put tens of thousands of plastic balls into huge nets, take them to our cleaning compound, pressure wash them, then dry them in the sun before taking them back. Good times though. I loved working there, especially working in the kitchen in 1990. It was the best job I ever had. I'd go back and work in the catering department again if I didn't have so much stuff at home. I can't bring myself to put my space invader machine and my golf clubs into storage.
Stayed here last month and had a great time, we were in block 16 and we had a sea view from our kitchen, the entertainment was brilliant and we all enjoyed ourselves. Sadly it does need a lot of TLC but it didn’t effect our holiday
One of my first ever holidays here as a kid, brings back some memories! Used to be busy and full of life...lots to do etc! Sad to see it now! I guess time has moved on 😔
As others have said, went here with my parents and sisters back in around 2002, before TripAdvisor etc and as kids we loved it. However, it hasn’t changed one bit by the looks of it. Apparently, the week we went, we were the only family on the whole park that had payed to stay there. Everyone else used vouchers provided by either the council or DWP. God knows if that ever had any effect on their revenue but they clearly haven’t spent a penny on the park’s upkeep. Shame.
@@wtfishappening8476 It was probably surestart vouchers. Surestart was a government backed organisation that supported children in the early years, as a way to make sure children in poverty who started school, werent already disadvantaged from their peers. Ngl, it was great, but got defunded by the change in government in 2010, leaving a massive gap in support for early years support and child poverty reduction.
@@orangew3988 healthy start i think you mean and never covered holidays. Those vouchers could only be used on milk, fruit and veg. I used to get them before they stopped doing them. Sure start is something else entirely, a maternity grant you get when you're x amount of months pregnant. Edit to add they definitely didn't discontinue them I 2010, as I was receiving them up until at least 2016/17 for my son.
@@RefreshedandFruity4 thanks for replying! I did some research after writing this comment and realised I had made some errors for sure, because the scheme has continued in some areas (although has been discontinued in many too). I think my main point is that sure start used to do a lot more things than it currently does, many cuts to services from 2010 onwards meant they cut down their services, even if the programme was still going. And I hadn't heard of healthy start! Good to see it, but it's run by the NHS and a completely separate scheme as far as I can tell.
Used to work at pontins in Blackpool and when it closed in 2009 all the furniture and rotten mattresses were shipped off to Prestatyn and Southport pontins..they should have been skipped years before blackpool shut as they were grim..looks like they are still in use today...lovely 😍
The Pontins in Prestatyn, Camber Sands and Southport have closed down, I’m glad they’ve closed because of the bad reviews, rude staff, filthy chalets etc, poor food and drink and poor service During Covid it was a nightmare and the chalets are supposed to be cleaned and sanitized but the ad was a lie they were filthy dirty and some people tested positive for covid after coming back home from Pontins Now the other Pontins need closing down
I remember in the 90s wish you were here did a review, pretty much everything was cleaned and renovated in preparation. I'm afraid it looks like that was the last time any work was done. I worked there myself for laundry services, some of the bedding we collected was in a horrific state, staff didn't care, felt like mutual apathy...
I remember a report on BBC Watchdog on Pontins, where they had wired their street lamps up the wrong way, so they'd shock anyone who touched them! But the Hemsby one at the end was like something out of Silent Hill!
I remember another Watchdog story where they fitted a bulb wrong in a lamp post at a Pontins and it fell on a kids head. Honestly sometimes it felt like Pontins was that shows arch nemesis the amount of times they talked about them
What’s really sad is this place was amazing 9-10 years ago because I remember going all the time…. my auntie and uncle went last year and got a refund because it was quite bad and they have 3 small children and nothing was open and everything was dangerous back in the day everything was open and lively it was very busy its such a shame to see what’s happening now
Being an American these places are truly fascinating to me. Love your channel. Always interesting to see the places you stay in for our entertainment. Cheers!
I've stayed in some pretty... questionable... HoJo's in my time too, they weren't far off this if not worse (one had the shower detach from the wall (including the pipework inside the cavity and fall in the bath while I was using it!), everywhere has their cheap stay places that could do with TLC, or ripping down and starting afresh.
@@susiegosain2202 Thankyou Susie,nice of you to say so,is there anywhere in your country that has these ''holiday parks'',or similar? The only time that I visited a place like this was when I was 14 in my last year at school,they organised a weeks trip to Devon by coach for those who wished to go.I remember it was at Westward Ho ,Devon ,Nr Barnstaple a long journey then before the motorways were built.We would be 2 to a small chalet with bunkbeds and all meals provided,I think it cost about £15 (about $25 probably) in 1965 approx
Some of the entertainment places look OK but wow that chalet. I would definitely be sleeping in the car. Id be worried I'd catch some disease from the mattress or the ceiling would fall in! Was that message in the cupboard a cry for help? Now I really dislike camping, but I'd prefer being in a tent to staying there 😅
How depressing! I went there about 12 years ago on a Sun £9 holiday. Glad we didn't pay any more than that! It was pretty dire even back then but it looks even worse now.
I went here with my family once years ago. One of our bedroom windows was shattered and was never fixed even after we called someone over to have a look, the cupboards were dusty and the toilet was covered in shredded newspaper for some reason, it was bizarre. We were also put in one of the apartments directly behind one of the party rooms so there was bright light behind us all the time and at nighttime it was horribly loud. We ended up leaving a day early because we just felt awful. Thank you so much for doing a video on this, it feels so cathartic seeing a video about it after all this time! P.S. for those that were looking at going to this, get sun vouchers or save up a bit of money and go to Presthaven instead. It's so much better and more pleasant than this, plus it's just around the corner from pontins
If I had to go on holiday to a place like this I would be turning around and going back home; It's in a horrible condition and being a compulsive cleaner I would be unable to use those kitchens and bathrooms because even after washing all the dishes & utensils they wouldn't be clean enough. I'd be spending the entire holiday cleaning.
Is the unknown attraction at 17:29 individual ground-level trampolines? They were a craze in '60s America. As a wee child, I saw one in a gravel lot, with bunkbed-sized spring-tensioned mats over pits in the ground. It looked odd to pass by and see kids leaping impossibly high in the air from a standing position. Lawsuits over broken bones spelled the end of the craze.
I remember that on the buses movie with this location. What a disgraceful way to treat People. Makes my blood boil when I see accommodation like this. Those poor families having their holidays ruined by a company with zero respect. Thanks for exposing this lot Tim. I hope others watch this video. As always a great vid. 👍
I can remember when I was extremely poor and had no choice but to holiday in places like this... That's probably why they never change and know they've always got a line of people who will holiday there... Thankfully now, I can afford the finer things in life and 5 star accommodation but this brings back a few nightmares.
4:28 in Australia people use kettles to make hotdogs, or 2 min noodles. They throw the snags in and fill it up and let it boil. I don’t use kettles or microwaves at these sort of places. Very odd stuff happenes.
You are always very fair Tim. Like you I would love to see these lovely old hotels and retro holiday camp sites survive, However that mattress was really gross! Burning would be too good for it! Pontins should be ashamed. Once again a great vid. Thanks :-)
I remember as a kid me and my family stayed in 2 different pontins and both were awful. One was so bad that we actually went to the main office afterwards and was going to hand in the key and head home because the room had holes in the wall, the beds were mouldy and there was burn marks on the carpets. We only stayed because they changed our room but even that wasn't all that good. Later when we checked the pool it smelled awful. So bad none of us even wanted to risk swimming in it. After that we never stayed at one again and I'm honestly amazed the company hasn't shut it's doors yet.
