 | |
| Formerly | Center Parcs UK |
|---|---|
| Company type | Private |
| Industry | Hospitality and Leisure |
| Founded | 1987 (first UK village) 2001 (separation fromCenter Parcs Europe)[1] |
| Headquarters | New Ollerton, England, UK |
Number of locations | 6 villages UK 5 (+1 Planned, +1 Cancelled) Ireland 1 |
Area served | United Kingdom andIreland |
Key people | |
| Brands |
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| Services |
|
| Revenue | £500.0m (2024) |
| £123.1m (2024) | |
| £67.1m (2024 pretax) | |
Number of employees | 9,256 (2024) |
| Parent | Brookfield Properties |
  Sherwood Elveden Longleat Whinfell Woburn Longford Hawick* Sussex- Center Parcs UK and Ireland locations (*In Development, -Cancelled) | |
| Website | www |
Center Parcs UK and Ireland[2][3] (formerlyCenter Parcs UK) is a short-break holiday company that operates sixholiday villages in the United Kingdom andIreland, with each covering about 400 acres (1.6 km2) of woodland. The company's first village opened inSherwood Forest,Nottinghamshire, in 1987 and its sixth, atLongford Forest, Ireland, opened in 2019.
A similar enterprise operates within continental Europe, also under the nameCenter Parcs; however, the two companies have been separately owned since 2001.[1]
In 1968,[4] Dutch entrepreneurPiet Derksen purchased woodland nearReuver so that staff and customers of his 17 storesporting goods chain could relax in small tents.[5] The park, De Lommerbergen,[4] was successful and tents were quickly replaced bybungalows orchalets.[5]
In July 1987,[6] Center Parcs opened its first UK resort at Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire. At that time, "Center Parcs" (under that name, with no regional qualifier) was a single global company owning both British and continental European resorts. In 1989 it opened its second village in the UK at Elveden Forest.[4] Center Parcs (including the Sherwood Forest and Elveden Forest villages[7]) was bought in 1989 by (the now defunct)Scottish & Newcastle. In 1994 it opened its third village in the UK located west and southwest from the first two and near Longleat Adventure & Safari Park.
After the Longleat Forest and Whinfell Forest villages opened and during a move in 2001 to concentrate on their core brewing business,[5] Scottish and Newcastle sold the UK side ofCenter Parcs toventure capitalistsDeutsche Bank Capital Partners, and it became a separate company known then as Center Parcs UK.[4] The remainder of Center Parcs continued to operate, becoming known as Center Parcs Europe. The two companies have since operated under very similar branding, but are now owned and operated by two distinct companies.[citation needed] (In 2003 S&N sold Center Parcs Europe to ajoint venture ofFrance-basedPierre & Vacances (P&V), who already owned the competingGran Dorado Resorts, and German investment group DBCP, hence completing the divesting of Center Parcs from the restructured S&N.)
In December 2003, Mid Ocean agreed to sell the UK resorts to Arbor Ltd for £285 million, a special vehicle set up to float Center Parcs UK[citation needed] onLondon Stock Exchange'sAlternative Investment Market, and in 2005 it moved to the main stock market listing.[4] In May 2006 Center Parcs UK Group PLC[citation needed] was sold toThe Blackstone Group for a reported £1.1 billion,[8] and subsequently re-registered as aprivate company. Under a separate deal at the same time, Blackstone also bought the freehold of the European sites from P&V, which allowed them to rebrand all of the European sites as Center Parcs.[citation needed]
In June 2015, it was announced that Blackstone had agreed to sell the company toCanadian-basedBrookfield Properties for £2.4bn. At the time Center Parcs UK employed around 7,500 people and received around 2 million guests in 2015.[8][9]
Center Parcs has short-break holiday villages in five locations in the UK, with a sixth in Ireland which opened in 2019. Each village covers around 400 acres (1.6 km2) of woodland, with a standard set of facilities,[6] and have around 97% occupancy annually.[9][10]
| Country | Resort | Nearest city or town | Nearest highway junctions | County | Year opened | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 United Kingdom | Sherwood Forest | Mansfield,Newark-on-Trent andWorksop |  M1J27, 28 & 29 | Nottinghamshire | 1987 | First site opened outsidecontinental Europe and first site off theM1 motorway. |
| Elveden Forest | Brandon,Elveden andThetford |  M11J8, 9, 9A & 10 | Suffolk | 1989 | Closed between 2002 and 2003 following a major fire. | |
| Longleat Forest | Warminster andFrome |  M4J17 & 18 | Wiltshire | 1994 | The only site to have a land train service, originally usingLand Rovers. | |
| Whinfell Forest | Carlisle andPenrith |  M6J39, 40 & 41 | Cumbria | 2001 | Opened in 1997 but operated byThe Rank Group as Oasis Forest Holiday Villages. | |
| Woburn Forest | Ampthill,Flitwick andWoburn Sands | M1 J12 & 13 | Bedfordshire | 2014 | The most recent village to open in the UK and second site off theM1 motorway. | |
 Ireland | Longford Forest | Ballymahon |  N55Goldsmith Way Turnoff | County Longford | 2019 | First site opened outside the UK. |
