Robin Hill Country Park is being put on the market due to a prolonged period of financial turbulence, its owners Vectis Ventures have confirmed in a shock announcement this afternoon (Monday).
The Isle of Wight-based holding company that controls and operates leading attractions Blackgang Chine and Robin Hill has blamed COVID and the cost-of-living crisis for the decision. It’s also said that visitor numbers have been badly affected by the very poor weather over the past 2 seasons.
These factors have stretched the finances of Vectis Ventures and the eventual sale of Robin Hill will strengthen the balance sheet of the group, allow debt to be repaid and to release funds for further investment in Blackgang Chine.
Although Robin Hill is being sold as a going concern a number of individual attractions are expected to be transferred to Blackgang Chine in due course.
Today’s announcement is compounded by the news of 10 potential job losses, plus the cancellation of the POLAR experience event in December and the new Christmas Party nights. Refunds will be given.
It was less than a month ago that Robin Hill announced a temporary closure until December, as previously reported by Island Echo.
Alexander Dabell, owner of Vectis Ventures, has said:
“It is with a heavy heart that we have taken the decision to sell Robin Hill. It is a much-loved attraction and has given millions of visitors’ great pleasure and memorable visits over many years.
“It has been a privilege for my family to be the custodians of this fine site for nearly thirty years. However, the stark reality of the economic picture is that without a sale, the debt created through Covid loans, would need to be extended further into the future and would prevent investment in the short term.
“The truth is that visitor numbers have been effected by the very poor weather we have seen the past two seasons, which has given us no choice but to sell Robin Hill and focus our investment in Blackgang Chine. Robin Hill is being marketed as a going concern, and we have every hope that it will flourish under new ownership, when a suitable buyer can be found”.
With regards to staffing, Dabell confirmed:
“Regrettably the group is unable to support the number of staff currently employed and as part of the sale process we are entering into consultation with the workforce where it will be explained that around ten jobs will be at risk. We have worked hard to try to train and retain the talent in the business and we have a reputation as a reliable employer, but the testing economic picture is such that we simply cannot carry the existing high headcount.”
Dabell continued:
“It is with regret that having made the decision to sell Robin Hill that we will of necessity have to cancel the Polar experience and the Christmas parties. However, full refunds will be made to those who placed their deposits with us and no one will suffer any financial loss.”
The park was opened in 1971 and occupies an 88-acre site. As well as running regular events, Robin Hill used to be the site of Bestival until it moved to Dorset in 2017.
Bad weather? In June this year there wasn’t a cloud in the sky practically the whole month and it was roasting! Admittedly July was a disappointment. Personally, I would have liked to have visited Robin Hill but the prices were simply too much.
The cost were greater than the admission price
I wonder if someone like Centre Parks might be interested in the potential of the site? After all Robin Hill is a great location in a beautiful part of the world. A couple of indoor or all weather attractions as part of the deal might do well on the Island. And with quality on-site accommodation it might work.
Centre Parks or Butlins would be great but people won’t pay to come over on the ferries when they can just drive to the closest one on the mainland. This island is finished, for years we have watched the decline of parks, shops, activities, and towns. The future isle of wight is one huge housing estate, without any of the necessities.
Are the kids on holiday in June?
Somebody should explain school holidays to you, there are none in June.
So Robin Hill was solely for school kids was it? Funny that, I thought it was an attraction aimed at all ages, and there are these things that they call weekends bozo. Maybe someone needs to explain that to you.
What was that splat sound i just heard nearby ? i do believe the Persimmon/Barratt vultures have already detected the scent of moolah drifting on the breeze and are already starting their stacking patterns over the terrain?
Plenty of brown envelopes will be doing their rounds.
Cowboy Paul when are you going to finish my hole which you messed up
don’t you go on
Nice location for 500+ houses…
Nice location for the IW festival, much better place than Newport….
only 500+ more like 1500+
The over inflated prices Blackgang Chine are charging people to enter or their
Extortionate Gift shop prices.
I reckon Blackgang Chine will be next.
