After nearly 100 years of providing “simple accommodation for all”, the Youth Hostel Association is selling 20 of its 150 hostels in England and Wales. In a statement, the YHA said the decision had been taken after a difficult few years for the charity. “Pandemic shutdowns, the cost of living crisis and steep inflation have affected us like other charities and hospitality providers,” it said.
The sell-off is the first step in a three-year business plan announced on 23 June “to secure YHA’s long-term prosperity”. The Covid pandemic hit the charity hard: the YHA lost more than 80% of its income in 2020/21. Now 90% of its income comes from just 60% of its hostels. The restructure will focus on raising occupancy at the more popular properties, aiming to increase customers by 30% while reducing staff by 20%.
The YHA has said it is looking for buyers who will continue to operate the properties as hostels “wherever possible”. However, some will be sold into private hands and the proceeds invested in the upkeep of the remaining hostels.
Sam Dalley, the managing director of the Independent Hostels network, is urging prospective buyers to take on the hostels as going concerns. “Hostels occupy a vital niche in the outdoor industry, offering flexible, self-catering accommodation to all ages,” she says. “The model of hostel accommodation, with shared facilities, is one of the most sustainable forms of tourism around.”
Those who are tempted to quit their job and run a hostel won’t have to start from scratch: the YHA runs a franchise scheme for its former hostels, which keep the branding and remain on the online booking system. A recent success story is YHA Youlgreave in Derbyshire, whose new owner, Colin Trigg, has added an artisan bakery and cafe.
Dalley says there have never been more hostels on sale at any one time; as well as the 20 YHA properties, there are 13 independent hostels on the market. “This is a golden opportunity to escape the rat race and have a complete lifestyle change,” she said. She added that many of the hostels are “historic buildings in idyllic corners of the country”, such as the Peak District or the North York Moors.
This very desirability, coupled with relatively low prices – starting at £250,000 for a former school in North Yorkshire – has fuelled fears that buyers may snap up the hostels and turn them into private homes. YHA Boswinger, a large freehold property five minutes from the beach in an area of natural beauty in Cornwall, is on sale for £550,000. YHA Wells-next-the-Sea, in the sought-after north Norfolk village, has an asking price of £400,000. Other prime real estate includes a gothic mansion in Brontë country, West Yorkshire; a Victorian castle in Eyam, Derbyshire; and a Scandi-style retreat in the Lake District. The combined sale value is £10.32m.
The YHA was established in 1930, inspired by Germany’s thriving youth hostelling movement that dates from 1912. Its objective was, and remains: “To help all, especially young people of limited means, to a greater knowledge, love and care of the countryside.” In 2005, it added: “… and appreciation of the cultural values of towns and cities.” About 30 hostels were open by 1931, including two still operating today, YHA Street in Somerset and YHA Idwal Cottage in Gwynedd. There were 300 hostels by the outbreak of the second world war, when a third were requisitioned as ambulance training camps, schools and feeding stations. It wasn’t until the pandemic that all hostels temporarily closed.
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This is not the first time the YHA has sold off some of its stock, with hostels coming and going throughout its history. More recently, in the 2000s and 2010s, it began investing in urban hostels and selling less profitable rural properties. (That is not to say all rural hostels are unprofitable – some, such as YHA Black Sail, a former bothy in Cumbria, are always fully booked.) Many hostels were bought and refurbished by individuals or communities groups and there are now more than 50 reopened hostels in the Independent Hostels network (a mix of former YHA and independent hostels).
Dalley points to successful former YHA hostels such as the Kettlewell Hostel in the Yorkshire Dales, which was bought by Saul and Floss Ward in 2015. The couple serve homemade food – beef stew, beetroot and bean burgers – sell local craft beers, have added a secondhand bookshop and a wood-burner, and have won multiple awards. Then there is Skiddaw House, an off-grid hostel in Cumbria. It was run by the YHA until 2002, when it closed and fell into disrepair. Renovated with the help of volunteers, it reopened in 2007, and is now popular with walkers, runners and cyclists.
So there is hope for the 20 at-risk hostels yet – as long as buyers who want to change their use as hostels don’t get there first. And if anyone wants to start a new life running a hostel from a farmhouse in Caernarfonshire (£300,000) or a water mill in Shropshire (£375,000), the YHA wants to hear from you.
