Sheffield holiday park firm borrows £2.5m to survive the pandemic

Coppergreen Leisure Resorts had to close its four sites leaving it with no income after lockdown. The £2.5m funding package will cover running costs and retain staff until the parks can reopen.

It has also furloughed 360 of its 400 employees under the government scheme.

Donna Copley, financial director, said: “We initially feared that COVID-19 would mean permanently closing our holiday parks.

“However we have been able to secure the future of the company and ensure that hundreds of our employees will be taken care of while the furlough scheme is in place. I believe our business now stands a very good chance of surviving this crisis.”

Coppergreen owns resorts in Dundee, Thirsk in North Yorkshire, Kenwick in Lincolnshire, and Clumber in Nottinghamshire.

It had been riding high due to a boom in staycations.

Last year chief executive David Copley said they continued to see a “huge increase” in people holidaying in the UK due to the exchange rate and widespread travel chaos.

He added: “These problems are encouraging people, particularly families, to stay the UK.”

The 60-lodge site near Clumber Park opened last year. It also built an extension on its hotel at Kenwick Park, where it has been installing luxury lodges.

The firm bought both sites in 2018 for £25.3m.

It also added 35 lodges to its Piperdam site near Dundee while Woodland Lakes, near Thirsk, had new facilities including a spa.

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