The first Center Parcs holiday village in the United Kingdom was opened in July 1987.[6] It is located in 400 acres (1.6 km2) of woodland atSherwood Forest, nearNewark-on-Trent,Nottinghamshire.[11][12] The site was formerly owned by theForestry Commission, and was chosen as it was "pretty central [in the UK], it had the right maturity of trees and was in an area affected by the demise of the coal industry".[13]
In November 2006 around 30 people were infected byCryptosporidium, causingvomiting anddiarrhoea, suspected to have spread through infected faeces in a pool at the park.[14]
By 2012 it was receiving around 400,000 visitors annually, mostly from outside of Nottinghamshire.[15] It can have around 4,000 visitors at any one time.[14] The occupancy rate was over 90% in the first 30 years of operation.[13]
A £3 million refurbishment of the Aqua Sana spa finished in April 2017,[13] and a £15 million refurbishment of the Subtropical Swimming Paradise swimming facilities at the village started in September 2017.[16][13] The village employs 1,500 people, of which around 700 are housekeepers.[13]
The site originally had 609 lodges, which increased to 900 by the end of 2017.[13] It has a mixture of Woodland Lodges, New Woodland Lodges, Executive Duplex Lodges, Penthouse Duplex Lodge, Executive Apartment, Executive Lodge, New Executive Lodge, and Treehouses, with between one and four bedrooms in each.[17] Three luxury Treehouses were opened in 2010, each with four bedrooms.[11] A six-bedroom Woodland Lodge was opened in 2017, along with 27 other woodland lodges.[18]
There is a watersports lake near the Village Square,[19] although only craft hired from the Boathouse may be used upon it.[citation needed]
Two years later, in 1989, a second village was added, atElveden Forest. It makes up a small area ofThetford Forest west of theB1106 road and near the town ofBrandon inSuffolk,England. It is named after the nearby village ofElveden.
Just before 10am on 4 April 2002 a majorfire destroyed the central Plaza and sports centre of Elveden Forest. One member of staff was treated for smoke inhalation, but there were no serious injuries.[20] The fire also destroyed seven bars and restaurants, a disco, some gift shops, a sports centre and a bowling alley. The damage to the forest was minimal. A subsequent inquiry found that the blaze was caused by contractors carrying out repair work on the roof of a catering block adjacent to the Plaza.[21]
Elveden Forest re-opened in July 2003 after a major re-design, less susceptible to the potential spread of fire. The most dramatic difference was to the village square which was rebuilt with an open-air Mediterranean theme. The sub-tropical swimming paradise re-opened having survived the blaze; the sauna complex was changed to aBalinese theme, and a new Sports Plaza was opened. Whilst it was closed, the rest of the village was also improved including the refurbishment of the country club and the addition of aspa and new three- and four-bedroom lodges.[citation needed]
Elveden Forest has a total of 866 units of accommodation which range from 'Woodland' grade to exclusive villas and include rooms at the Lakeview Hotel. These villas and rooms can accommodate up to 4,216 guests. Villas are located in six different areas with each area mostly including every type of accommodation, but the Ash and Oak areas are predominantly made up of executive and exclusive villas. Ash was extended in 2007 to include new four-bedroom two-storey villas.[citation needed]
The third village opened in 1994. It makes up a large area ofLongleat Forest in the county ofWiltshire, England, and is co-located on the site ofLongleat Safari Park nearby, approximately five miles (8 km) east ofFrome,Somerset, under 20 miles northwest ofShaftesbury,Dorset and a few miles west ofWarminster,Wiltshire. This village has fewer lodges than Elveden Forest and Sherwood Forest due to the steep topography of the site.[citation needed]
In 1997,The Rank Organisation started a new company under the name of Oasis Forest Holidays Villages and opened a 'Centre Parcs' style holiday village inWhinfell Forest nearPenrith, Cumbria, under the name Oasis Lakeland Holiday Village, which featured commercial restaurants and businesses such asBurger King and aHard Rock Cafe. Bought by Center Parcs UK in 2001, who removed the commercial ventures, the site was rebranded asCenter Parcs Oasis Whinfell Forest, before 'Oasis' was dropped from the name in 2006.[22] The set up at Whinfell is slightly different in that the style of accommodation is more akin to two-storeyScandinavian-style lodges, the main centre of the village is under cover, and there is no country club like at Longleat Forest, Elveden Forest and Sherwood Forest. Center Parcs have updated many Whinfell Forest lodges, and added new lodges of an identical style at their other UK villages.
Whinfell Forest is the largest of Center Parcs' five UK holiday villages, with accommodation for 4,668 people in 861 units.
Center Parcs Woburn Forest is located on the outskirts ofFlitwick andAmpthill, 7–8 miles (11–13 km) from the village ofWoburn inBedfordshire in the UK. It commenced operation in July 2014 and hence it became the second Center Parcs resort off of theM1 motorway (the first being Center Parcs Sherwood Forest).
