Park’s investment boosts Tyneside resort

Efforts to attract more visitors to South Shields on Tyneside have been boosted by a £1.2m revamp at a popular seafront holiday park.

Northumbrian Leisure invested in the upgraded shower and laundry facilities, hard standing and landscaping throughout the Sandhaven Holiday Park, which it acquired in 2008.

The improvements at the seven-acre site were opened in time for the summer season by South Tyneside Council leader Cllr Iain Malcolm (pictured far right, with, L to R, Nigel Thompson of Northumbrian Leisure, Richard Jago of South Tyneside Council and Northumbrian Leisure advisor Dr John Bridge).

They tie in with the council’s own multi-million pound revamp of the town’s Foreshore area.

Northumbrian Leisure, which is owned and run by the Thompson family, bought the holiday park from the council three years ago.

Since then, the company has ploughed money into the site to upgrade the park to provide the level of experience that modern caravan holidaymakers expect. New pitches, complete with mains water, gas and waste facilities, have also been added to the park, which has itself undergone a landscaping facelift.

Northumbrian Leisure is one of a number of partners the council has worked with to improve tourist facilities in South Shields. South Marine Park has undergone a £5.4m revamp, partly funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and £2m of improvements have been carried out at Sandhaven Promenade, helped with cash from the DCMS Sea Change Programme.

Work on an £18m leisure development has also started and is due to be open for business in 2013. It will include an eight-lane, 25 metre swimming pool, leisure waters, teaching pool, gym facilities and cafe.

• For more info about Sandhaven, see the website www.northumbrianleisure.co.uk tel 01670 860256

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