Major UK holiday park to open Wetherspoon pubs across 30+ sites
'I definitely think there is an opportunity for the majority of our parks to have a Wetherspoons,' the holiday parks chief said.
The boss of Haven Holidays says he wants to open up Wetherspoon pubs at the majority of its 39 sites. Nine ‘Spoons’ have so far opened their doors at Haven Holiday parks, with CEO Simon Palethorpe saying he hopes many more are on the horizon.
Mr Palethorpe’s comments came as the UK’s biggest caravan park operator celebrated the milestone of one million Wetherspoon meals on its sites. The landmark comes just two years after the first Spoons opened on Haven’s Primrose Valley park near Filey, North Yorkshire. Speaking at Haven’s Kent Coast park, home to new Wetherspoons pub, The London Stone, Mr Palethorpe said: “Two years ago, this was an experiment for Wetherspoons and an experiment for us.
“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.”
Speaking to the Mirror, he added: “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.”
Sir Tim Martin, JD Wetherspoon founder, 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 of its other pubs.
The same model is being followed 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, according to the Mirror.
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.