I spent one holiday here, we usually went to Pontin's Blackpool, it was the year they filmed Holiday on the Buses. I cannot believe that they still charge for electricity. I last paid for electricity at a camp in 1994, Butlins Skegness.
It doesn't look aesthetically pleasing on the outside, Tim. Never been to a Pontin's as a child, only Butlins the one time. To be honest, this kind of holiday has never appealed and much prefered self-catered in the past. Nowadays... Log cabins 😅
Hello Tim! I stayed at this camp with my family the same year that the On the Buses team filmed there! We always went to holiday at various holiday camps very late in the year when the electricity was free usually the final week! But this camp is no where near as it was !! Thank you for the video ! Glad I found your channel!
I've never been to Pontins but I remember seeing the adverts as a kid and how hyped up they made it look. I'm 23 now and I also remember seeing one (don't know which ones still exist apart from Prestatyn) that was on Watchdog. How time has a way of changing things.
I stayed at a different pontins a few years ago and this place is a PALACE compared to the room I had!! Absolute filth, mouldy windowsills, one of the tap handles was missing, to name but a few … Walking to the main ‘entertainment’ centre across the car park was an assault course of avoiding vomit. All the bed linen is thrown away after each guest which is shameful. I just don’t understand how this place is allowed to remain open!
This format did well in the 90s. However, we have moved on so far from then. In order to stay relevant they would need to bulldoze the whole thing and make a whole bunch of tree houses or hobbit-like residencies and an enclosing and enchanted forest. With smart robots as butlers and obscure electric golf carts with numerous activities to do. This type of army barracks style with mess area is completely dead in the water.
I happened to watch Holiday On The Buses recently so was very happy to see this review. It is such a shame to see it in such a poor state. Be amazing for it to get new owners and do a retro restoration.
Worked on building these chalets in the early 70,s when Fred pontin owned the company, then it was very good and always full, in fact we worked on the chalets they used for filming we’d to make certain changes so that the cameras could move around, got a wave from sir, Fred one day when he landed in his helicopter, unfortunately the Britannia brand is very poor for customer satisfaction stayed a few times a while back and would rather sleep in the street than go inside and stay
This is actually peeing me right off! How dare these people think it is ok to rent these dilapidated buildings out to poor families who have no option but to holiday there! Depressing and disgusting! How can there not be a minimum standard! Appalling!
When we went to Southport Pontins in 2010 I spent the first day and a half making the filthy chalet habitable then we spent the rest of the holiday off camp because there was nothing there
@@angiemetcalfe7210 my sister reminded me last night that when we went to Pontins when we were children, our Mam had to complain as there was a huge hole in the wall, so maybe it was still bad back then (70’s)
I took my two kids to bean sands pontins a few years ago (£68 for two nights for all three of us) while it was a bit shabby and run down our accommodation was clean and all in good working order . Kids loved evening entertainment and we went out in the day, I'm not sure I would rush back but saying that my experience there was ok although I've heard horror stories too!
Hi Tim, love the videos!!! So sad to see Pontins in such disrepair....I clearly remember watching Holiday on the Buses as a child....Oh how the camp has changed!! keeps up the fabulous work!! BTW, the onion smell in the fridge is interesting....sometimes half an onion is placed in a fridge to disguise the stench of other less palatable smells..
i also grew up watching on the buses and i loved the holiday one... now in my mid 30s it hurts me to think how people could let such iconic places go...
I stayed there in 1984, it was bad then, really bad, the queue at reception with people complaining was terrible, that was 40 years ago. How can they still be going, who is staying there.
I went there in 2019. The chalet wasn’t too bad and we just used it as base camp essentially. We always drove out to some natural beauty spots, cities etc and came back in the evening for some cheap kids entertainment.
Me and my partner stayed there for cheap accommodation while we climbed Mount Snowden, looking back now I would have spent more and definitely stayed somewhere else. Absolutely filthy and the and whole place looked like it hadn't been updated since 1990.
I only discovered your videos last night and I am really enjoying them. Excellent quality Tim. I was particularly interested in the Pontins stuff as I was a Bluecoat myself back in the day at Riviera Hotel. Particularly liked this one as I was a great fan of On The Buses films.....I've subscribed, I'm going to check out your other work. I love camera work and editing, the colour is excellent too....
I stayed there about 5 years and it was awful. Our apartment had cigarette ash over the furniture & floor, we complained and got moved. They provided my partner and I with single sized bed linen for a double sized bed and didn’t have any linen that fitted, ridiculous. The whole place felt grubby & unkept.
That place is a wreck. How does it even get licensed. Isn't there a health and safety dept to regulate these vacation spots. It isn't really safe or clean.
I have been here in 2013 and honestly it was the worst place I have ever been. The room we had was 10× worse than the one shown here, we had to buy new bedding from asda because it was full of cigarette burns. The legs of the sofa were duct taped because they were broken, the bin had no lid, the blue bathroom suite was full of mould, the balcony bit was falling apart etc. Then one evening in the entertainment room it was raining and a whole section of the roof just caved in!
You are a brave man, Tim. I'd be sleeping in the car! Or coming armed with hospital grade disinfectant and rolls of paper towel (have done this and left them, when I checked out., as a hint to the staff, or a warning to the next unfortunate registered guest!)
tragic, I still feel excited seeing the park, then seeing the state of those chalets is heartbreaking. I used to go there as a kid and took my youngest kids there until it just became too much, I'd pack my steam mop and all cleaning stuff and send them out to play, whilst i made the chalet habitable, but it just got too bad. as you said though cant fault the entertainment, just those chalets and general feeling of the park being so neglected.
My Brass Band did a contest there once. My husband and I, along with our friend, refused to stay there and went to the local Travelodge. I’m sure people thought we were snobs but I’m so glad we didn’t stay there. My friend actually caught hand foot and mouth that weekend too…😳
Stalag Prestatyn, looks like you weren't there long enough to be asked to join the escape committee. I had to endure a holiday there once about 15 years ago when my wife thought it would be fun way to see in the new year. The room was cold and electric meter is an obscene con, even then the place was too depressing for words. We left early.
😂 this video is cracking me up man! It’s 2am and I just woke my neighbour up because I was laughing so loud! 😂 What did the message in the cupboard say? I missed that 😂
Me and my family stayed here a few years ago and your room looked like the Ritz compared to what we had. When you complain and point things out, they are not interested and basically say that you get what you pay for. We had never stayed in a holiday park before and didn't really know what we were getting. We have not stayed in one since. I hardly slept at all while we were there. The sad thing is that they just don't care. You can leave bad ratings as much as you like, and we did, it just makes no difference. One good thing, you are very close to the beach.
@@WalkWithMeTim the tide comes all the way in. Catches you out the first time as you are moving all your stuff away from the sea. And then you move it again, and again. It is a lovely part of the country but the money needed to bring this place up to anything like scratch would be immense.
i've been to 2 tidy weekender (raves) here. For that it's absolutely ideal! I did notice place was run down but I did think what we were using it for and I didn't bat an eyelid. Can't imagine anything other than a debauched all weekend rave, taking place. I definitely wouldn't want to holiday there.
Omg 😳 it’s falling to bits! I stayed here in 2014 and I didn’t enjoy our holiday we came home after 1 day I won’t explain as it will take me a week to explain! But let’s just say NEVER again!!!!!!