The economy is through the floor, this is just the latest demise, The Island, in general, is going through a bad period just like the rest of the UK. The Island has its own set of particular issues with regard to lack of investment and ferry issues ( much in the headlines ). Sad to see this Island suffering so much. Inevitably with constant negative headlines with regard to violence and traffic issues, we are not showing ourselves in a good light. Pictures of armed police on our streets along with constant ferry issues are gaining a UK audience and that is going to have a major impact on tourism.
The time for dealing with such issues is now before we sink even further.
Get your backsides off the Island and SEE just how many non British are filling this country now.
Most all will be on some benefit, most all will end up with a home costing us hundreds of k to build, and most all will pay next to nothing in rent because of low pay, or not working at all as claiming for single parent children.
THAT is why the country is broke, but NO Politician DARE say so, hence everything and anything else is blamed but the main ruination of this once proud nation.
Well said mate I totally agree
How ill informed you are, guess your info comes from the Mail
Another simpleton played like a puppet by right-wing media. Are the ‘enemy’ the 1% fleecing the nation for every £ they can, or is it a bunch of people worse off than yourself who have nothing? Racism mixed with low IQ – a dangerous combo, which seems to be rampant on this site.
you still talking sh– i think you need to get out of bed and get a job
Nothing to do with extortionate prices and meaningless “offers”, then?
This is what happens when you price your bread and butter customers out of visiting.
you can blame the weather for a drop in admissions but we know the truth.
(although Covid loans are literally killing hundreds of businesses)
WHEN will businesses learn that if you need to increase your coffers, you don’t raise prices, you need more footfall, you lower prices and do a promotion campaign to get more people through the gates, these people then spend once inside the venue too.
Sad times!
More footfall, namely ‘promotion’ as you put itcosts money, and lots of it. If the business is already on it’s knees then that’s very difficult to do.
As sad as it is, I always enjoy a Robin Hill visit since having a young family – they’ve taken a realistic view. Exit one park, save the other.
Now an example of poor leadership would have been to run the entire group into the ground. How many jobs would that have cost? Let alone the other poor debters, some of them local that would have got caught up in the mess.
I will disagree with the promotion part. They have social media, if they’d have done a simple, no frills post about discounted entrance fees for islanders, people would have seen it, and it would have been shared widely across local ‘community groups’. Promotion is actually easy on the island, word of mouth travels super fast here.
Any business here knows, tourism is important but so are the locals, they keep you afloat off season (until most close, sensibly, over the actual winter period (minus festive events))
Definitely prices far to high. If they reduced membership prices, I would of purchased for the season for the whole family, which is only 10 months. Sad for islanders and there families as it is great place for a picnic and afternoon visit, need more places on the island not less 🙁
Blimey, Margret. Lower your prices and do a promo and all will be well. Never realised business was as simple as that.
The ferry companies extract over £ 100 million a year out of the island’s economy, perhaps not enough visitors are rich enough to come here any more?
Well said Tim let’s have a tunnel,And those who want can still use the ferries if they are running!
According to your name you live in a type of tunnel so go crawl back into it as a tunnel will never happen.
Tunnel? OK where do you propose the tunnel to start? Fishbourne ferry terminal? The end of Ryde Pier? Yarmouth Pier? Tunnels to under a body of water such as the solent have to start and be dug out 3.5 to 4 miles before you actually pass under water. So you would have to start tunnelling at The Arreton Valley or in Brading or Calbourne. So how many houses would you undermine/under pin by doing this? When will people start to realise a tunnel is not an option.
So the Channel Tunnel starts 3 – 4 miles from the sea does it? No, it starts a few hundred yards from it!
No it doesn’t it starts a few miles outside of folkestone. Also it comes up at coquelles in France of which is 5.2km from Calais. Do your homework!
Bestival moved because of the ferry prices
Time to build some houses on the site. Or hopefully someone will invest properly in it and turn it into a proper attraction.
Overpriced making it difficult for families on holiday to juggle their finances, the only attraction that offers a great deal is Tapnall farm, reasonably priced and loads to do for the kids and big kids and their steak pasties are to die for.
