I have only come accross this site since i came back and started looking at what can be done regarding the injury sustained by my son and the misleading advertising of Pontin’s. For the people who had a good time i’m glad- you were clearly very lucky, for the people who feel it nessecary to cast aspersions on the comments left by those who experienced a bad time at the hands of Pontin’s then you really have no humanity- everyone is entitled to a rant when they feel that they have been wronged and in most cased conned out of money for a poor holiday experience…. who made you the comment gestapo??? No doubt if you’d have had a bad time you’d be the first to had a moan about it.

I wish i had found this site before i booked, as having read through a few of the comments pertaining to BREAN SANDS pontin’s, i would say that they are fairly accurate. It is tired, dilapidated, the staff are disinterested, the infestation of seasonal insects is apparently ‘normal’, so dont be shocked if you wake up covered in ants, the entertainment is hit and miss, the facilities are a bit grubby and dated, there was building work going on while we were there, the restaurant is overpriced and in my experience the quality of the food was very poor. It was like being at some Hell’s Holiday Parks version of Hi-di-Hi.

You pick a well known brand like Pontin’s expecting them to give you a good time with value for money, but these days its more like Hi-di-NO than Hi-di-ho!

The main reason for my review and feelings is not because of my personal offence at the resort as I’m pretty hardened and happy in some of the most squalid of dives - my reason is the anger as I see families that have small children arriving with glee in their eyes, as I once did, and with not a very lot of money, who’ve worked bloody hard to take their kids away for a few days to somewhere like this only to be given disgusting value for money, which in return is bound to insight arguments through the stress this place will harbour and generate and end up being a total waste of money and far more than probably budgetted for - AND PONTINS KNOW THIS.

Myself and my wife have both stayed at this specific resort several times during our childhoods - all of which were happy visits and stays for both us and our families alike - as I’m sure many people who are considering booking a holiday will do so on their fond memories too - sadly, and I mean sadly, it has changed to something I hope I can now outline.

Pontins in Southport is situated in the middle of nowhere as if it were shunned from the rest of civilisation, dishoned by the neighbouring beautiful Southport and charming Ainesdale - this is no mans land. I can thoroughly recommend Pontins if : A) you don’t have problem with putrid turd stained carpets in a smelly, grotty little chalet with little amenities (you can hire basic items from them though ie like a toaster for an additional £12 for a few days or a microwave for more than the cost of one new would be - however there’ll be nowhere to plug them in as there is one socket by the oven so would have to only have one thing in the kitchen at once, rotate them or cook in the living room) or B) If you aspire to a holiday with a 10ft concrete wall surround, topped with barbed wire all along the perimeter and a climbing tower very reminiscent of a Colditz style watchtower.

ACTIVITIES -
Pontins claim on their website there’s a vast range of free activities for young and old alike - and a little disclaimer saying “some activities may incur a charge/fee’ or words to that effect and give a list of about 20+ things that are on offer. What they mean is 90% of the activities involve money changing hands and they do this through the “Hire shop”. For example, you want to play snooker (totally free at places like Butlins) you have to hire the Cues etc £1 each, not much I know but other activities such as pedal style go karts just for kids to ride round the park are about a tenner for half an hour and are big and flashy looking with a flag on the back to attract the attentions of all other kids on the sight and all they are is literally pedal go karts and almost all activities have this little hidden charge in them. The funfair is ran by an external company, so each ride is a charge just like a normal fair, and should anyone have an accident whilst on them Pontins could not be held responsible - great
The swimming pool - Pontins flashy name for this is the H2O Zone, a large pool with three slides and advise against people who are pregnant and people who may have a heart condition should avoid this. I thought great, it sounds exhilarating from the name, description and the warnings just make you think it’s gonna be really exciting. I love mucking about on that sort of thing so we went along. The H2O zone is simply a basic rectangular pool, half the size of a standard leisure centres, and the slides are no more than childrens garden slides, 4ft high with three steps and a slide no more than 2 metres long at most - very disappointing when Butlins just call their pool ‘The Swimming Pool’ and when you get there its the largest pool you’ve ever seen with an array of water slides that go outside then back in, large waterfalls, wave machines, diving boards and basically very much a fantasy water wonderland which I half almost expected when booking the pontins holiday based on their implication.