I’m sorry I didn’t read the reviews now! But me and my friend and her 4 grandkids just needed a break mom/fri in school holidays and I think we paid £89 but we had a black leather sofa bed and it was ripped our sheets were dirty 4 kids had to share 2 single beds with 2 pillows between 4 kids! We had no shower only a bath it was very small I had to stand up in the bath and pour water over my head from a cup and wash that way I felt so dirty we went to the club for bingo and not a lot of people playing so money was crap! But getting back to the chalet it was dirty no dishes for cereal not enough cutlery and to top it all I had to buy cleaning products so on the Tuesday afternoon we decided to go home enough was enough!
Recently found this channel and I really enjoy the videos. Interesting and straight to the point. I have to say I do find them very interesting. Especially the Pontins series
Genuinely depressing watching the disrepair, we have few holiday parks in the UK as it is. I'm sure they are well aware of that so they could at least make the effort to make it a good time away. The last thing anyone wants from a time away is spending in a place with little to no care it just ruins the experience overall given its not exactly expensive either. It's even the small things like ambient noise which Butlins has it may small but it makes the place feel alive, this place gives the vibes of 'We'll be shut in a few years'.
The council are involved now as many local residents and holiday makers have contacted them on a health and safety aspect. I believe there are inspections coming in the next few weeks.
I‘ve never been to one of these and they are obviously loved by many who where able to visit them during their peak time but this looks dreadful. The whole area looks like it’s waiting for a disaster to happen. Paying for sheets is one thing but for electricity? I’m almost shocked that water is included. Really interesting video tho.
I stayed here with my children and drove 5 hours to get there, I was so disappointed that I wanted to drive straight home again. I didn’t because the kids were looking forward to it. My daughter fell in the park straight onto a sheared of bolt sticking out the ground, she’s got a terrible scar from it. I wouldn’t tell anyone to go and stay here. Our apartment was so filthy.
The place was run down when I worked there in 1971. If you think this was bad, Hemsby was even worse. I remember they were filming Holiday on the Buses while I was at Prestatyn. They had driven a green bus into the sea.
@@WalkWithMeTim Yes, superficially. But everything was scruffy and the chalets had been poorly whitewashed inside. I remember going into an unused ballroom and seeing a broken piano and piles of tables and chairs that had been left there. Everything looked cheap and hurriedly painted. My company had the contract for the signage. We spent that summer travelling from camp to camp. I lived half a mile from their Wick Ferry camp. They sold it off in the late 70s to a housing development company. It was so run down that it was demolished.
@@bigtone1348 I think you are talking about tower beach holiday park, which was further up near Frith beach amusement park not far from robin hood caravan park, I stayed there about 1970 as a four year old, I remember the outdoor swimming pool and paddling pool, and I do remember it being whitewash painted , too young to remember if it was run down, like Ive said on a previous comment , kids want to be occupied, not interested or impressed with the quality of decor 😊
@@davek834 It was definitely Pontins. We had the contract to do the signage for all the camps. Prestatyn and Hemsby were the last ones I did before I moved to another company. I also remember a big hotel on the cliffs just out of the town. It looked quite spooky. I seem to remember it was near Rhyl. The Prestatyn pool was covered. I went to Butlins from 62-64 (still got the badges) They were the best holidays I ever had as a child.
@@bigtone1348 sorry I thought you meant prestatyn was demolished in the 70s , just that tower beach in prestatyn was demolished for housing as well, there is a video or 2 of footage of tower beach, looked like hi-di-hi
A few months ago I watched a documentary about the Norwegian prison system. The accomodation and entertainment looked much better, especially in the open prison on Bastoy island.
my partner and i and 2 friends have just come back from pontins prestatyn and we had a great time the appartment was good the beds were adequate the only fault was no free wi-fi in the appartmenrs the food was excellent and very tasteful i will be going back no problem
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4:11 There is a worm in the sink 🤢
@@pokekid-64 where I don’t see no worm 🪱 the water does move around the sink and the way it landed with the camera angle looks like a worm but it wasn’t
I’m coming here next month
@@ESCSenoir good luck 👍🏻
You looked like the only tenant in the entire dump... Looks like old school holiday camps ? But wierd.
Imagine charging £69 for a small room and thinking "hmm, lets make them pay for bed linin and electric as well"
I know right
I'm shocked
And they wonder why people would rather go abroad
I have a lovely spot in Paris for 63€ and it far exceeds this. It’s not a five star joint, but it’s full of charm and good memories
I'm watching this from the United States and I've never heard of such a thing. I've stayed in nice hotels for $70USD which were clean, in good repair, and came with a free hot breakfast.
How utterly depressing. I feel so sorry for families who save up all year and are met with this when they arrive. I cannot imagine how heart breaking it must be for the parents when their excited children finally see where they are staying for their holiday.
some people love it here
@@WalkWithMeTim I'd rather take my kids on a camping holiday and do some sort of star gazing or something, But I guess that's other peoples preference. I personally wouldn't spend £69 on it, that could go towards something nicer if you save a tad longer.
i used to take my children (and all cleaning equipment) the way I saw it was £200 for 5 people for a week was all I could afford so I made it work, but it just got too bad in the end.
"Save up all year" the room basically costs nothing though, no way it'd take that long
@@funnyvideohaha5337 Its £69 a night... That's literally more expensive than what I paid for in the city centre of Barcelona last week!
I can't believe that in 2022, they expect 'guests' to pay for electricity as a separate commodity. What a bizarre business model. Into the bargain, they tell their visitors that they're regarded as potential thieves, with a dismal warning about stealing £10 worth of pretty ancient televisions with a fantasy 'tracking chip' that even Cash Converters would guffaw at..
That would be enough for me to walk away and demand a refund.
Imagine actually Stealing a TV from here £10 isn't a lot of money but it's something but imagine if there's a crew of thieves steal lots of stuff TV kettles ect get all the money share the cut bang easy few £100 pounds.
Tbf I've been for one night just to see what it's like. It was full of chavs and the cast of my big fat gypsy wedding. So yeah I can imagine things would get stolen.
I’d assume that sign is there bc it’s happened before.
No idea how £69 is justified for this when I've stayed in pleasant little hotels for £35 a night with breakfast included.
I'm also amazed that its legal for them to advertise activities in the park when they are almost always shut or permanently closed down.
I don't think it's illegal
@@WalkWithMeTim perhaps could come under false advertising
Isn't there a little thing called health & safety that should be shutting them down - with obvious dangers open and clearly a threat to those who stay there, especially children?
When was the last health & safety assessment carried out, not to mention electrical evaluation, there was a mains socket behind that mattress in the room. Plug something in and you have a major fire hazard?
@@nathanmiller9381 I could be wrong but I belive for that to happen they would have to have advertised free electricity and bed sheets, then charged for them. in advertising law nothing is assumed.
@@jimmjimms it was more for the advertising activities which are out of order part
Recently closed . Someone told me it was like being homeless, but inside. Toilets, with no doors, self catering apartments, with no working, cooking facilities, absolutely filthy et cetera
I’ve had loads of holidays at Pontins as a kid growing up and then with my own family, so for me Pontins hold a special place in my heart.
The management of this park is a disgrace, and it’s been this way for a number of years. Total neglect and disregard for the conditions….
So sad
Very
No way could I sleep on that bed.
I’m so glad I was never subjected to pontins holidays as a kid 😅
Well Laura bg4 , Remember that a great number of people visited or spent summers there in the distant past and found it rather delightful, although it’s next to impossible for those of us who never had that experience, can’t begin to imagine it as anything but what we now see.
