Warner Leisure Hotels
| Private company | |
| Industry | Leisure |
| Headquarters | Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England |
Area served | Great Britain |
| Website | www.warnerleisurehotels.co.uk |
Warner Leisure Hotels offers holidays for adults in 13 country and coastal properties around the UK in the following locations: North Wales, Somerset, Herefordshire, Berkshire, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Isle of Wight, Suffolk, Hampshire and Warwickshire. Warner’s hotel in Warwickshire is currently being developed and is not yet open to the public.
Warner Leisure Hotels is privately owned and is part of Bourne Holidays Limited together with Haven and Butlins
History
Captain Harry Warner opened Northney Holiday Camp at Hayling Island in 1932. The company rebranded as Warner in 1994 and now provides short adult-only breaks at 13 country and coastal locations in the UK.
In 2000 Bourne Holidays Limited bought the Rank Organisation which consisted of the Warner, Butlins and Haven holidays brands. Bourne Leisure is privately owned.
List of hotels
Nidd Hall Hotel
See Nidd Hall
Nidd Hall Hotel is a Grade II-listed mansion near Harrogate, Yorkshire. Set in 45 acres of parkland, the building dates back to the 1820s. It was originally the home of Benjamin Rawson, a wealthy Bradford wool merchant and is rumoured to be the place King Edward VIII was first introduced to Mrs Wallis Simpson.
Thoresby Hall Hotel
See Thoresby Hall
Thoresby Hall Hotel is a Grade I-listed house that sits within the 100-acre Thoresby Estate, in the heart of the area commonly known as 'Robin Hood country' in Nottinghamshire. The hotel grounds consist of 30 acres of gardens. The hotel itself was restored over a decade ago.
Thoresby Hall is a part of The Dukeries – a tract of forest belonging to the Dukes of Portland and Newcastle, and the house’s original owner, Earl Manvers.
Corton Coastal Village
Corton Coastal Village is located near Lowestoft, in the County of Suffolk, close to the most easterly point of the UK.
Corton was originally part of the Colman Estate; at the end of the 19th Century Jeremiah Colman, patriarch of the Mustard family, built a house called The Clyffe.
Developments took place in 2012 with new rooms and landscaping. The village consists of chalets, beach gardens and lawns overlooking the coast.
Warner Leisure Hotels bought the Corton Estate in 1946 and began to develop it as a modern coastal holiday village.
Gunton Hall Coastal Village
See Gunton Hall
Gunton Hall Coastal Village is built around a Grade II-listed building that stands in 55 acres of grounds close to the Suffolk coastal town of Lowestoft.
Architect Matthew Brettingham designed the 18th-century manor hall. In 1810 the new owner, Thomas Fowler, set about building the smaller New Hall, which now serves as a reception building.
Sinah Warren Hotel
Sinah Warren Hotel is a coastal location on the tip of Hayling Island close to Portsmouth and the Spinnaker tower.
Sinah Warren Hotel was originally a 15th-century health farm [5] and theory has it that the name ‘Sinah’ was a herb whose use could cure a wide range of ailments[5] which could have been where the original hotel name came from. Yet another theory suggests that Sinah was a breed of long-tailed rabbit, hence Sinah Warren.
The resort is a few miles from the cathedral city of Chichester, and the village of Fishbourne, which was a military supply base during the Roman conquest of Britain in AD 43. [6]
Lakeside
Lakeside is located on the coast of Hayling Island in Hampshire. Lakeside was originally called ‘Coronation’ to mark the accession in 1937 of King George VI and was co-opted during World War II as a naval barracks and designated HMS Northney.[8]
Bembridge Coast Hotel
Bembridge Coast Hotel is on the eastern shore of the Isle of Wight, overlooking the Solent.
Bembridge Coast’s south-east corner was rented during World War II by the Admiralty and named HMS Blazer. After the war the site returned to duty as a holiday destination and it was at the beginning of the 21st century that it became the site of a 245-bedroom hotel.
Norton Grange Coastal Village
See Norton Grange.
Located on the Isle of Wight, Norton Grange is close to The Needles, and five minutes' drive from the ferry port of Yarmouth.
Norton Grange was built in 1760, and first became a holiday destination shortly before the Second World War. Its new purpose was interrupted by a spell during the conflict as an operational base for the Admiralty, after which it reverted to use as a holiday park.
Cricket St Thomas Hotel
Cricket St Thomas Hotel is a conversion of a Grade II-listed Regency mansion set in a valley in Somerset, close to the border with Dorset.
The grounds were designed by a student of Capability Brown and the site itself has strong links with British naval history, including being the home of Admiral Lord Rodney, and later Alexander Hood, second in command of the English Channel fleet during the Napoleonic Wars. Within the grounds lies the 12th-century parish church of St. Thomas, featuring the brocade cloth which adorned the Coronation altar in 1953.
Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton were regular visitors and the estate of Cricket St Thomas was used as the location for the filming of BBC TV sitcom 'To The Manor Born', starring Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles.
Littlecote House Hotel
See Littlecote House.
Littlecote House Hotel in Berkshire is a Grade I-listed Tudor property with 113 acres of gardens.
The 16th-century mansion has housed Romans, a Tudor tryst and a Civil War Army. Within the grounds are a Roman Mosaic and the remains of a settlement including the Orphic Hall and a Roman Villa.
The first Littlecote House was raised by the de Calstone family in the 14th century. Their descendent was Sir George Darrel and he expanded the mansion in the 1500s. As Sir George’s guest in 1520, King Henry VII was introduced to his third queen-to-be, Jane Seymour; the event is marked by a stained glass roundel of royal initials, lover’s knot and Cupid’s head in the high window of the Great Hall.
Three years before Sir John Popham inherited Littlecote in 1590, he sentenced Mary, Queen of Scots to death for treason. Colonel Popham became instrumental in restoring Charles II to the throne for which he received a Royal pardon. After entertaining the King to a "costly dinner" at Littlecote in 1663 the Colonel was given a royal patronage that secured the Popham family fortune at Littlecote for another 166 years.
Littlecote House is also home to the Jerusalem Stairs, the Dutch Parlour, the secret passage behind the library bookcase, and the rooms where the D-Day landings were planned.
Holme Lacy House Hotel
Holme Lacy House Hotel is a Grade I-listed mansion located in the Wye Valley near Hereford . The hotel has a nine-hole golf course which was redeveloped in 2014.
In 1354 the estates in the west of England were granted by William the Conqueror to Walter de Lacy and inherited by Thomas Scudamore by his marriage to Clarice de Lacy. Two centuries later his descendant, John Scudamore, built a brick mansion and in 1628 his son John, first Viscount Scudamore, added portions in local red sandstone. In 1674 the third Viscount Scudamore finished the mansion as it stands today.
Alvaston Hall Hotel
Alvaston Hall Hotel is a half-timbered Victorian country house located near Nantwich.
In the early 1800s the property, which was then called The Grove, was sold by Crousdon Tunstall, a Quaker banker and farmer. The new owner, Francis Massey, undertook rebuilding work before the house was bought again in 1896 by Arthur Knowles, who then carried out further alterations.
Bodelwyddan Castle Hotel
Bodelwyddan Castle Hotel is a Grade II-listed Victorian folly in north-east Wales, which is surrounded by the Clwydian Mountains and 200 acres of Victorian parkland. Its location is 20 minutes' drive from Llandudno, and an hour from the Snowdonia National Park.
The father of Sir John Williams, first baronet of Bodelwyddan, remodelled the site's original Elizabethan house and raised the mansion. Bodelwyddan Castle was developed after 1830 when battlements, extensions and internal modifications were added by Sir John’s successors.
The site was designed to look like a castle but was requisitioned by the army for nearby Kinmel Barracks where they used to practice trench warfare. The folly is also home to the National Portrait Gallery’s Victorian collection.
Studley Castle
Studley Castle will be Warner Leisure Hotels’ 14th hotel in the UK. Previously owned by the Firoka Group, Studley Castle is a 19th-century country house in Studley, Warwickshire, England.
The manor of Studley was owned by the Lyttleton family and was bequeathed by Philip Lyttleton to his niece Dorothy, who married Francis Holyoake. Their son Francis Lyttleton Holyoake, (High Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1834), inherited in 1833 the Ribston Hall, Yorkshire estates of a business partner and changed his name to Holyoake-Goodricke (see Holyoake-Goodricke Baronets). The sale of the Yorkshire property financed the building of a new mansion at Studley.
The new house, designed in Gothic Revival style by the architect Samuel Beazley, was completed in 1836.
From 1903 to the 1960s the house was occupied by Studley College, a horticultural training establishment for ladies. It later became offices for British Leyland and Rover Cars. More recently the property was converted for use as a hotel. [1]
Despite its title, the building has never been a castle. The site of the medieval castle at Studley is occupied by the nearby 16th-century house known as Old Studley Castle.
The hotel at Studley Castle is currently closed for redevelopment.
Marketing slogans
The company has used many slogans and brand messages over the years:
• "Just for grown-ups" • "Exclusively for adults" • "No children, just big kids" • "Life Begins at Warner".
The current slogan is ‘We’re all grown up’.
Live Music and Entertainment
Famous performers such as Alexander Armstrong, Martin Kemp, Billy Ocean, Lulu, Sam Bailey, Paul Potts and Russell Watson have previously or are scheduled to appear at Warner hotels.
References