The BBC takes a look at why five YHA hostels in England have to be sold.
The video.
In the Lake District, the hostels to close are Derwentwater at Keswick, Helvellyn at Glenridding and Hawkshead.
In the North East, Newcastle's hostel in Jesmond Road will close, as will the one at Osmotherly, in North Yorkshire.
This article covers the same story.
The YHA claims the sites need a large amount of investment to keep them running as profitable youth hostels. Sam Littlechild, a spokesperson for the YHA explained, "The Lake District has one of the highest concentrations of hostels in the country so it's important that we maintain a presence here but those sites just aren’t financially viable."
And this one.
Derwentwater’s 88-bed Barrow House Hostel was built in 1787 by Joseph Pocklington, the son of a wealthy banker. But the YHA says it needs almost £1.2 million worth of refurbishment work.
Similarly the Helvellyn hostel, which is approached by an 0.75-mile track from Glenridding, needs an investment of £1,180,000.
Locals are hoping that the buyers of these properties will continue to run them as hostels. Maybe someone here is interested?
13 years
Excellent post Andy - agree with everything you say. I think the points you raise indicate one of the basic problems of the association, that it is run by a bureaucracy that has no real idea what it's customers, ie budget travellers and backpackers want. Until they empower managers to instigate real change on a hostel by hostel basis they'll have the same problems over and over again.
13 years
I was astounded and horrified to read the following, written in December 2007:
A new group - "The Friends of The Katherine Bruce Glasier Memorial Hostel' - is being set up in Earby. The building was officially handed over to the Youth Hostel Association in 1958 as a perpetual memorial to Katherine Bruce Glasier who lived in Earby..... After her death, a subscription fund was set up to collect money for a memorial. The money raised was use to buy her cottage and the adjoining property and convert them into a youth hostel which was then gifted to the YHA.
The YHA's plans to close the hostel last year prompted a vigorous campaign of opposition which ended in Pendle Council buying the property and leasing is back to the YHA so it could continue operating. The friends group is being established to help boost usage of the hostel as well as provide working parties where needed.
In summary: People donated money to buy the building. They GAVE the building to the YHA to run as a hostel. Some 40 years later the YHA SOLD the hostel (that they had never had to pay for) to a public organisation, who then LEASED it to the YHA to run as a hostel. People have paid TWICE to enable the YHA to make a substantial capital gain and continue making a profit.
13 years
NOTE: I've moved the discussion about Hostelling International's hotels to a new thread:
http://www.hostelmanagement.com/forums/hostelling-international-selling-hotel-rooms.html
Related Pages
Log in to join discussion