We all at one time in our own lives have know or experienced someplace in your younger years that you can remember the fun and enjoyment of partaking in .... but now it’s no where near the same or has disappeared altogether. I certainly can, and start to feel a little melancholy just thinking & talking about it. My mum’s gone, my dad’s gone, three of my four brothers I grew up with are and so are those special places we once frequented those many, many, many years ago. However, luckily there are at least three places of the top of my head that have been maintained or refurbished and much cared for. It means sooo much to those of us who grew up in this environment as to would anyone else I’m sure.😂❤💕🇺🇸
Reminds of my visit to Chernobyl a few years ago. Everything desolate and frozen at a moment in time. So sad. I feel sorry for the local kids who work hard here. Must be so disheartening. They need to demolish it and start again not die by a thousand cuts like this. For God's sake don't let them build another housing development though!
yes let them keep it as a holiday park of some sort
Well the immigrats keep coming so they keep on needing to build.
Our prisons have better conditions than this place
My fella has been to Chernobyl about 5 times as well
But the difference is, Pripyat is interesting and its not a boring experience.
I’ve been a few times with my girlfriend, who lived inside what is now the exclusion zone with her mum when she was a baby.
We were supposed to be over there this year, but that obviously isn’t going to be happening now.
It's horrifying to see the owners leave the site in such such such horrific conditions. Someone needs to takeover, destroy and rebuild a brand new holiday park. Also the broken concrete with sticking out rusting rebar is really dangerous and could fall down/break.
True .. but who
@@WalkWithMeTim Pontins is owned by Britannia Hotels Group - voted Britains Worst Hotel Chain for up to the last 8 years by Which. They also own Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool; Grand Hotel, Llandudno and others around the country where the 'experience' matches yours at Prestatyn Pontins (or as we refer to it locally - Stalag IV).
@@WalkWithMeTim sadly holiday parks like this , butlins, pontins etc are a dying breed hence the reduction of the many holiday parks they used to have but at least Butlins still invests in their parks Pontins sadly have just let em go to rack and ruin and don't care as they are serving the cheap budget end of the staycation market these days and they KNOW they will still get custom from families that are on major low income like universal credit that can't even afford a decent staycation in the UK ..even I have looked at places and sadly you get what you pay for ( or in this case substandard for what you pay for) TBH FOR WHAT SOME HOTELS OR OTHER CARAVAN or holiday parks are charging still (even through the pandemic I noticed prices increased captive audience syndrome ) its prob on par with going abroad still! makes me sad, to be frank as a kid all my holidays were staycations be it Blackpool or Cornwall and devon I NEVER went abroad till I was 21 and that was to Benidorm (and that's geared up to the brits so like going to a foreign Butlins lol)
DK, those chunks of concrete could land on someone, if it’s a baby or child it could easily cause serious injuries or worse!
@@dizzydevil547 Wouldn't say holiday parks are in decline overall, just places like this with old Chalet set up. Caravan parks are booming.
I worked part-time at Pontins in 2006-2008. The staff there really did bring some life into the park for a while. Before I handed in my notice for personal reasons, the place was starting to transform into what you see now. If a bit of money was thrown into giving this place a facelift, the staff would not need to work so hard to justify the poor quality of the park. Too much time and effort is being put into keeping this rotten corpse of a place alive XD
People actually class this as a holiday?! Damn, I'm extremely hard up but would rather not go on holiday than go anywhere like this...
Yikes
I just wouldn't bother. Go for long walks and a picnic instead. Terrible places!
If my choice was between take my (nonexistent) kids on holiday here or never go on holiday ever I’m picking the latter, they’d deserve better than this
Only a certain type of people would class this as a holiday
Agreed. Maybe because I'm a lazy sloth but I would rather just stay in my local area than go somewhere like that!
I live near the Southport Pontins and it's such a shame. Butlins have completely refurbed/rebuilt their camps to a much higher standard and now are doing really well. Brittania Hotels never put a penny into their properties and now the Pontins brand has been left to rot. Such a shame as with the right investments there definitely is still a market for holiday camps imo.
Yes maybe it will come
I remember going to that pontins as well
@@pearlkelly6337 same... me and my family stayed for a few hours before we decided it wasn't worth the budget price
Can't fault Butlins in Bognor . It's lovely
I worked there 3 years ago!!! Bloody nightmare, we had rats in the shop!
I was brought up in Prestatyn but now live in NZ. It's always nostalgic and amusing when videos pop up on RUclips now and again showing the bad side of Prestatyn's Pontins. It makes you wonder why they don't either close it or do it up. Surprised how few people were outside but then surprised when you went inside and one of the rooms was packed. Maybe they get enough customers that Pontins feel it's worth keeping it ticking over. Thanks, though, for the comprehensive tour which was fascinating.
We’re from California and have never heard the term Holiday Park. Pontins is completely new to us, but has now become a byword of what you don’t want for a vacation. We are enjoying your channel very much, thank you! You know, I guess Disneyland is a holiday park. Hmmm.
I think we had a sun holiday there as a child and my father wrote a strongly worded letter to the management and we got a refund. We bought some plates, cups and cutlery from a local charity shop to have something decent to use and I think we left it there...
oh wow!
I love these videos as I’m oddly fascinated with hotels. One common theme though, among ALL the videos I have watched so far for terrible and dirty hotels/parks. Britannia. Hotels. They are one of the most shocking companies in this country. So cynical and they take nice but struggling hotels or chains like Pontins. And ruin them by doing the bare minimum and everything on the cheap.
it seems that way lol
I stayed in a Britannia once. Boss paid for it, said the low ratings were all guff and she was willing to give it a chance.
Crawling with insects, and broken CRT TVs in the rooms, looked like a scene out of only fools and horses. Lol she booked us in with a Ramada hotel that very night. Night and day.
I travel a lot for work so it just needs to be a bed and shower, but dear lord Brittannia are the only no go!
*Thought I was watching an abandoned urban exploration video by the state of the place*
lol
I worked there once as a cleaner. Think I probably lasted a fortnight working there. Their mentality was to clean as many rooms as possible in a day to a sub-par standard than to spend actual time on cleaning fewer properly. The things I found when cleaning though... dear god! :| Condoms, human feces smeared on walls, drugs!! The only way you fix a problem like this place is to have a complete overhaul and spend at the bare MINIMUM a whole winter season hiring people to fix what's broken, but seen as they want to spend as little money as possible regardless of how it impacts the customer's experience, and so long as people keep spending their money there, this place won't see any improvement because complaints never reach the top (especially when the inquiry place is hardly ever open!) :D
great insight thanks
I remember cleaning the chalets at a different park as a kid for cash in hand, we'd have to do 8 chalets in a day, it was hard going, and as you say some people would be absolutely disgusting, the hardest £13.50 i ever earned
Hotels tend to do that, give the cleaning staff more and more rooms to clean every day. (or not at all). Cuts down on the staff numbers and saves money until your reputations goes to hell.
can't believe I'm seeing this!! last year about 4 of us booked for this place for about a week. the first night we were there we could hear arguments and fights breaking out in the room nearby. We never really figured out what happened but we know police were involved.
After staying there for the night (we booked for a week or so) we immediately packed our bags headed for McDonald's and started searching for a new place to stay.
many things in the park looked abandoned and looked as if they shouldn't be opened.
