History of Richardson's Group

Richardson’s have been offering great value holidays for over 50 years, and we’re determined to keep giving our customers the great customer service they’ve come to know and love.

Robert Richardson, the father of the present owner of Richardson’s, served his apprenticeship as a marine engineer and worked for many years at Chambers shipyard on Lake Lothing, Oulton Broad. Mr Richardson Jnr bought four row boats from him for £36 in the early part of WW2, before he was asked to fight.  His father let these boats for him during the war, in addition to the existing fleet of day boats.

In 1944, Mr Richardson purchased his first motor cruiser, ‘Mac Nab’, and then Mr Richardson Snr and Jnr bought Old Mill House Boatyard in Oulton Broad, from where they let many different types of boats. By 1957, the Hire Fleet had outgrown the Oulton Broad sites, and so they began to look for larger premises.In 1957, Mr Richardson purchased Brightside Guest House in Stalham, and moved the business, together with the fleet of hire boats, to Stalham. Once the boat-building sheds were ready, another boat-building programme began.

During the next 15 years, he increased the fleet and purchased extra plots of marshes surrounding the original site at Stalham to create the largest boatyard on the whole of the Norfolk & Suffolk Broads.

In 1969, a new company which built boats, Aquafibre Ltd, was set up. Mr Richardson owned a 30% share in this company, and eventually he set up his own building operation on the Stalham yard under the Name of ‘Horizon Craft’.

In 1974, the whole of the Stalham boatyard, together with the fleet of 244 cruisers, was sold to the Rank Organisation. When the yard was sold, Mr Richardson purchased a motor repair garage at Catfield and moved his boat-building operation there. He continued building a fleet of boats which he then started hiring out from Acle in 1977.

In April 1984, Mr Richardson bought the Stalham Boatyard back. Due to lack of care by the previous owners, during the first Easter there were only 54 boats of acceptable standard for hire. Happily, within 3 to 4 years the fleet was bought up to an acceptable standard.

The fleet continued to increase and in 1986, the Horning Boatyard was purchased from the Rank Organisation, now known as ‘Horning Pleasurecraft’. In April 1991, three boatyards on the River Thames originally known as ‘Maidboats’ were purchased. The last boatyard to be purchased was ‘Hearts Cruisers’ in Thorpe, Norwich. The size of the hire fleet was now approximately 750.

In 1993, Richardson’s moved into a new venture with the purchase of both Mundesley Holiday Centre and Brightstone Holiday Centre, on the Isle of Wight. Next was Hemsby Beach Holiday Village, followed by The Savoy Holiday Village on the Isle of Wight, formerly known as the Savoy Country Club.

In March 1998 the company purchased Seacroft Holiday Village.

On May 15th 1998 Summerfields Holiday Village at Scratby was bought by Richardson’s. The following year saw the purchase of another Pontins site, South Downs Holiday Village at Bracklesham Bay, near Chichester.

The dawn of the millennium was to see another direction for the company as it diversified once more, this time into the public house arena. Richardson’s acquired The Limes at Fakenham in North Norfolk, which is now known as the Garden House. The Blueberry in Norwich followed in July 2000, and in October 2000 the Richardson’s Group purchased the Angel pub in Stoke-by-Nayland.

In 2001, Richardson’s took over The Racecourse on the outskirts of Norwich. The Waterfront Place in Chelmsford, Essex followed suit in December 2002.

November 2003 saw the purchase of Beverley Chalets, accommodation adjacent to Summerfields. In January 2004, Caesars Arcade on Beach Road, Hemsby was purchased. In 2005, the Church Farm pub was taken on by Richardson’s, and in 2006, the Richardson’s Group purchased Lowestoft Family Bowl. The latest addition purchased by Richardson’s, in September 2007, was the Hog in Armour pub in Norwich.

The Richardson’s empire shows no signs of slowing down, but throughout the years, we have had to adjust our business to the economic climate. Thames Yards, Hearts Norwich, the Savoy, Church Farm, the Angel and Garden House have been sold in recent years.