Center Parcs is a holiday leisure business specialising in providing family getaways in woodland settings around the UK and Europe. The provider is popular, and many will know someone who has attended one of their sites.
The company currently operates five locations in England - Elveden Forest (Suffolk), Longleat Forest (Wiltshire), Sherwood Forest (Nottinghamshire), Woburn Forest (Bedfordshire), and Whinfell Forest (Cumbria). It also operates a site in Ireland and has identified a seventh potential location in West Sussex.
Center Parcs recently featured in the news headlines when the company announced that guests would have to leave their accommodation during a planned closure to mark the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. The company said in a statement, "We hope our guests will understand our decision to support our Queen on her final journey."
Read more: Center Parcs drops plans to close for Queen’s funeral after guests' fury
It's been widely reported that this decision has now been reversed, and guests will be emailed about their options during the closure.
Who founded Center Parcs?
Center Parcs has been operating in the UK since 1987. However, the company's origins lie with founder and Dutch businessman Piet Derksen, who opened a holiday village called Sporthuis Centrum at De Lommerbergen, near Reuver in The Netherlands, in 1968. The accommodation was drastically different from today's, with guests staying in tents instead of the signature wooden lodges.
The first Center Parcs site in the UK was built in Sherwood Forest, followed by Elveden Forest two years later and Center Parcs Longleat Forest six years after that.
Who owns Center Parcs now?
According to the company's corporate history, Center Parcs UK was bought by Deutsche Bank Capital Partners before the business was floated on the stock market in 2003.
It was subsequently bought by a private equity firm called The Blackstone Group in 2006. After owning the firm for nine years, TBG sold the firm to Brookfield Property Partners in 2015. The company's Executive Board is published on the governance section of its corporate website.
The website also states: "Whilst a lot may have changed since 1968, the underlying ethos of the business has remained the same. Piet Derksen believed in the need to listen to feedback from our guests, the need to always be improving and innovating and the importance of existing in synergy with the forest surrounding us."
"These values remain at the heart of the Center Parcs brand today."
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