Omg
How did you get suckered in ?
Arguments?......You know damn well why there was arguing,someone paid to stay in the ghetto!🤣🤣🤣🤣
As I said in a previous post I made, this place is a haven for druggies, and drug dealers.
When we were there in '12, walking to the 'entertainment' centre, saw lots of BMWs, Jags etc, brand new some of them were, parked randomly around the park.
Yeah, like the owners of brand new Beemers and Jags would be holidaying THERE!😂
My young daughter and her elderly gran witnessed a hard drug deal go down right in front of them, outside the park supermarket.
I think that explains the new posh motors maybe?
We beat a hasty retreat from the park as soon as they told me about it, and for a brief moment I even considered calling the police, but thought what is the point?
Two ex-girlfriends of mine used to work as Chalet Maids there in the late 80's, early 90's and the stories they use to tell me about the working conditions there would shock you.
I've said it before on your previous videos that The Britannia Hotels Group are solely responsible for running & ruining each and every hotel and camp site they own.
Everything they own has turned to crap, and that's curbing my language and being polite.
Prestatyn is a beautiful small seaside town. The beach there is always clean, and you can have a lovely relaxing walk along to Rhyl on the promenade.
It sickens me that something that was once so bustling with holidaymakers, and was one of the UK most popular holiday parks, now looks like something out of Colditz.
The site itself used to have many more chalets too, but they've knocked them down over the years, and grassed the area.
I agree with what you said about the entertainment they have there. It's brilliant, and when they used to host an Ibiza Reunion weekend the place was absolutely buzzing, and the same with Southport Pontins too.
With regards to spending a bit of cash on each chalet your looking around £300 per room to bring it up to date?
A set of cutlery, £1-£2.
A new double mattress, maybe £150.
A kettle, toaster and microwave around £100.
A lick of paint for around £40.
It's not a lot of money to invest and make the place liveable again is it, yet I'm sure Britannia Hotels are waiting for the place to fall down and sell the land to a developer, because this one in Prestatyn is a prime location.
Keep up the excellent videos Tim!
wow!
You also have to factor in that some of the chalet buildings themselves are not structurally sound; as Tim demonstrated in the video, multiple chalets have had the upstairs walkways missing a lot of material, in some cases going all the way down to the exposed rebar.
@@legoferrari14 Exposed rebar is merely a cosmetic issue.
Unfortunately, this site is now closed but the both Prestatyn and Southport sites are being assessed by Butlins, as they don't have a site in the North of England.
Sad to see these kind of places slowly falling to pieces. When families save up all year and they get this it's disappointing. These places are still important for many families as they offer an affordable holiday and give the communities much needed work opportunities. The owners won't care as long as the money is still coming in.
Another excellent vid Tim, keep up the great work. 🙂🍻
good point! thanks for watching James
@@WalkWithMeTim Also the Irish name ban
Affordable? I recently looked into a weeks holiday at butlins, 2 adults+ 2 teenagers. Holy crap, we could have a fortnight in florida for less.
@@sambrooks7862 butlins isn't even in the same league as pontins tbf
I guess Pontins and alike are a good image to where we're at in the current UK = A shambles
I always considered the fact that my family never holidayed in a place like Pontins a real disappointment but after seeing this I’m delighted 😂
Lol
Hi Tim. Wow so sad to see how they have let the park deteriorate. I am showing my age again but back in about 1968 when I was 9 me and some of my cousins and aunties all went to Butlins at Pwillheli. The holiday camps in those days were good fun and clean. Thanks for sharing. Have a good weekend.
thanks Debbie
I can't imagine how the various local health and safety departments even allow that place to remain open when it's literally/structurally falling apart. Is the local economy that dependent on them they give it the Nelsons eye?
?
@@WalkWithMeTim Turning a blind eye, in reference to Lord Nelson.
Conwy council suck
I'm about halfway through so far and all I can think is what would it look like without that gorgeous weather?!
its got a great beach
I worked there for a couple of seasons in the 1990's. That chalet you stayed in looked like one of the chalets that the staff used to live in. The chalets are dirty because they are under staffed, and the chalet cleaners are only given a short amount of time to clean them. The camp is in a terrible state, but only because the government allow the companies who own these places to let them get like that. The blue coat shack is where all the blue coats sleep. There's 18 bunk beds in there.
LOL
It looked tiny tho, how did they fit 18 bunk beds in there
That concrete rot on those access balconies is absolutely terrifying. No wonder they've closed them all off, but with rot that bad it's just a matter of time before one of them falls off!
It used to be magic here as a child (45 years ago)
The kids were split into 2 groups & would compete against each other ..the groups were called Embassy or Castelllo!! sponsored by cigarette companies!! 😂 but it was so much fun! Best childhood memories here 🎉
How the hell can Pontins let those chalets out thinking that its acceptable I'm shocked,as for the wee stained matress and vile linen I don't know which was worse the state of it or the fact you sniffed it 🤢🤢 you are very brave .
Yes I did wash my face after lol
It's now owned by Britannia Hotels. Fred Pontin would kill them if he knew what has happened to his camps
"Chalets"? Lol. Very grand name for a flat.
@@phill6983 ‘flat’? Nice name for a hovel
I spent a weekend there in 2009. Payed for the ' silver ' accommodation. It was depressingly dated, I don't think it had seen any paint since 1970 judging by the curtains & bedding. The shower and sink were coated in limescale, even the carpets were stained with goodness knows what.
I've never been back.
Let's be honest, the rear end dropped out of British holiday camps years ago when you could get cheap all inclusive holidays to Spain, Greece etc...Not much of a contest now
Shame
Went with my girlfriends parents to my first British holiday camp place at Centre Parcs. When I found out how much it was I was like “why in the fuck do people come here? Can get a return flight to anywhere in Europe and a weeks stay for cheaper. Hell you can probably even do a 2 week holiday in Thailand for the same cost”
The closing shot of the film reminds me of a story I once was told working there in the 80's, when they filmed one scene, Reg's character backed his bus into the gate post at the then security office at the main gate, and damaged it. The damage was never repaired, and slightly cracked the cement on the stone gate posts. Probably is still broken.
Oh wow
We went in there on a day pass on the late 70s it was a hell hole the swimming pool was full of broken crockery the diving board was covered in hession sacking no games worked no pride at all
I remember staying there about 40 years ago and it didn't seem too bad then, although we mainly used it as a base to tour north Wales. Great video Tim.
Wow
The CEO should hang his head in shame, so it's a cheap getaway for a couple of days but doesn't excuse the fact that no-one is responsible for checking the housekeeping essentials. I would be totally embarrassed if I was the manager of this place and I most certainly would not have stayed given the scenes you filmed.
Good point
They don’t care as them and their families would never visit, it’s a shame as these places could be brilliant
The ceo 85 living in Spain 🤣
I live in Japan, you would get a sincere apology, your room sorted/moved and your money back straight away. No crappy English excuses.
I visited Prestatyn in 1986. As I drove past Pontins I asked my friend why they had a POW camp in their town.
When you went into the queen vic it suddenly brought back a few memories. The queen vic was a wacky warehouse type of place in 1991 when I worked there in the cleaning department. We were called over to there, and when we got there we were told that a young boy had done a poo in the ball pond. We had to put tens of thousands of plastic balls into huge nets, take them to our cleaning compound, pressure wash them, then dry them in the sun before taking them back. Good times though. I loved working there, especially working in the kitchen in 1990. It was the best job I ever had. I'd go back and work in the catering department again if I didn't have so much stuff at home. I can't bring myself to put my space invader machine and my golf clubs into storage.