Stand shoulder to shoulder with Jeremy Kyle’s guests and wannabe guests - swigging Vodka from the bottom of their babys pram - whilst waiting for the farce that is the ‘key hand-out’ ceremony. Pontins packs out with louts, gobby sorts - who seem to have intentionally come on holiday just to smack their kids as if were saving it up till then, crass alcohol fueled domestic incidents, all hours of day and night thanks to 24 hour licensed bar. I’m not snobby and by no means have a high standards set (for god’s sake I booked a holiday to Pontins) but these people made us feel quite uncomfortable and would be more suited to the Chatsworth Estate on Shameless - half expected to see Frank Gallagher copping off with Lizzie from wifeswap - you get the picture.
(People who have previously reviewed Pontins have said that they never see these people - that is probably because they ARE those people)

Ya can’t help but have a chuckle with some of the Pontins characters - especially the guest appearance from Mr Hanky in the swimming pool - apparently this is quite a regular occurence - for those not a fan of the program south park, Mr Hanky is an animated human turd although very much smaller than the log in the pool. As hilarious as it was for me and my wife to swim besides as you can imagine it meant that one of only two FREE activities has to close it’s doors for a brief period of time until it could be caught, fished out and released back into the wild - charming! By the way the only other free activity is a few concrete blocks with the occasional hole advertised as Crazy Golf - should be renamed Depressing Golf - or ‘the place you send your kids to scream like banshees and fight whilst trying to sober up from previous nights bar hammering’ You only have to buy one drink though as everybody we saw took the glass outside, filled them back up with cans of White Lightning or special brew that’d been concealed in the bottom of prams(and god knows where else) then the cans discarded into the bushes to remain on site for the rest of your stay.

Even though we stayed in the budget accommodation it was clear that the filthy run down state of the whole park spread throughout the classic and club apartments too like a plague of filth and lack of maintenance.

I guess even though you’ve read the negative reviews on here that you still just go ahead and book Pontins even if you haven’t done so already because that’s exactly what we did - had a chuckle at the reviews but presumed it can’t be all that bad but if you haven’t booked it please see Pontins suitability for your family in the same light you would say a booze cruise that offered intermitent babysitting, this is the same - only on dry land - full of p!$$ heads falling all over the place, effing and blinding at the tops of their voices at least once I saw fist fighting whilst in full view and earshot of the kids, who should be safe to run around a park like this as they’re on holiday and a bluecoat noticing and not doing a thing about it - and these are your baby sitters -

On the positive side though, 3 miles down the road, Southport is an absolutely lovely town, Pleasureland seems great for kids(open weekends, school hols and bank hols) , the minature railway and village are fun, the lake is lovely to walk around and there’s loads and loads of shops all set with victorian frontage - everything from beachfront joke shops up to cartier dealing jewellers and everything in between. With a huge beach and a whole live aviary with peacocks in the botanic gardens, cafe and museum is so very much another world I’d go back to again and again. For God’s sake if anyone thinks southport doesn’t cater for everyone they even have a lawnmower museum!!!!

I know if I sent a letter of complaint I’d only get another bloody free break to sodding pontins, which I’d never take and things would go on the same so I hope I can at least change one persons mind about booking a holiday or break to Pontins by writing this and book somewhere like butlins, haven or park resorts which are much better value, can offer cheap deals for much the same price.

To sum this up - another reviewer said it’s like marmite, you either love it or hate it - I disagree, that would mean a 50/50 split in the reviews of positive and negative. Although slightly crude, I would equate this to the practice of drinking your own urine - 95% of sane people would think it vile, horrible and disgusting whilst there will always be a minority of freaks who don’t see anything wrong with it!!! Think on!

We stayed there a few years ago. To be fair if you ever wanted to live the Hi-di-hi dream then this was the place to go.

It also rained a fair bit while we were there. Thankfully we managed to tunnel out and escape to the Somerset border after just a week.

However, the site is generally for ex-staff and guests to share their memories so we don;t get much in the way of negative comments. We would love to hear from anyone who has experience of the pontins sites that are now left. Is it REALLY so bad?

Regards,

Howie.