Used to work here, their debt and stupid decisions are to blame. No sympathy at all for the company or owner!
Instead of keeping the prices steady for customers they increased due to their greed of ‘adding attractions’ into the parks which clearly was a stupid decision then and definitely a stupid decision now.
Massive rip off so whatever
Always a bit sad when this happens. Things do come and go, but on this Island things seem to go a lot more. Still remember Flamingo Park which has sat empty for years. And ofc the Ice Rink.
Just out to rip people off it’s a shame the kids love it but way to expensive should if brought back some thing like the bestival and more events like it
After visiting this summer during the hot spell, I honestly believe the park would do better with free admission with paid activities and parking. The bar area in the woods alone would rake it in if it was open to the public without a paywall to enter the grounds.
How incredibly sad. So many great memories there with my little ones, and of Bestival. All my favorite island events happen there.
i would almost count on someone offered them money already and then they decided to sell. So which will it be? Another caravan park?
Whilst the Boomers enjoy early Mortgage free retirement, the Millennials are being hit by high interest rates, expensive fuel and extortionate child care. Many 2 holidays a year colleagues (I work remotely for a Mainland based company) have already cut out the UK holiday. This is what happens.
It will unfortunately get much worse before it gets better.
East Wight or West Wight… Remember the Tories brought us here… they will not be the people to lead us back to safety.
Interest rates were high in the eighties snd also high unemployment. Childcare if anything was harder, no tax credits or similar or food banks even .I’m slightly too young to be classed as a boomer but I do know we worked bloody hard to pay off our mortgage and started in a terraced house with no bathroom or kitchen and rotten floors . It isn’t any harder now ,you do have very high expectations though generally as younger people .We were ripped off in a pension scam but you just have to keep going. I do agree it’s harder to buy a house now our first house would not be mortgagable now and most cheaper houses are bought by second home owners and landlords.
Funny how people forget when reminiscing of the 1980s the sell off of all the public companies and the absolute bonanza that many people made as the shares were heavily undervalued. And also the wholesale sell-off of council houses at massively reduced prices which effectively wiped out the UK social housing model.
Bad weather for the last two seasons, they must have been in a coma last year- the hottest on record! Bad management and spreading themselves to thin ,me thinks
It was bad weather for Robin Hill last year. It was sunny and hot every day, so all the grockles were at the beach!
The weather cannot be used as an excuse, we had a really good summer last year and even though this year it’s been a little unsettled, using that as an excuse is ridiculous.
Has anyone ever thought that the prices might have a great deal to do with a decrease in footfall.
Surely if prices we vastly reduced, footfall would increase ?
Before you announced your closure would it have been a good idea to try this out for the last month to see what happened. After all, what did you have to lose ???
As the premise are surrounded by Five Waste disposal companies I would suggest that infill would in fact offer the best reward, nice wide entrance and a deep hole to fill must be worth 15 Mil
If they had better prices then people would go more often, always the same the company’s just become greedy and then become undone. Very Sad tho yet another of the islands attractions gone… soon there will be nothing left for the kids and they will all just keep getting g in trouble.
Another 260 houses we dont need land owners being greedy yo much house building hoing on people tfying to cash in
Such a shame if no one takes it over. It does need a cash injection and a partnership with a franchise to keep it going or to actually innovate like tapnell farm! Water park, permanent glamping something that brings income in whilst the standard punters aren’t visiting.
just hope all the wildlife finds a decent home if no one buys them out and keeps it going.
I have heard Lewisham borough council were looking at various sites across the Island, due to their own housing crisis. Personally I don’t have any concerns if the proposal is true. Its on a great bus route and near to all amenities.
.
Yeah, and I bet you don’t live anywhere near it!
As a usually twice yearly visitor to the Island I would suggest the lack of footfall rests mainly with the ferry costs. The attraction of the Island is getting outweighed by the costs of getting there.
