The Broadway Park Hotel in Sandown has ceased trading with immediate effect this evening (Friday) following the collapse of Specialist Leisure Group.
Around 2,500 jobs are set to be lost across the country as SLG and its subsidiaries, which includes Bay Hotels, falls into administration.
The COVID-19 crisis has been blamed for the downfall of the company due to a significant cash shortfall.
Specialist Leisure Group also owns coach firms Shearings and National Holidays too, meaning there could be a wider effect to the Island’s tourism industry.
Ernst & Young LLP have been appointed as Joint Administrators.
Mr Sam Woodward has said:
“The Group has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as all tours, trips and events have been cancelled and the hotels closed to the public, leading to a significant cash shortfall.
“The directors of the Group have been in discussions with a number of parties, seeking a going concern buyer for the business. Unfortunately, despite interest in the Group as a whole and in parts, no viable transaction structure was able to be agreed and, as a result, the Group was placed into Administration.
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Very sad news. But unfortunately this is the start there will be many more ahead.
convert it into flats affordable housing but give islanders a fair chance of renting . instead of giving them to immigrants who have no right to them
pete, bert agrees, says we don’t want our island turned into a grotto like inner cities. Sadly I expect as hotels and holiday flats become not wanted no longer, the council will encourage more of them over if paid by the big cities councils to dump them on us.
Hope not as not coincidence bert says that the crime is always worst in inner cities. We had a matteress dumped in our street the other day.
OUR island?? It’s no ones island! You only speak for your selfish self. Have you actually looked round THE island and seen how deprived & poor it is? There’s no jobs here for people, & when they are they are poorly paid, nothing for youngsters to do, no where decent to go, etc. Do you ever wonder why people don’t want to come here anymore, especially with the cost of the ferries! It will get worse, just watch the ferry companies increase their prices even more very soon, even though they were bailed out by the government, when they should not have been, as they are privately owned!
Claire, If you are not happy living on this island please do us islanders a favor and leave.
It’s about time Bert learnt how to type and use a pc, or does he not have hands
Very sad think there will be a lot more to close in months to come
The Government to hasty paying all these sinking ship companies to stay afloat for a few costly weeks.
This is just the start.
CV will break the tourist industry.
Pointless paying them furlough or giving grants or loans.
Future customers are years away to make such ever pay again.
Lack of support from the government is the direct cause of this closure and the many others that will follow, NOT Covid-19.
The government has been told many times that the seasonal/holiday industry and those that work in it will be hardest hit by the lockdown yet they have provided absolutely no support.
Loans are no use to companies that will get no income at all this year. Furlough schemes that exclude seasonal staff provide no support. Benefits schemes that exclude people with savings provide no support.
People have to just sit and watch businesses that they have built up over decades bleed to death and their dedicated staff are forced to squander their savings just to be able to live.
Of course we need to ensure that we beat Covid-19 and of course government policies need to keep people safe but that does not mean that they should do nothing.
It does not mean that they can just ignore whole communities and throw them to the wolves.
It does not mean that seasonal businesses and the real people that rely on them should not get the support they need to survive.
The cure must not be worse than the disease otherwise what is the point?
We have a representative in the house of commons. He claims to understand our unique situation. So what had he done?
Seasonal businesses have barely been mentioned and nothing at all is in place to support them or recognise their critical situation.
Our MP should have been on the case from day one – banging on doors, lobbying his colleagues, making a nuisance of himself and making sure that the massive impact on seasonal businesses and their staff was recognised and proper measures were put in place to support them were put in place.
That did not happen, it is not happening but it MUST happen if our communities are not to be devastated.
BOB WHERE ARE YOU?
I’ve seen all the comments from the locals saying North Islanders stay away, Here is the result.
One of many that will not make it through a pair of winters.
Yes selfish locals as usual, that only think of themselves. They are mainly to blame for things like this
Just hope the people that live in there properties are secure, for the future.
this is just the start, everyone’s spending all there furlough money thinking yeah great free money when in fact in 3 months time they wont have a job to go back to and when that happens they’ll expect the government to bail them out again.
Not everyone is furloughed, or wants to be.
For many (most?) it is not “free money” it is the only thing separating them from poverty and homelessness.
A lot of us are still working and plenty of people desperately wish they could be.
News like this makes many wonder if they will ever work again.
Personally, I’m hoping this will be a wake-up call for the government to let them know that the holiday industry is not all airlines and trips to Benidorm.
It is real people with real lives who urgently need support.
Expecting the government to bail out everything is misguided however expecting insurance companies to cover what they are being paid for is something completely different. Currently most accommodation providers undoubtedly affected by this pandemic are set to receive nothing as the insurance companies are wiggling out of their cover.
The idea of a business is to be successful not to sponge off the government. Anyone living on the island have to appreciate the primary source of income for the island and should encourage it. Sandown for instance should be aiming towards a ‘top notch’ holiday resort improving attractions, high street, hotels and beach side business. The first move would be national events then maybe a marina. This will then support hotels and raise the prosperity of the area rather than worrying about handouts which is backwards
Expecting the government to recognise the special case of businesses that may get no income until next year is not unreasonable.
I share your sentiment that Sandown, and the island in general, could appreciate and improve its resources.
I do not, however, feel that we should ignore the plight of those already there.
I don’t disagree, the government has offered much needed grants and already gives up to 100% business rates relief but to keep expecting support is impossible for the government to maintain.
I don’t understand what you mean by the “Plight of those already here”? Do you mean the residents; the residents that have moved to an Island which has been a holiday resort for the last 70 years if anything a much more successful one than it is now. There’s no plight there are facts, you can’t move to a holiday island then get upset that people come here for their holidays beit a week or a holiday home.
I’m sure the majority of residents both first and second generation originally came on holiday here, fell in love, then moved here.
I mean the hotels, guest houses, shops, restaurants, attractions and all those who work for them.
Unlike most other businesses, get most of their income over a few months. They cannot just hit the pause button and carry on later in the year.
Even if things start to ease up in July half their income will have been lost and it is quite likely that it could be much later before many businesses are allowed to reopen. Any further delay in the process an all their income is gone until next year.
A small grant won’t fix that and a loan will only add to the outgoings for businesses who are barely breaking even as it is.
I accept that the government’s resources are not unlimited but many of these businesses will not be there next year and their staff will be unemployed unless something is done.
So far, other than farmers, seasonal businesses have barely been mentioned and when the holiday industry is referred to only airlines and foreign holidays are spoken about.
Not the best hotel on the island.
Island hotels are behind the time.
They need to attract the younger generation who actually spend money.
The buildings are outdated and got built in the days of steam travel for a different sort of holiday.
Going on holiday has changed dramatically in the last 20 years. People have different requirements.
Any travel business model that is based on dozens of older people sharing transport together could be in trouble. Until confidence comes back older people are going to think twice about getting on a coach or ship packed with strangers, and being closeted together for hours. Shearings transported a lot of people from the North West to the Isle of Wight, and that was a long time on a coach.
The cruise companies must be worried. For years they’ve crammed in more and more people onto their boats to maximise revenues.
My Family go back many generations. Years ago hotels were all privately owned, Broadway Park included. We had our own coach company, which picked up from the ferry and took to hotels. Supersized coaches did not come here, they weren’t able too. I am sorry to say but the Isle of Wight started to go down hill we it was opened up as a safe house. I really wish they had made the Isle of Wight, like the Channel Islands, not born here or not have money then go home.