Sheffield investor acquires holiday park in £2m deal

Caistor Lakes, an award-winning holiday park near Grimsby has been sold to Sheffield-based investment company Evogo Group for £1.9m.

The £1m turnover, seven-acre leisure park includes five holiday lodges, pitches for 28 caravans, a 110-cover restaurant and three fishing lakes, along with planning consent for the development of a further 10 lodges. Caistor Lakes is currently undergoing a third phase of development which will see six of the new luxury lakeside lodges completed by April this year.

Established by owner Drew Thompson in 2013, the site has been sold by Leeds-based commercial property estate agent Ernest Wilson.

Michael Peel, sales manager said: “We are really pleased to have completed the sale of Caistor Lakes, especially in the current economic climate and with the coronavirus restrictions in place.

“For Drew, this was an excellent time to sell the tourism business that he had worked so hard to build up. With British holidays looking like the most likely option for all of us this summer, and with further lodges in the pipeline, Caistor Lakes is a very strong business.”

He added: “Despite the pandemic, Ernest Wilson are seeing the demand for businesses that are up for sale vastly outstripping supply. Many business owners feel that the current economic uncertainty means that this is not a good time to sell, whereas in fact there is huge demand out there.

“It seems a great many people who have received redundancy settlements are now looking for a change of direction and opting to buy their own business rather than return to the jobs market.”

Caistor Lakes plans to open six new holiday lodges this spring and has guaranteed full refunds on bookings cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Acquired by property consultant Eddisons in 2019 Ernest Wilson was founded in 1956 and specialises in buying and selling hundreds of small businesses every year, from fish and chip shops to convenience stores and hotels. It has sold businesses worth more than £17m of since the start of the pandemic.