I have visited the iow for many years from the main land
but every time I would of liked to of visited robin hill
It was always closed for preparation for special events
It never seemed to be open
Extortionate ferry prices are a huge part to blame for lack of visitors. People are fed up being ripped off so they boycott the Island and holiday elsewhere!
It’s a rip off and there’s nothing in there. It’s unbelievable that you then have to pay to use the toboggan run, after paying the extortionate fee to get in!
It comes down to poor management and lack of creativity. Why would you sell robin hill and invest in Blackgang when it’s falling in the sea? Very fishy if you ask me, I won’t be at all surprised if a tasty proposal from a big developer has tempted the greedy owner into the decision. Watch this space.
Because you can’t build a shedload of houses at blackgang, they would be worthless and unsafe in no time.
Why would they invest money from the sale of Robin Hill into Blackgang if it’s going to end up in the sea? Same difference. My point is it’s bullshit. It’s not been closed for any other reason than to make profit but why make up excuses just be transparent. Thanks for stating the obvious though.
The main reason is that the land at blackgang is worthless, and you’re welcome.
This year the island has seen it’s highest tourist arrivals ,Robin Hill had nothing to offer the tourist that was different apart from the high entrance costs and bad management
I thought the reason they bought Robin Hill was for it to eventually replace Blackgang as that slid gracefully into the sea, they’ve obviously reversed that decision
The truth is people can’t afford to come to the Island these days . The ferries cost a fortune before you spend on anything else
Why has the island just had it’s busiest year then?
Weather and more of that ….?
Its just the huge price you has to pay for. With a family of four means you nearly bankrupt for the day. We went to Blackgang Shine the other day and turned back… similar of entrance fees likely. Shame.. its getting worse on the Isle with so many shops and companies as they cannot cope on financials.
Take a notice for mainlanders to get across of Ferry fees for example…Hope it turns good in future for B.G.Sine then… fingers crossed…
As many people have mentioned, over enthusiastic pricing for a facility that is in need of serious investment. I visited the Balloon Festival and hadn’t been there for about 30 years and many “attractions” had not been maintained or even seen a lick of paint for a very long time. Even Grandchildren commented on dirty and broken items, plus buildings looking shabby. It has obviously been milked for all it’s worth. Without the Balloons and the £9 beefburgers the day would have been wasted. Fake discounts with the App and come back for free..it all amounts to nothing. People will vote with their feet and our beloved Blacking will slide into the sea.
Just could not afford to go with a family.
Priced themselves out of reach for so many.
Stopped doing the festival which must have made so much money?
Come pn Captive Homes surely you could fit thousands of houses on thos site!!!!!
The reason is bad management and over inflated admission charges.
That’s the Island all over, most businesses are run by idiots!
Robin HIll failed because it was crap. It was like taking your kids to the local park but on a larger scale and with a hefty price tag.
Nothing to do with the entrance fee for children then?
They priced themselves out of the market. We would have visited plenty of times if we could afford it but our budget just couldn’t stretch to the enormous entry prices. We know that bad investment decisions by management were also a factor.
Reply to badger about a tunnel?
Tunnel? OK where do you propose the tunnel to start? Fishbourne ferry terminal? The end of Ryde Pier? Yarmouth. Tunnels to go under a body of water such as the solent have to start and be dug out at 3.5 to 4 miles before you actually pass under water. So you would have to start tunnelling at Arreton or in Brading or Calbourne. How many houses would you undermine/under pin. When will people start to realise a tunnel isn’t an option. I notice everybody blaming the ferries. Why? They are doing what they are there to do. Make as much money for their parent companies. Everything is for sale. I notice the council have gone quiet on this. Borrow 220 mill over 70 years and buy Wightlink. Everything is for sale.
Everyone has some great ideas. Can’t us islanders get together and buy the place? You could even have different parts sponsored by island businesses and keep the prices down
Should of done the Islander discount like Amazon World, rather than ripping off the locals. when the tourists go home it’s the islanders that could of prevented all this.
So many attractions are greedy, hence Robin Hill closing down.
Blackgang season ticket is a cheaper alternative