Stayed here last month and had a great time, we were in block 16 and we had a sea view from our kitchen, the entertainment was brilliant and we all enjoyed ourselves. Sadly it does need a lot of TLC but it didn’t effect our holiday
One of my first ever holidays here as a kid, brings back some memories! Used to be busy and full of life...lots to do etc! Sad to see it now! I guess time has moved on 😔
Big shame
As others have said, went here with my parents and sisters back in around 2002, before TripAdvisor etc and as kids we loved it. However, it hasn’t changed one bit by the looks of it. Apparently, the week we went, we were the only family on the whole park that had payed to stay there. Everyone else used vouchers provided by either the council or DWP. God knows if that ever had any effect on their revenue but they clearly haven’t spent a penny on the park’s upkeep. Shame.
yes trip advisor aside it does not look great
Surely the DWP don't give people holidays?
@@wtfishappening8476 It was probably surestart vouchers. Surestart was a government backed organisation that supported children in the early years, as a way to make sure children in poverty who started school, werent already disadvantaged from their peers. Ngl, it was great, but got defunded by the change in government in 2010, leaving a massive gap in support for early years support and child poverty reduction.
@@orangew3988 healthy start i think you mean and never covered holidays. Those vouchers could only be used on milk, fruit and veg. I used to get them before they stopped doing them. Sure start is something else entirely, a maternity grant you get when you're x amount of months pregnant.
Edit to add they definitely didn't discontinue them I 2010, as I was receiving them up until at least 2016/17 for my son.
@@RefreshedandFruity4 thanks for replying! I did some research after writing this comment and realised I had made some errors for sure, because the scheme has continued in some areas (although has been discontinued in many too). I think my main point is that sure start used to do a lot more things than it currently does, many cuts to services from 2010 onwards meant they cut down their services, even if the programme was still going.
And I hadn't heard of healthy start! Good to see it, but it's run by the NHS and a completely separate scheme as far as I can tell.
Used to work at pontins in Blackpool and when it closed in 2009 all the furniture and rotten mattresses were shipped off to Prestatyn and Southport pontins..they should have been skipped years before blackpool shut as they were grim..looks like they are still in use today...lovely 😍
Wow
The Pontins in Prestatyn, Camber Sands and Southport have closed down, I’m glad they’ve closed because of the bad reviews, rude staff, filthy chalets etc, poor food and drink and poor service
During Covid it was a nightmare and the chalets are supposed to be cleaned and sanitized but the ad was a lie they were filthy dirty and some people tested positive for covid after coming back home from Pontins
Now the other Pontins need closing down
I remember in the 90s wish you were here did a review, pretty much everything was cleaned and renovated in preparation. I'm afraid it looks like that was the last time any work was done. I worked there myself for laundry services, some of the bedding we collected was in a horrific state, staff didn't care, felt like mutual apathy...
I'd love to see that
I remember a report on BBC Watchdog on Pontins, where they had wired their street lamps up the wrong way, so they'd shock anyone who touched them!
But the Hemsby one at the end was like something out of Silent Hill!
yes i know Blackpool was worse
I remember another Watchdog story where they fitted a bulb wrong in a lamp post at a Pontins and it fell on a kids head. Honestly sometimes it felt like Pontins was that shows arch nemesis the amount of times they talked about them
hello you
I'm starting to wonder if you are an AI algorithm.
@@rareringu6553 I'm sorry, I do not understand, can you rephease that?
What’s really sad is this place was amazing 9-10 years ago because I remember going all the time…. my auntie and uncle went last year and got a refund because it was quite bad and they have 3 small children and nothing was open and everything was dangerous back in the day everything was open and lively it was very busy its such a shame to see what’s happening now
yes its a shame
I was there 10 years ago and it was a dump. Far from amazing.
Being an American these places are truly fascinating to me. Love your channel. Always interesting to see the places you stay in for our entertainment. Cheers!
Lol these are bygone days tho 60s maybe
I've stayed in some pretty... questionable... HoJo's in my time too, they weren't far off this if not worse (one had the shower detach from the wall (including the pipework inside the cavity and fall in the bath while I was using it!), everywhere has their cheap stay places that could do with TLC, or ripping down and starting afresh.
@@seanburns1972 I'm sure. So much history and beauty in the UK. Amazing land and people.
@@susiegosain2202 Don't be fooled - lots of us are knobheads.
@@susiegosain2202 Thankyou Susie,nice of you to say so,is there anywhere in your country that has these ''holiday parks'',or similar? The only time that I visited a place like this was when I was 14 in my last year at school,they organised a weeks trip to Devon by coach for those who wished to go.I remember it was at Westward Ho ,Devon ,Nr Barnstaple a long journey then before the motorways were built.We would be 2 to a small chalet with bunkbeds and all meals provided,I think it cost about £15 (about $25 probably) in 1965 approx
Some of the entertainment places look OK but wow that chalet. I would definitely be sleeping in the car. Id be worried I'd catch some disease from the mattress or the ceiling would fall in! Was that message in the cupboard a cry for help? Now I really dislike camping, but I'd prefer being in a tent to staying there 😅
Lol
How depressing! I went there about 12 years ago on a Sun £9 holiday. Glad we didn't pay any more than that! It was pretty dire even back then but it looks even worse now.
😒
I went here with my family once years ago. One of our bedroom windows was shattered and was never fixed even after we called someone over to have a look, the cupboards were dusty and the toilet was covered in shredded newspaper for some reason, it was bizarre. We were also put in one of the apartments directly behind one of the party rooms so there was bright light behind us all the time and at nighttime it was horribly loud. We ended up leaving a day early because we just felt awful. Thank you so much for doing a video on this, it feels so cathartic seeing a video about it after all this time!
P.S. for those that were looking at going to this, get sun vouchers or save up a bit of money and go to Presthaven instead. It's so much better and more pleasant than this, plus it's just around the corner from pontins
oh wow thanks for sharing
If I had to go on holiday to a place like this I would be turning around and going back home; It's in a horrible condition and being a compulsive cleaner I would be unable to use those kitchens and bathrooms because even after washing all the dishes & utensils they wouldn't be clean enough. I'd be spending the entire holiday cleaning.
Is the unknown attraction at 17:29 individual ground-level trampolines? They were a craze in '60s America. As a wee child, I saw one in a gravel lot, with bunkbed-sized spring-tensioned mats over pits in the ground. It looked odd to pass by and see kids leaping impossibly high in the air from a standing position. Lawsuits over broken bones spelled the end of the craze.
I remember that on the buses movie with this location. What a disgraceful way to treat People. Makes my blood boil when I see accommodation like this. Those poor families having their holidays ruined by a company with zero respect. Thanks for exposing this lot Tim. I hope others watch this video. As always a great vid. 👍
Thanks for watching 😁
I can remember when I was extremely poor and had no choice but to holiday in places like this... That's probably why they never change and know they've always got a line of people who will holiday there... Thankfully now, I can afford the finer things in life and 5 star accommodation but this brings back a few nightmares.
lucky u
@@WalkWithMeTim probably more to do with hard work than being lucky
@@user-ji7vn1ps8j I doubt it. 90% of wealth is inhereted. Did you know that?
4:28 in Australia people use kettles to make hotdogs, or 2 min noodles. They throw the snags in and fill it up and let it boil. I don’t use kettles or microwaves at these sort of places. Very odd stuff happenes.
