Cornish catch for Pure Cottages Group
Windermere-based Pure Cottages, a Lake District-based independent agency for holiday cottage lettings, has cast its net further afield by joining forces with Cornwall-based agency, John Bray Cornish Holidays.
The move makes Pure Cottages the UK’s sixth biggest holiday cottage lettings agency.
John Bray Cornish Holidays offers luxury self-catering cottages and holiday homes in the popular North Cornwall locations of Rock and Daymer Bay, on the Camel Estuary, and Polzeath and Port Isaac on the Atlantic coast.
Operating for almost 50 years in the business, the firm has a long-established reputation for personal service and meeting the needs of its holiday makers and owners from two offices in the area and a team of 28 staff.
The South-West expansion follows a hat-trick of recent additions to the group, including Lake District Lodge Holidays in January this year, a Lakeland holiday-let firm specialising in lodges, Heart of the Lakes in November 2018, a long-established, family-run agency, and Character Cottage Holidays in the Cotswolds in April 2018.
The group’s portfolio now encompasses more than 1,500 properties across the UK. Employing more than 100 people, the group is set to arrange more than 40,000 breaks this year.
To support the ongoing acquisition plans the firm has brought marketing strategist Tracy Archer on board as group sales and marketing director.
A senior marketing consultant with experience at director level in roles at blue chip companies in Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and London, Tracy is originally from Carlisle and has a passion for supporting the Lakeland tourist industry.
Paul Liddell, Pure Cottages chief executive, said: “John Bray fits perfectly into our growing portfolio of brands, by offering superior quality properties in a beautiful part of the UK.
“It has been operating as a holiday letting agency since 1971, in and around Rock and Port Isaac in North Cornwall.
“The company has a fantastic reputation with owners and guests alike for providing wonderful, memorable holidays. They are currently gearing up for what looks like being their best Summer season yet, with well over 5,000 holidays expected to be taken this year.”
The group has an ambitious growth strategy and has been supported in its strategy, by investment from LDC, a mid-market private equity investor, initially in facilitating the management buyout of Lakelovers, a provider of luxury holiday cottages in the Lake District.
Founded in 1977, Lakelovers is a property management and lettings agency specialising in premium holiday cottages across the Lake District.
Headquartered in Windermere, the business manages more than 600 holiday properties, providing an end-to-end property management service that includes marketing, maintenance, bookings support, alongside bespoke legal, financial and regulatory advice for owners, through its network of high-street branches.