Thechief executive, Martin Dalby, said that the company might add a fifth village. In December 2004, Center Parcs UK announced that it had identified a location named Warren Wood near Flitwick atWoburn,Bedfordshire. Despite the land being designated asgreenbelt, the company soughtplanning permission and had already completed the signing of a lease on the land from its owner, theDuke of Bedford. The project was expected to cost approximately £160 million, including the construction of accommodation, indoor and outdoor facilities, the sub-tropical swimming complex, restaurants and a spa, but this has since risen to £230m. It was anticipated that, given planning permission, the project would take between three and four years to complete.[23]
In July 2006,Bedfordshire District Council turned down Center Parcs' application for planning approval on the grounds that the project breached policy safeguardingMetropolitan Green Belt land, leading the company to lodge an appeal against the decision later that year.[24] Theinspector hearing the appeal recommended that the Council's decision be upheld. In September 2007 the council's decision was overturned by the government as Secretary of StateHazel Blears overruled the inspector's advice. She acknowledged that the scheme breached both local and national policies on safeguarding Green Belt, but argued that "in this particular case, the economic and employment benefits of the proposal, when taken together with the ecological and biodiversity benefits... constitute very special circumstances and are sufficient to clearly outweigh the harm to Green Belt", and granted outline planning permission. In November 2010 Center Parcs gained full approval for the plans of the village including designs of facilities, restaurants, shops and accommodation[25] and in 2012 secured £250 million of investment to build the new resort, to be known as Woburn Forest.
Before Center Parcs could start construction, there were a number of planning conditions that had to be satisfied, most notably the improvement of local road junctions to allow smooth access to the Village. They also had to submit a local employment strategy,local purchasing policy and a forest and ecology management plan.[26] This represents final approval of the detailed designs of buildings and landscape as well as local sourcing, employment strategies and green travel plan. The next stage of the project was the construction of a new roundabout, as well as the diversion of the public rights of way that cross the site.[27]
It was built byBowmer + Kirkland and was completed in spring 2014.[28]
In a 2008 interview, Martin Dalby, the chief executive of Center Parcs UK, stated that Woburn would be the last village the company constructed in the UK until Sussex and that if a sixth village was considered it would probably be located in Ireland. In September 2015, Center Parcs UK announced its intention to build a new site inCounty Longford,Ireland.[citation needed] Named Longford Forest, it opened in July 2019.[29]
In November 2024, the company announced plans for its first location inScotland, nearHawick in theScottish Borders and to be placed Northeast from Whinfell and South from the east end of theM8 Motorway. According to the company, the development would represent a £350m investment and could create up to 1,200 jobs. It plans to submit a planning application for around 700 lodges in 2025.[30] The planning application was submitted to theScottish Borders Council on 4 July 2025.[31]
The plans were welcomed by the leader of theScottish Borders Council, the chair ofSouth of Scotland Enterprise and representatives of the Borders' tourism industry, respectively.[32]
In July 2021, the company announced its intention to construct a seventh resort located nearCrawley and in the vicinity ofGatwick Airport near theM23 Motorway.[33] These plans were scrapped in February 2023 following local environmental impact reviews but the company still intends to find a suitable alternate site to build their seventh village which would still be placed East from Longleat and South from Woburn.[34]
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Each village has a number of different lodge types that range from one- to four-bedroom accommodation for up to 8 people, with Sherwood Forest recently opening 6-bedroom lodges for 12 people. Some larger lodges include their own games room and hot tub. Lodges are usually in small clusters and give a good degree of privacy, whilst allowing for self-catering and communal BBQs. Elveden Forest has no one-bed lodges, but instead includes the Lakeside View Hotel.[citation needed]
Guests are able to book and participate in a wide range of activities at the various villages.
| Resort | Location opened | Tropical Cyclone implemented |
|---|---|---|
| Sherwood Forest | 1987 | 2019 |
| Elveden Forest | 1989 | 2012 |
| Longleat Forest | 1994 | 2017 |
| Whinfell Forest | 2001 | 2023 |
| Woburn Forest | 2014 | |
| Longford Forest | 2019 | |
More than twenty food and drink options are provided by external chains operated under concession and by internal brands.[36]
Nearly all walk or cycle from place to place, with bikes available for hire at all parks. Longleat has a train.
In September 2022, Center Parcs made the decision to close all of its UK locations for thefuneral of Elizabeth II. This included moving all check-ins scheduled for Monday 19 September to the following day, and asking that all guests already present vacate the site by 10am and not return until 10am on Tuesday.[37] The company later partially reversed this decision, after widespread ridicule and derision by the UK media and customer complaints. It later clarified that guests may remain on site, but that they would be prevented from leaving their accommodation on the day of the funeral. This statement was later amended, with guests told they'd be able to walk around the sites on that date if they wished. However, guests due to arrive on the Monday were still to be denied access to the site, causing disruption to travel plans for many.[38]