The boss of caravan park chain Haven says a tie-up with Wetherspoons has proved such a success it wants to add its pubs to most of the firm’s UK sites
Holidaymakers at the UK’s biggest caravan park operator have munched through one million Wetherspoons meals.
Haven marked the pub grub milestone just two years after the first ‘Spoons’ opened on its Primrose Valley site near Filey in North Yorkshire. The number has already grown to nine.
Simon Palethorpe, boss of Haven, said the tie-up had been such a storming success it wanted to open a Wetherspoons on most of its 39 parks.
“Two years ago, this was an experient for Wetherspoons and an experiment for us,” explains Mr Palethorpe, speaking at Haven’s Kent Coast park, home to Wetherspoons’ new pub called The London Stone.
“I could only have dreamed at that point that it would be this successful with our guests as it has been. We are here celebrating a million, but I expect it to be many millions in a couple of years time.
“I would like to see us growing this concept further across our estate. I definitely think there is an opportunity for the majority of our parks to have a Wetherspoons.”
Tim Martin, founder of JD Wetherspoon, said he was “delighted” with the success.
Haven’s Wetherspoons are run on a franchise basis, but have the same menu as you would find in any other its pubs. The same model is being for a number of other openings, including its first pub outside the UK and Ireland which opened in Spain’s Alicante airport earlier this year.
Since the first Spoons at a Haven opened in spring 2024, customers have ordered 365,000 breakfasts, 57,000 lunches and 578,000 dinners.
Wetherspoons’ big breakfast – consisting of two fried eggs, bacon, two Lincolnshire sausages, baked beans, three hash browns, mushrooms and two slices of toast – is the most popular dish across the nine sites, followed by pub classic fish and chips at most of them.
Pepsi is the best selling drink, followed by Stella Artois lager in most, apart from cider at its parks in south west England.
Matthew Deang, 40, and wife Dawn, 37, were recipients of the one millionth meal, along with sons Leo, 11, and Jaxon, four.
Mr Palethorpe said the firm was benefitting from a staycation boom, as well as cost conscious customers. Its prices start from £49 for a three or four night term time stay for a whole caravan
TV star Stacey Solomon and husband Joe Swash among celebrities hailing caravan holiday, and even has a pitch on Haven’s Kent park.
Mr Palethorpe says he prefers to call his holiday homes, adding: “The word caravan can have a perception of not very nice accommodation, but things have come on leaps and bounds over the last 10, 20 years.”
Has he seen Sky TV’s The Dyers Caravan Park – starring father and daughter Danny and Danny Dyer? “No I haven’t and I don’t think I want to.”
Haven, owned by US private equity giant Blackstone, has ploughed £700million into its parks over the past five years, including a £50million makeover of Kent Coast.
Haven had 3.9 million customers last year – up 10% on 2024 – and expects to top the four million mark this year, with a record summer expected.
Mr Palethorpe said, despite rising costs, it has been largely able to limit price rises in recent years. Prices for the summer are arouund the same or less than last year.
One impact of higher costs has, however, on staff numbers. While the company still expects to recruit around 14,000 seasonal workers, it is fewer than in the past.
