About the Haulfryn Group

Children playing at The Warren in 1978

The 1970s were, in some respects, years almost of inadvertent expansion. In 1972 the freehold on Barmouth Bay was bought, and Gimblet Rock followed in 1973. Another location on ‘the Llyn’, Crugan, was bought in 1975. Bill Minoprio retired the same year after 30 years as Managing Director, but remained as Chairman. His nephew, Andrew, took over in his stead, with Quinton Minoprio as Deputy Chair. Expansion continued, with Glan Gors being added in 1977, and other business possibilities were chased, including a department store in Pwllheli, many far away from the original intention... to develop the Warren.

Bill Minoprio died in 1980, and in some respects the company wavered for a time. In October 1982 Quinton was asked by the Board to take on the dual role of Chairman and Managing Director, a position he was admirably suited for, having been born and spent so many formative years almost in view of the Warren. Quinton acted fast and decisively, he moved into Haulfryn House, upsetting the comfortable culture that had built up in the 1970s, cutting overheads and making the company a much leaner, fitter, vehicle. He recognised the value of excellence, no more so than in the design and construction of holiday homes, he became an innovator who raised and set standards within the entire industry. New homes began to appear, designed and manufactured exclusively for Haulfryn. Haulfryn was on the move.

In 1985 the company invested in an outdoor pool complex at the Warren, and in 1986 was proud to receive the Oscars of the industry.

Expansion beyond Wales followed. In 1990 Haulfryn was able to buy the 7 locations in the South of England that traded as Surrey Park Homes, starting Haulfryn’s Residential Homes Division, this, added to 4 further locations bought from the Gowring Group brought to an end what was called the ‘Quin era’, with Quinton retiring as Chairman in 1997. He had lifted pre-tax profits from £680,350 in 1983 to £2,370,000 in 1996.

A period of rapid growth followed, with seven further residential parks being added to the company portfolio, and this pattern continues to this day. The 16 Cheltenham Parks were bought in 2000, this including a holiday motel and touring park, and Finlake, the groups first purchase in the South West, was added in 2001. The next year it was Martello Beach, and Shearbarn Holiday Parks and Ravenswing and Beckenham Residential Parks, and in 2003 Paignton and Edgeley.

And so it goes on, in 2005 Ocean Cove and Praa Sands, both in Cornwall, joined the group, and more acquisitions are planned. What’s important to Haulfryn though is not just growth for the sake of it, but an adherence to the same family values of providing excellence and good value for money that existed when the company was first launched.

The history of the Haulfryn Group is also that of a single family, the Minoprios, originally of Padua, in northern Italy. One of the family, Franz Carl, or Francis Charles as he became, left his native home in 1858 to live in Liverpool, establishing Minoprio and Co., Cotton Merchants. He was known and respected as a philanthropist with a social conscience, and, by the time of his death in 1893, had fathered 9 children and created the foundations on which the family’s future success was built.

He died young, his son, Frank, being only 23 when he took over the cotton business, and shouldered responsibility for his mother and siblings. Happily he had a genuine interest in business and an eye for a good investment, and so it was, in 1908, that when on holiday with his family in Abersoch, on the Llyn Peninsula in north Wales, he recognised the beauty of the beaches and potential for holidays, and bought a strip of land on which he had built a fine granite house he called Haulfryn, which means ‘sunny hill’.

Frank maintained an interest in investments throughout his life. He sold the cotton business for a handsome price and retired to the Cotswolds from where he continued to invest, and to build up his estate in north Wales. Like his father before him he believed in ‘putting something back’, and built the Primary School and Village Hall in Abersoch, as well as giving the vast sum of £20,000 towards the purchase of Kenwood House in Hampstead.

By 1930 Frank was 60 years old. His accountants recommended that his property portfolio be removed from his estate, and in 1935 The Haulfryn Estate Company was founded, with his wife and 9 children being shareholders. His sons Anthony, James and Hilary (Bill) were to shape the fortunes and growth of the company right through to the 1970s, although Frank remained as Governing Director until he resigned in 1944, dying in 1951.

Anthony, the eldest, trained as an architect and was extremely successful in this, his chosen profession. He became Chairman of Haulfryn in 1944, and always had a keen eye for the visual importance and attention to detail for anything Haulfryn did.
After leaving the Navy, James pursued a career in business, spending over 30 years in the City, mostly working in commodities. He brought a wealth of City experience to Haulfryn. It was left to Bill, with his love for Abersoch and north Wales to become, at the age of 33, the company’s first Managing Director.

There was never any doubt about the company’s aim, which was to develop the land at the Warren, just down the road from the family holiday home at Abersoch. Holiday makers were asking permission to park caravans there, and the first caravan licence was issued in 1948. Development started, and was pushed through, even though funds were so tight that several other properties had to be sold. Haulfryn House itself was re-mortgaged. But it was worth it, by the start of the 1960s the Warren was a model site, extremely popular, and turning a profit. Haulfryn had survived its start-up years.

Could the success at the Warren be repeated elsewhere? To help the planned growth the company began to employ ‘outsiders’ to take senior positions, bringing with them new ideas and new possibilities, and avoiding the parochial attitude that has served to limit the growth of so many family businesses. Donald Songhurst joined the company in 1963 as General Manager. Within a year he bought a location at Nefyn, also on the Llyn Peninsula.

Soon after, he leased a location in Barmouth and another on Anglesey, he persuaded the company to raise additional capital from 3i, and bought further sites, but by 1969 Donald wanted to set up on his own, and so left the company, leaving it with increased business, but with a heavy expenditure programme and the need to borrow further. Turnover was up, but profits were down. The closing years of the 1960s were not happy ones for Haulfryn.