You are always very fair Tim. Like you I would love to see these lovely old hotels and retro holiday camp sites survive, However that mattress was really gross! Burning would be too good for it! Pontins should be ashamed.
Once again a great vid. Thanks :-)
I know far to kind lol
Brittannia ruined the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool after buying it as well by not maintaining it. It was a grand place to stay at one time.
I remember as a kid me and my family stayed in 2 different pontins and both were awful. One was so bad that we actually went to the main office afterwards and was going to hand in the key and head home because the room had holes in the wall, the beds were mouldy and there was burn marks on the carpets. We only stayed because they changed our room but even that wasn't all that good. Later when we checked the pool it smelled awful. So bad none of us even wanted to risk swimming in it. After that we never stayed at one again and I'm honestly amazed the company hasn't shut it's doors yet.
omg
I spent one holiday here, we usually went to Pontin's Blackpool, it was the year they filmed Holiday on the Buses. I cannot believe that they still charge for electricity. I last paid for electricity at a camp in 1994, Butlins Skegness.
It doesn't look aesthetically pleasing on the outside, Tim. Never been to a Pontin's as a child, only Butlins the one time. To be honest, this kind of holiday has never appealed and much prefered self-catered in the past. Nowadays... Log cabins 😅
Yes agree but I love the old fashion it will soon be all gone
@@WalkWithMeTim alas, indeed it will. 😔
I went to pontins as a kid.. now I prefer hotels in the sun abroad ☀️
Hello Tim! I stayed at this camp with my family the same year that the On the Buses team filmed there! We always went to holiday at various holiday camps very late in the year when the electricity was free usually the final week! But this camp is no where near as it was !! Thank you for the video ! Glad I found your channel!
yay thanks for watching and finding me Julie, hope you subscribed too
Imagine a family looking for a budget break and ending up here? Looks like an old motorway services area that's been abandoned.
I've never been to Pontins but I remember seeing the adverts as a kid and how hyped up they made it look. I'm 23 now and I also remember seeing one (don't know which ones still exist apart from Prestatyn) that was on Watchdog. How time has a way of changing things.
Yes I remember those adverts
I stayed at a different pontins a few years ago and this place is a PALACE compared to the room I had!! Absolute filth, mouldy windowsills, one of the tap handles was missing, to name but a few … Walking to the main ‘entertainment’ centre across the car park was an assault course of avoiding vomit. All the bed linen is thrown away after each guest which is shameful. I just don’t understand how this place is allowed to remain open!
This format did well in the 90s. However, we have moved on so far from then. In order to stay relevant they would need to bulldoze the whole thing and make a whole bunch of tree houses or hobbit-like residencies and an enclosing and enchanted forest. With smart robots as butlers and obscure electric golf carts with numerous activities to do.
This type of army barracks style with mess area is completely dead in the water.
I happened to watch Holiday On The Buses recently so was very happy to see this review. It is such a shame to see it in such a poor state. Be amazing for it to get new owners and do a retro restoration.
I totally agree!
Worked on building these chalets in the early 70,s when Fred pontin owned the company, then it was very good and always full, in fact we worked on the chalets they used for filming we’d to make certain changes so that the cameras could move around, got a wave from sir, Fred one day when he landed in his helicopter, unfortunately the Britannia brand is very poor for customer satisfaction stayed a few times a while back and would rather sleep in the street than go inside and stay
its not the same anymore
You can bring your own bedding. Be a good idea to bring your own mattress as well
Lol
This is actually peeing me right off! How dare these people think it is ok to rent these dilapidated buildings out to poor families who have no option but to holiday there! Depressing and disgusting! How can there not be a minimum standard! Appalling!
I know awful
Ngl it was some of the best memories i have here
@@ellarowlads2320 I went to Prestatyn as a child and loved it but don’t think it was this bad or maybe my memory has faded!! haha!
When we went to Southport Pontins in 2010 I spent the first day and a half making the filthy chalet habitable then we spent the rest of the holiday off camp because there was nothing there
@@angiemetcalfe7210 my sister reminded me last night that when we went to Pontins when we were children, our Mam had to complain as there was a huge hole in the wall, so maybe it was still bad back then (70’s)
I took my two kids to bean sands pontins a few years ago (£68 for two nights for all three of us) while it was a bit shabby and run down our accommodation was clean and all in good working order . Kids loved evening entertainment and we went out in the day, I'm not sure I would rush back but saying that my experience there was ok although I've heard horror stories too!
yes i hear worse than what i have seen
I went it was absolutely disgusting .
Hi Tim, love the videos!!! So sad to see Pontins in such disrepair....I clearly remember watching Holiday on the Buses as a child....Oh how the camp has changed!! keeps up the fabulous work!!
BTW, the onion smell in the fridge is interesting....sometimes half an onion is placed in a fridge to disguise the stench of other less palatable smells..
I’m sorry, no electricity? What in the actual f***
i also grew up watching on the buses and i loved the holiday one... now in my mid 30s it hurts me to think how people could let such iconic places go...
I know!
I agree this is the location of a Golden Classic British comedy. Maybe gone but never forgotten.
I stayed there in 1984, it was bad then, really bad, the queue at reception with people complaining was terrible, that was 40 years ago. How can they still be going, who is staying there.
I went there in 2019. The chalet wasn’t too bad and we just used it as base camp essentially. We always drove out to some natural beauty spots, cities etc and came back in the evening for some cheap kids entertainment.
Me and my partner stayed there for cheap accommodation while we climbed Mount Snowden, looking back now I would have spent more and definitely stayed somewhere else. Absolutely filthy and the and whole place looked like it hadn't been updated since 1990.
wow cheap place to lie your head lol
@@WalkWithMeTim that's about it 😂😂👌
I only discovered your videos last night and I am really enjoying them. Excellent quality Tim. I was particularly interested in the Pontins stuff as I was a Bluecoat myself back in the day at Riviera Hotel. Particularly liked this one as I was a great fan of On The Buses films.....I've subscribed, I'm going to check out your other work. I love camera work and editing, the colour is excellent too....
thanks mike , very kind of you to say
I stayed there about 5 years and it was awful. Our apartment had cigarette ash over the furniture & floor, we complained and got moved. They provided my partner and I with single sized bed linen for a double sized bed and didn’t have any linen that fitted, ridiculous. The whole place felt grubby & unkept.
wow
That place is a wreck. How does it even get licensed. Isn't there a health and safety dept to regulate these vacation spots. It isn't really safe or clean.
I've been reading the review replies from the owners on Google and their nasty attitude mirrors that of their dump resort.
how can this place be legal? so dilapidated it looks dangerous not to mention repulsive. You could not pay me to stay there.
I have been here in 2013 and honestly it was the worst place I have ever been. The room we had was 10× worse than the one shown here, we had to buy new bedding from asda because it was full of cigarette burns. The legs of the sofa were duct taped because they were broken, the bin had no lid, the blue bathroom suite was full of mould, the balcony bit was falling apart etc. Then one evening in the entertainment room it was raining and a whole section of the roof just caved in!
Stop being pedantic and nit picking, it’s not that bad. Hopefully I’ll be there summer 2024, looking forward to it.
Great to have a look around a holiday camp which is just the way they used to be in the swinging 60s ❤️
Did u ever perform here
@@WalkWithMeTim Not there , but was a redcoat at a holiday camp that was exactly like the camp in the comedy series Hi de hi 😂😂
6:52 - "Doesn't overly smell that fresh, and there is hair". The seagull clearly found their sabotage of your duvet hilarious.
