UK holiday park set for £20m transformation with new pools, cabana and funfair

An East Yorkshire holiday park is set to undergo a transformation with funfair attractions, new pools, cabanas and pop-up entertainment. The makeover will create more than 120 jobs and entice families to choose the destination for their next holiday.

Unity Holidays snapped up Skirlington Coast, Yorkshire, last year and immediately made changes to its dining and leisure facilities, including the launch of a new pavilion theatre, pub, and restaurant.

More details about the creation of a multi-million pound entertainment area at the park, which is based between Hornsea and Bridlington, have now been announced. Proposals and designs are being submitted to council planners, and Legacy Leisure Group, the parent firm of Unity Holidays, the company's CEO, Dermot King, has revealed all the details on the upcoming plans.

Dermot King said: "Our attraction to the region is because we think we there's a gap in the market for that region. The businesses in that area and under-invested and we see an opportunity where we can invest and develop into what were well-run family businesses.

"The opportunity is particularly engaged around the seaside proposition. When you research the British seaside proposition it's extraordinary how mums - the ones who make all the family decisions and book the holidays- describe their perfect getaway as a traditional seaside holiday, but that's what their grandparents experienced. Wouldn't it be great if their children could access something similar?

"So we will have boardwalks, hints to seaside fairgrounds. We will have Helter Skelters and Wurlitzers, entertainment venues and all the rest of the fish and chips, candy floss and pop-up entertainment you expect from a traditional seaside town."

He continued: "More importantly we're not recreating it, we're reinventing it, through the Festival Gardens concept - a landscape walkway which will have loads of pop-up entertainment and activities. You've got to bring to bring a modern spin to all of this, so there'll be a suite of sports and leisure activities that you can access through the pavilion, which we are recreating.

"It will be a boardwalk type of walkway from which you access things like our outdoor swim pools, splash play areas, golf experiences, archery experiences, and other sports including football and padel courts. We're extending the indoor pool, linking it to an outdoor pool. There will be loungers and even cabanas, all in a deck that goes around the outdoor pool. So while the kids are playing, mum can relax."

Subject to planning being approved, the aim is that the transformation will be completed by April next year, ready for the 2026 summer holidays.

He added: "I can't imagine there are other people investing this sort of money in the region, We've got a lot that's going to be subject to planning, but these are things that planners get excited about, so fingers crossed, it'll be spades in the ground soon.

"Our only barrier is really getting the permissions to start working, we are reinventing a holiday proposition for the region, an exciting venture for the region, and I think the Unity brand will be well regarded as a significant contributor to local economy."