PHOTOS have shown the state that the site of Pontins’ holiday park in Prestatyn is now in, nine months on since it closed its doors for good.
Prestatyn Sands shut effective immediately on November 30, 2023, having been open since 1971.
On Sunday (August 25), one former visitor to the park, passed by, and was left disheartened at the “horrendous” state she found it in.
As yet, no formal update has been provided by Britannia Hotels Ltd, which owns Pontins’ parks, on the future of Prestatyn Sands.
Amy, from Bangor, said: “It was just somewhere that holds so many happy memories for myself and so many other families.
“To see it overgrown, and getting left to rot, is horrendous. I just hope another holiday camp takes over and Britannia do the right thing.
“My family have been coming since my mum was young, and then myself as a child, and most recently, my own children.
“The site has so much potential to be done up and used again for more families to be lucky enough to make memories like we did.”
Amy also highlighted the effects that the park’s closure will also have on businesses nearby in Prestatyn, because of how it brought “thousands of people every year” to the town.
She added: “It’s a shame to see it looking the way it is. There didn’t seem to be any sort of movement at all there; only the security, and that was it.”
Staff at Prestatyn Sands said they were only informed of its closure when a post was shared on Pontins’ Facebook page.
They added that the reason they were given for the park’s closure was that it was due to make a financial loss in 2024.
Becky Gittins, the new MP for Clwyd East, has written to Britannia about the future of the Pontins site, and has also spoken to “one of the parties interested in occupying the site”.
Pontins has also closed two of its other parks, in Southport and Camber Sands, since last November.
The Home Office said on March 13 in respect of Prestatyn Sands: “The Home Office confirms that this particular site is no longer being considered to house asylum seekers.”
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