Those poor soldiers in Liverpool.

[Serin]

What on earth did they do to deserve to be housed at that "holiday" camp.
It's a dump.
I'm sure camp Bastian would be have better facilities and be cleaner.
Dear God.
Our own precious soldiers at a Pontins.
Cant wait to read the tripadviser reviews.

@Maryann1975

They should have joined the RAF instead - five star hotels having been an RAF wife, Who was generally given the shittiest accommodation the RAF could find, I dread to think how bad the army accommodation was if what I had was viewed as 5 star!

It's a long running joke about how aircrew tend to end up well looked after when overseas while the poor saps in the back have to put up with anything. To be fair, if I were in a plane I'd want the pilot to have had a good night's sleep...

@AuntyFungal

Maybe it’s survival / psych testing.

“Who Dares (stay at Pontin’s) Wins”?

😂😂

@PhilSwagielka

They're used to godforsaken hellholes tbf. Pontin's, awful though it is, is luxury compared to a tent on a freezing cold mountain or the Iraqi desert.

I dunno, I've heard stories about Pontins (not just from unsuspecting customers, plenty of former staff have things to say about the place too). Bivvying up outdoors would be far preferable.

It’s quite ironic...

When I was in the RAF basic training we were constantly told ‘this isn’t fucking Pontins’...

Pardon me, Staff, but I think you’ll find it is....

I can't understand why the Pontins there is so bad!

The town seems nice, and I quite enjoyed myself, having a walk on the unexpectedly long pier. Admittedly, I wasn't there on holiday and the weather was lovely time. I thought it felt safer than Blackpool, and the guest house breakfast was much better (am I setting a low bar?).

@PolkadotsAndMoonbeams, it's owned by Britannia Hotels who appear averse to spending money on even basic maintenance.

Best mate is a military wife (we're a barracks town) and her and her husband were pissing themselves laughing at the poor buggers being sent to stay at Pontins.

Mind you - few years ago some of the lads were coming out of Tesco on Christmas Eve in their uniform (it's fairly common - no one bats an eyelid apart from at the number of biscuits they all buy) and one of them was saying to the other that "fucking hell, I'd rather do Afghanistan again than go back in there today" - even the army have limits.

It will be better than sleeping in a tin hut, or tents

Not if it’s Pontins. I’d much prefer a damp 9x9 than one of their shitty chalets. And if Southport really is worse than Brean then I’d even take a shellscrape and bivvy bag over one

@Jroseforever

What did I expect? I knew it would be bad, we only live half an hour away from there and have all heard about pontins. Plus I used to work managing accommodation for a well known caravan holiday company and know first hand how grim the accommodation can be. But I wasn't expecting the level of shit that we got. The apartment would have been fine had it not been so bone achingly cold and wet and the constant beeping was terrible. But everything else was just grim. We only went as some friends booked for a £80 weekend for their kids birthday. My sister offered to pay for an apartment and asked us to go along too. Tbh I think the kids loved it because we all pulled into one apartment of an evening and played board games and charades. That pulling together and making the best of it spirit.

Be careful what you wish for . Our local Pontins was allowed to decline as the owners wanted to sell the land for building and kept being refused. They won and a lovely area close to the beach is now a housing estate.

Used to travel to Blackpool to work a lot which also had a dire Pontins (I think it may now be shut). Taxi drivers used to say they did a good trade in people getting to the gates and turning straight back round and people who were there for two days and left. Service personnel are adaptable and resilient but i do not think many will come back with their families in happier times.

'My holiday was a week camping in Wales. I'm hardly used to Mustique myself, but Ainsdale Pontins is something else. The security fencing is to stop the guests running away.'

"precious soldiers"

have you ever met a soldier when they're with other soldiers?

@Brainwave89

Used to travel to Blackpool to work a lot which also had a dire Pontins (I think it may now be shut). Taxi drivers used to say they did a good trade in people getting to the gates and turning straight back round and people who were there for two days and left. Service personnel are adaptable and resilient but i do not think many will come back with their families in happier times.

It closed eleven years ago. It’s long since been demolished and hundreds of new homes built on the site. It did look grim from the outside (never stayed there) and all of us who lived locally couldn’t understand why anyone would visit there from the mid 90s...it was known as an eyesore. Even right before it closed, the Blackpool one’s reputation wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the Southport one though!

@ShesMadeATwatOfMePam

"precious soldiers"

have you ever met a soldier when they're with other soldiers?

Last time I did - the lot of them were making thongs out of string by about 10pm after a few hours drinking. I'm pissing myself laughing at these delicate military flowers you're speaking of!

If someone gave me a straight choice between Pontins and a foxhole in Helmand Province I'd probably pick the latter.

I think theres a bit of psychology going on - once other countries know that our Army has survived Pontins, and not any old Pontins but Southport Pontins then they won't bother even to think about invading. Or maybe it's to show the EU just how tough we can be so they will give us a deal.