Dirty stinking Pontins…….all i can say is thank god for my camera, yes i took pics of the rat plus droppings……..i don’t care if it was free, that was unacceptable don’t fit for human more like a pig….but then again i would not be cruel to a pig……….

Kay - I hope you get further than me with your letter. They rufused to talk to me or even refund me for my pictures (which cost £7 to develop!) as it wasn’t booked under my name - well they still took my details so I believe its just rudeness and lazyness on their behalf that they wont talk to me.

I don’t know how they get away with it. This has caused me so much stress and I believe i deserve compensation due to wasting a weeks holiday from work. I’m absolutely disgusted and upset and even more so now they are refusing to give the money back to the main booker. I am going to Citizens advice today. Please could you let me know if you got anywhere regarding compensation and pontins???

Rachel. age 19.

p.s. the fact that students said it was dirty must be saying something!!!

And to those of you who talk about accepting budget, what kind of pigsty is acceptable for budget to you people. I dont expect luxury designer carpets, furniture and fittings I expect CLEAN, GOOD state of repair ie nothing broken and usable furniture, I don’t think that is too much to ask.

Holiday Date: Mon 29th Jun – Mon 6th Jul 2009

Dear Pontins Customer relations,

I have recently returned from a holiday with Pontins in Prestatyn Sands, Wales which was paid for partly using my Tesco clubcard vouchers and part cash. I was extremely disappointed with the accommodation, facilities and entertainment there, so much so that I would like to register a complaint with you. I have written to Tesco with my complaint and I did take up my issues with Prestatyn staff whilst we were on holiday.
When we arrived at our accommodation the chalet was dirty and needed cleaning, the wallpaper was peeling and was also dirty, every pot that I took out of the cupboards had dried food or dirt on it.
Within half an hour of my arrival an ambulance had to be called for my 15 month old who had trapped her finger in a cupboard door that was not securely attached at one hinge (her finger end was deeply cut and we spent 4 hours at the local hospital)
When we tried to put clothes away we could not get in the cupboards in our room as furniture was so tightly wedged in and a fixed wall heater was in the way of one door, the other door was not securely attached at one hinge.
In the children’s room the wardrobe door had been replaced with a door that did not fit.
When my husband opened the oven door to put our meal inside the door came off in his hands!
After sitting on the settee bed I noticed a flea on my 15 month old daughter’s back.
The bath was chipped and there was mould all around the edge.
Each time we went to make a complaint people ahead of us were also making complaints about the state of their rooms.
Pontins staff did fix the oven door and the hinges on the cupboard and wardrobe doors.
After arguing that the flea that my husband had in a glass in front of them wasn’t a flea eventually they agreed it was and changed the settee and bed mattresses and linen.
The entertainment was very poor the reps spent more time mocking each other and having personal jokes than trying to entertain the audience, most activities were for over 5’s and were on a separate pay £5 per session basis.
In the evening entertainment the reps did very mean competitive games to the over 5’s that singled out children who ‘could not dance’ which of course was according to the reps.
There were video games and paying rides everywhere around the site.
The total cost of this holiday was £324 for the week, we spent as little time as possible in the chalet as it was so disgusting and poky, I just wanted to clean and disinfect it every time I Iooked at it! By Friday I’d had enough, I returned home 2 days early with my 15 month old and 3 yr old as it was just too depressing, my husband and 5 yr old soldiered on till the end!
I am really sad that I used my clubcard vouchers that I had saved up over the last two years for this terrible holiday and worst still I put some money towards it.
I have took photographs during my stay of the problem areas I have attached these pictures to aid you in your investigation into this matter.
(unfortunately I cant attach photos to this site)
a) The cupboard door in the main living area that my daughter trapped her finger in.

b) the oven door that fell off in my husbands hands, fortunately none of my children were near at the time or there could have been a serious burn accident

c) the wardrobe in our room another hinge not securely fastened
d) The badly fitting door on the wardrobe in the children’s bedroom
Unfortunately I did not get pictures of the dirty bath, walls, floor, crockery and the flea but I’m sure if you sent a mystery shopper to any one of the 100 or so chalets on the site the state would be the same. Every person on our balcony (approx 8 to a level) was unhappy with the level of cleanliness in the chalets. I look forward to hearing your response before I take this matter further.