Our History
Over 30 years in the Holiday Business
Park Holidays UK was established in 1984 as a family business led by Peter Bull and Jim Watson.
Their first park was Frenchman’s Beach at Rye in East Sussex, which is still a part of the Park Holidays UK portfolio today (now called Rye Harbour). The business expanded with other parks in the East Sussex and Kent area joining the group which became known as Cinque Ports Leisure – the name being associated with the port towns that helped defend the UK during the Napoleonic Wars.
The business continued to grow and in 2001 made a major leap forward when 11 parks were bought from Haven Holidays. These parks stretched from Sandhills in Dorset to Felixstowe Beach and Suffolk Sands in Suffolk.
The business continued to prosper, with further individual parks being added. In 2006 Jim Watson retired, and Graphite Capital made a major investment into the business. This allowed a substantial investment programme to take place including the acquisition of 6 holiday parks in Devon.
In 2007 the company was renamed Park Holidays UK – to reflect our expansion away from the Kent and East Sussex area and the growing holiday and short break aspect of the business.
The Caledonia group were the main investment group from 2013 and invested strongly within the company in the areas of holiday and holiday home ownership.
In 2017, Intermediate Capital Group plc (ICG) acquired a majority stake in the business and their investment continued to provide a platform for further improvements to our existing parks and growth through acquisitions.
In 2021, Park Holidays UK acquired a group of nine holiday parks from Bridge Leisure, with parks located in the West Country, Peak District, Yorkshire and Scotland.
In April 2022 an agreement was reached with Sun Communities to acquire Park Holidays UK from ICG (intermediate Capital Group). Sun Communities is a publicly listed organisation and the largest operator of leisure and manufactured home communities
in the USA.
Today Park Holidays UK is one of the largest holiday park operators in the UK. In recent years the company has continued to add to its portfolio of parks with over 50 holiday parks now under the Park Holidays UK umbrella.
We have achieved the prestigious ‘Investors in People’ status in recognition of the training and development of our staff.
We were also a ‘Finalist’ in the British Travel Awards; a fitting milestone to mark the company’s progression over recent years, but we have no intention of resting on our laurels. There is always more to be done.
It’s a proud history – and we look forward to keeping the story up to date as the business continues to move forward.