YHA Selling a Third of its Hostels

[cougie uk]

Had breakfast and tea at a YHA today. Very nice food and Very reasonable too. Worth checking out if they do it at any hostels you're near.

 

[grldtnr]

Had breakfast and tea at a YHA today. Very nice food and Very reasonable too. Worth checking out if they do it at any hostels you're near.

If there are any left open !

 

[PeteXXX]

My memories of YHA's, even as recently as 4 years ago, we're as self catering. Great kitchens with every utensil necessary to make meals etc.
Food the wasn't takeable when you moved on was left on the 'everyone please use' shelf.

I don't remember any of the places I stayed as having a café / restaurant.

 

[Spartak]

I've used YH 's many times over the years, mainly for cycle touring but more recently for walking and family breaks.

Have great memories of the cycling tours, where a group of six of us would pootle around stopping for long lunches and even longer evenings.

Ones we used over the years were.....

Brecon
Capel y Ffin ( now closed )
Salisbury ( now closed )
Minehead ( for sale )
St. Bravials
Clyffe Pypard
Ridgeway ( now privately owned ? )
Danywenyllt
Street ( now closed ? )

Last year myself and the family stayed at the Brecon Beacons YHA in Libanus, sleeping in a wooden lodge in the woods.... Highly recommend this YH and good location to do Pen Y Fan etc.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Had breakfast and tea at a YHA today. Very nice food and Very reasonable too. Worth checking out if they do it at any hostels you're near.

Did they make you do the washing up before you left?

 

[cougie uk]

Did they make you do the washing up before you left?

Lol ! I don't remember having to do that since I stayed with school in a YHA. Things have changed.

 

[Richard Fairhurst]

Brecon's closed too. But Libanus and Danywenallt are still open.

This report on nearby Ystradfellte's closure from back in 2005 shows up the lunacy: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/4350543.stm

The YHA's review of its 227 hostels in England and Wales looked at occupancy levels, as well as the investment needed to bring the buildings up to the three-star standard set by the Wales Tourist Board.

Why does a rural hostel deep in the Brecon Beacons have to be up to a three-star standard?

From 227 hostels to 40 in less than 20 years - that's mismanagement on a spectacular scale.

 

[Mike_P]

From 227 hostels to 40 in less than 20 years - that's mismanagement on a spectacular scale.

Maybe but what has been the growth in camp sites, holiday lodges etc in the equivalent period. The availability of overnight accommodation is wholly different nowadays. When I used the YHAs in Scotland in the 1980s a some were used for more than one night, today other accommodation would no doubt be used.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Did they make you do the washing up before you left?

Chores disappeared towards the end of the 80s. Thus at least 30 years ago.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Anyone else remember Baldersdale on the Pennine Way? The kitchen was so big you needed map and compass to navigate round it.

 

[Richard Fairhurst]

On reflection I'm not entirely sure I trust the Telegraph's figure of 60->40 hostels. The YHA website lists 143. Some of these are "affiliate" hostels, some are "YHA Enterprise" (privately owned but offered as part of the YHA network), some are available for exclusive hire only (presumably because there aren't enough Airbnbs in the world). So depending how you count it, it could feasibly be less than 143. But 60/40 seems implausibly low.

 

[Beebo]

On reflection I'm not entirely sure I trust the Telegraph

A decent mantra for life. Which we should all follow. 😊

 

[matticus]

The place to look is the Charity Commission register, it's all there by law, including the annual accounts.

Thanks.

From that I get:

Charitable objects​

A) TO HELP ALL, ESPECIALLY YOUNG PEOPLE OF LIMITED MEANS, TO A GREATER KNOWLEDGE, LOVE AND CARE OF THE COUNTRYSIDE, AND APPRECIATION OF THE CULTURAL VALUES OF TOWNS AND CITIES, PARTICULARLY BY PROVIDING YOUTH HOSTELS OR OTHER ACCOMMODATION FOR THEM IN THEIR TRAVELS, AND THUS TO PROMOTE THEIR HEALTH, RECREATION AND EDUCATION; B) SUCH OTHER CHARITABLE PURPOSES AS THE TRUSTEES SHALL IN THEIR ABSOLUTE DISCRETION FROM TIME TO TIME THINK FIT.

Discuss!

 

[Spartak]

On reflection I'm not entirely sure I trust the Telegraph's figure of 60->40 hostels. The YHA website lists 143. Some of these are "affiliate" hostels, some are "YHA Enterprise" (privately owned but offered as part of the YHA network), some are available for exclusive hire only (presumably because there aren't enough Airbnbs in the world). So depending how you count it, it could feasibly be less than 143. But 60/40 seems implausibly low.

I don't trust The Telegraph. Full stop.

 

[presta]

with every utensil necessary

Hmm.
I've queued up to use a saucpan, shared a hob with two others, and at one time I used to take my own tin opener because it was so difficult to find working ones. (You can still read the NOT YHA I marked on it 20 odd years ago)

Last year myself and the family stayed at the Brecon Beacons YHA in Libanus

That one used to be called Lwyn y Celyn, the renamed it after they closed Ty'n y Caeau at Brecon.

On reflection I'm not entirely sure I trust the Telegraph's figure of 60->40 hostels. The YHA website lists 143. Some of these are "affiliate" hostels, some are "YHA Enterprise" (privately owned but offered as part of the YHA network), some are available for exclusive hire only (presumably because there aren't enough Airbnbs in the world). So depending how you count it, it could feasibly be less than 143. But 60/40 seems implausibly low.

The website includes all the independent ones that are operating under the Green Triangle (eg Alston, Elterwater, Ingleton etc), I assume the 60/40 must be the ones that the YHA still own.

I get the impression from the way they're selling everything off that their eventual aim is to be a cross between a franchise and a booking agency, owning no property, by which time I think they'll have no purpose left in and era where you can book everything for yourself online.

Clyffe Pypard
Ridgeway ( now privately owned ? )

AFAIK, the Ridgeway always was owned by a private trust, the story I heard was that they went into private session with the YHA not invited, and decided to drop the YHA franchise. Dunno what the YHA did to upset them, but it's still going independently.

Clyffe Pypard - do you mean the old skittle alley at the back of the Goddard Arms? That one closed a long while ago. I'm not all that surprised, the landlady didn't strike me as being cut out for wardening.