To think Center Parcs really isn’t middle class

[GodAgainstAll]

Just spent a few days there for the first time. It’s expensive and the people there seem to be v affluent in terms of clothes/cars, but middle class? I was surprised.

😂

I didn't enjoy the bum sex tbh.

Center Parcs is for people who like that sort of holiday, and have the money to pay for it. Class is totally irrelevant.

It is undoubtably and quintessentially middle class. As middle class as moving house to get into a better catchment area, owning a log burning stove or going to university of Exeter. It just doesn’t get more middle class than centreparks.

agree a) does it matter and b) how do you even classify 'middle class?'
according to MN you have to be an actual aristocrat (as in having a title yourself, not just a parent having one) to be considered upper class, so if you consider 'working class' to be anyone in a blue-collar job then that leaves literally everyone else, from your average teacher/nurse to Jacob Rees-Mogg and David Cameron as some form of middle class, e.g. up to about 80% of the population.

It's low-brow. But then the middle class almost always is. Parochial, unimaginative and fearful. Center Parcs is perfect for them.

I tried being middle class but I wasn't very good at it...the looking down at others, the competitive parenting and the desire to appear wealthy really pissed me off.
Plus the fact that my middle class "friends" hated it when a white van driving builder bought the biggest house in the road, completely renovated it and has lived in the 6 bed, swimming pool, sauna, cinema room house ever since. The vitriol was unbelievable....then I became a gardener and my partner a cleaner...they stopped talking to me!

I think I know what OP was getting at - I was surprised at how rough it was given the cost. We had a nice time but it felt pretty grim. The low quality chain restaurants and general rude/abrasive vibe of the other people there etc - parents smoking at outdoor dining areas etc. The spa was more expensive than London prices and abysmal and so crowded it was impossible to relax or even find somewhere to sit.

I couldn’t quite work out who CP was trying to appeal to as I realised for the same money we could go somewhere much much nicer - so whilst outdoorsy activities is right up our street, and we are prepared to pay for it done well, I don’t think we’d go back.

It's low-brow. But then the middle class almost always is. Parochial, unimaginative and fearful. Center Parcs is perfect for them.

I've never been so glad to be working class.

Her problem is they were cashed-up enough to afford Centre Parcs in the school holidays but not quite her type.

Class is security blanket for the shrinking middle classes, they need a way to make themselves better when people are richer than them or whatever.

I think the term you are looking for is new money

Why is new money seen as bad? Because it was earned honestly as opposed to historic nefarious links?

It's low-brow. But then the middle class almost always is. Parochial, unimaginative and fearful. Center Parcs is perfect for them.

Ouch! 😆

You mean it was full of two parent families with young children enjoying themselves (screaming) walking 5 abreast and generally having a good time not being priced out?

I’m picturing the OP’s fingers involuntarily tightening round her pearls every time someone at CP says pardon? or perhaps serviette

Later, in bed: ‘I don’t know, Simon — somehow it’s just not quite as I imagined’

My test as to whether I am ok with my surroundings is usually whether I can hear any swearing around me, if people are polite whilst queuing etc and ensure their children are the same and whether anyone uses the word “get” whilst addressing a child ie “get here Chardonnay” . Quite a low bar I know but I’m originally from Burnley. Centerparcs has been ok for this to date although going in the bar behind the bowling alley at Whinfell has the propensity to go tits up on my scoring.

Agree with this. We've been going since the DC were babies, eldest is now 21. I can remember taking DS to toddler activities and the majority of the children there were accompanied by their nannies and not their parents. I don't think it's like that now.

Also worth remembering that private school holidays are longer than state school, so you may find more "middle class" guests during the weeks where their children are still off but state school children aren't (it will be cheaper then).

What's the obsession with class on this site?! Who really cares that much. I literally hear no one bang on about class anywhere else on the internet or in real life...

Had you booked it on the basis of the class of the other guests? I don't understand what you mean by v affulent but middle class

Centre parcs is the biggest pile of overpriced, overhyped shit there is whether you call it a crapper, loo or toilet.

I can't say, for what it's worth, that I've ever thought of Center Parcs as posh, just expensive. As a result presumably anyone going there has a decent income/money in the bank. Class doesn't really come into it in that respect surely.

I've never been on a holiday, though have visited one and it looks like my worst nightmare frankly but we do know several people who seem to want to make a point of letting you know that's where they're going (again) as if it is something to be impressed by. I'd rather spent the equivalent amount on a self catering cottage somewhere naturally aesthetically pleasing with independent things to do in the area than at a holiday camp.

If you are going anywhere expecting it to be limited to a certain class/type then that is a mistake, as is assuming that particular classes have more disposable income etc at the moment. CP - I definitely wouldn’t call it exclusive, but the high costs might give it that impression.

😂😂

Not as middle class as Mark Warner I'm Sardinia. Why I wouldn't even waste my time on such holidays in the UK. Middle class or not.

I don’t disagree with you OP! Can you be more specific about what you mean tho? I find it is priced to keep out the riff-raff, as purely money driven holidaymakers will go to butlins or haven instead since CP is expensive, but I find the standard of the accommodation isn’t up To middle class standards 😳 it’s gone downhill the last couple of years. I suspect the group that owns it are in financial difficulties.

Also, money doesn’t buy class… someone still took a $h!t in the pool when we were there last, closed the place down for half a
day while they cleaned it and emptied the water and refilled it.

The only people who I know that have been are gay friends with plenty of money. Not sure what that says about them, one is an artist and the other a policeman. Not middle-class Def working class