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Birmingham Post
Birmingham Post
Business
Owen Hughes

Haven is investing millions of pounds in North Wales holiday park

Haven is investing millions of pounds in one of its North Wales holiday parks.

The company is spending big on its Hafan y Mor site near Pwllheli as staff gear up for the new season.

The park in Gwynedd has nearly 2,000 pitches and will expand its offering further with three new developments as they continue to raise the standard.

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Close to 80 pitches will be developed at Harlech View, Moranedd and Ogwen in multi-million pound investments.

There will be 650 people employed there during the peak season and the core team of 250 is being increased all the time as they bid to retain more staff with permanent contracts.

Taking over as general manager this year is Denise Bossons, who came down from Haven's park in Berwick on the Scotland/England border.

She said: "There is a lot of investment going in with lots of projects and I'm also busy getting to know the team.

"As we speak there are three developments underway and there are more exciting things to come with a new restaurant concept, which we hope to be ready for late spring and a new activity proposition too.

Denise Bossons, general manager at Hafan Y Mor (haven)

"We've also set up the chef academy and we have 23 brand new chefs who are being fully trained on an 18 month programme. It's a perfect career progression for someone to come in here and learn a trade and while some have struggled to recruit we have had lots of interest."

This year is the 75th anniversary of when the park was set up by Butlins before Haven took over and there are celebrations planned for the whole year.

They are also on a major recruitment drive ahead of opening in March.

Denise said: "We are looking to take on an additional 350 teams members and we want to support the local economy and area. We want to get out there that more and more this is not just seasonal work, last year we were open until the middle of November, and still busy.

"We are also being more flexible with our 'your job, your way' approach to work around family where people have more choice about their hours and also are skilled up to do multiple roles."

Moranedd development at Hafan y Mor near Pwllheli (haven)

Another way of helping recruit is a 'transporting talent' bus that can pick up and drop off in local villages to help people to and from the site.

Denise added: "We want to make life easier, we don't want life outside the park more difficult than it has to be."

There are now 800 owners with pitches at the park and a holiday fleet of 1,100 - and bookings already look strong.

She said: "Holiday bookings are already very successful with double digit growth on last year. The world is opening up but in the pandemic more people discovered the great places we have here. I think while many will go abroad they will also keep a UK staycation as well."

Bourne Leisure, Haven's parent company, was taken over last year by Blackstone and investment is coming in.

She said: "There is continual investment, they are putting huge amounts into the business, the capital investment has been phenomenal.

"There have also been some good things that have come from the pandemic, like the way we now check in guests which means they don't have to come to reception.

"Some changes have moved the business forward by years.

"The core reason we are here is the same though - helping people make memories that last a lifetime, the park has been doing that for 75 years."

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