You are a brave man, Tim. I'd be sleeping in the car! Or coming armed with hospital grade disinfectant and rolls of paper towel (have done this and left them, when I checked out., as a hint to the staff, or a warning to the next unfortunate registered guest!)
Well I did have a few bites on my legs!
@@WalkWithMeTim BED BUGS? AAAAAARRRGH! 🤪
tragic, I still feel excited seeing the park, then seeing the state of those chalets is heartbreaking. I used to go there as a kid and took my youngest kids there until it just became too much, I'd pack my steam mop and all cleaning stuff and send them out to play, whilst i made the chalet habitable, but it just got too bad. as you said though cant fault the entertainment, just those chalets and general feeling of the park being so neglected.
such a shame
They can't even be bothered to replace the basket ball net and throw some paint on the posts, my God.
My Brass Band did a contest there once. My husband and I, along with our friend, refused to stay there and went to the local Travelodge. I’m sure people thought we were snobs but I’m so glad we didn’t stay there. My friend actually caught hand foot and mouth that weekend too…😳
No way
Stalag Prestatyn, looks like you weren't there long enough to be asked to join the escape committee. I had to endure a holiday there once about 15 years ago when my wife thought it would be fun way to see in the new year. The room was cold and electric meter is an obscene con, even then the place was too depressing for words. We left early.
wow
😂 this video is cracking me up man! It’s 2am and I just woke my neighbour up because I was laughing so loud! 😂
What did the message in the cupboard say? I missed that 😂
Glad you enjoyed lol
Me and my family stayed here a few years ago and your room looked like the Ritz compared to what we had. When you complain and point things out, they are not interested and basically say that you get what you pay for. We had never stayed in a holiday park before and didn't really know what we were getting. We have not stayed in one since. I hardly slept at all while we were there. The sad thing is that they just don't care. You can leave bad ratings as much as you like, and we did, it just makes no difference. One good thing, you are very close to the beach.
Yes and the beach is great
@@WalkWithMeTim the tide comes all the way in. Catches you out the first time as you are moving all your stuff away from the sea. And then you move it again, and again. It is a lovely part of the country but the money needed to bring this place up to anything like scratch would be immense.
Ditto lol. This was in a much better state than when I stayed!
i've been to 2 tidy weekender (raves) here. For that it's absolutely ideal! I did notice place was run down but I did think what we were using it for and I didn't bat an eyelid. Can't imagine anything other than a debauched all weekend rave, taking place. I definitely wouldn't want to holiday there.
wow
It’s looks different regular folk using it! 😂😂 tidy weekenders were mental
Used to love tidy weekenders
I was scrolling through the comments waiting to spot someone mentioning the Tidy Trax Weekenders there, not disappointed 👍😉
@@fishmeister2625 glad I could oblige 😂
The bed test made me laugh , I do love your videos I find them weirdly relaxing / comforting :)
Glad you like them!
Omg 😳 it’s falling to bits! I stayed here in 2014 and I didn’t enjoy our holiday we came home after 1 day I won’t explain as it will take me a week to explain! But let’s just say NEVER again!!!!!!
Oh wow
I’m sorry I didn’t read the reviews now! But me and my friend and her 4 grandkids just needed a break mom/fri in school holidays and I think we paid £89 but we had a black leather sofa bed and it was ripped our sheets were dirty 4 kids had to share 2 single beds with 2 pillows between 4 kids! We had no shower only a bath it was very small I had to stand up in the bath and pour water over my head from a cup and wash that way I felt so dirty we went to the club for bingo and not a lot of people playing so money was crap! But getting back to the chalet it was dirty no dishes for cereal not enough cutlery and to top it all I had to buy cleaning products so on the Tuesday afternoon we decided to go home enough was enough!
I imagine a lot of action goes in that bed 🤣🤣😎 how are these places still open? It's mind-blowing
Lol
Recently found this channel and I really enjoy the videos. Interesting and straight to the point. I have to say I do find them very interesting. Especially the Pontins series
Thanks for the sub
No problem Tim!
Genuinely depressing watching the disrepair, we have few holiday parks in the UK as it is. I'm sure they are well aware of that so they could at least make the effort to make it a good time away. The last thing anyone wants from a time away is spending in a place with little to no care it just ruins the experience overall given its not exactly expensive either. It's even the small things like ambient noise which Butlins has it may small but it makes the place feel alive, this place gives the vibes of 'We'll be shut in a few years'.
but people have been saying that for years lol
@@WalkWithMeTim only time will tell haha
@@tomebers8683 ;-)
The council are involved now as many local residents and holiday makers have contacted them on a health and safety aspect. I believe there are inspections coming in the next few weeks.
I‘ve never been to one of these and they are obviously loved by many who where able to visit them during their peak time but this looks dreadful. The whole area looks like it’s waiting for a disaster to happen. Paying for sheets is one thing but for electricity? I’m almost shocked that water is included. Really interesting video tho.
thanks for watching
I live in the U.S. and I can't believe that you have to pay for electricity!! That's ridiculous.
I stayed here with my children and drove 5 hours to get there, I was so disappointed that I wanted to drive straight home again. I didn’t because the kids were looking forward to it. My daughter fell in the park straight onto a sheared of bolt sticking out the ground, she’s got a terrible scar from it. I wouldn’t tell anyone to go and stay here. Our apartment was so filthy.
wow
Should have taken them to court
The place was run down when I worked there in 1971.
If you think this was bad, Hemsby was even worse. I remember they were filming Holiday on the Buses while I was at Prestatyn. They had driven a green bus into the sea.
it looked great back then
@@WalkWithMeTim Yes, superficially. But everything was scruffy and the chalets had been poorly whitewashed inside. I remember going into an unused ballroom and seeing a broken piano and piles of tables and chairs that had been left there. Everything looked cheap and hurriedly painted. My company had the contract for the signage. We spent that summer travelling from camp to camp.
I lived half a mile from their Wick Ferry camp. They sold it off in the late 70s to a housing development company. It was so run down that it was demolished.
@@bigtone1348 I think you are talking about tower beach holiday park, which was further up near Frith beach amusement park not far from robin hood caravan park, I stayed there about 1970 as a four year old, I remember the outdoor swimming pool and paddling pool, and I do remember it being whitewash painted , too young to remember if it was run down, like Ive said on a previous comment , kids want to be occupied, not interested or impressed with the quality of decor 😊
@@davek834 It was definitely Pontins. We had the contract to do the signage for all the camps. Prestatyn and Hemsby were the last ones I did before I moved to another company.
I also remember a big hotel on the cliffs just out of the town. It looked quite spooky. I seem to remember it was near Rhyl.
The Prestatyn pool was covered.
I went to Butlins from 62-64 (still got the badges) They were the best holidays I ever had as a child.
@@bigtone1348 sorry I thought you meant prestatyn was demolished in the 70s , just that tower beach in prestatyn was demolished for housing as well, there is a video or 2 of footage of tower beach, looked like hi-di-hi
A few months ago I watched a documentary about the Norwegian prison system. The accomodation and entertainment looked much better, especially in the open prison on Bastoy island.
my partner and i and 2 friends have just come back from pontins prestatyn and we had a great time the appartment was good the beds were adequate the only fault was no free wi-fi in the appartmenrs the food was excellent and very tasteful i will be going back no problem