Tell us about your memories of Pontins holidays

The Great British Seaside Holiday is under threat. Or more specifically, Pontins is, with the holiday park institution announcing the closure of its Southport site just hours after it hosted a New Year’s Eve party. A few weeks ago, the company’s Camber Sands and Prestatyn parks were permanently shuttered, too. These events represent a miserable slide for the once-thriving UK holiday icon, which in its heyday had 30 parks dotted across the country. Now there are just two in operation. Founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin, a stockbroker-turned-entrepreneur, Pontins offered smaller, and often cheaper, alternatives to its rival, Butlins. The first camp was a converted US army base at Brean Sands in Somerset; within a decade, sites would spring up…