‘Bob the Builder’ holiday parks fall into administration amid insolvency claims

Parts of a holiday park business owned by a new entrant on the Sunday Times Rich List has fallen into administration.

The Telegraph reported that two of Robert Bull’s businesses, the Golden Leas Holiday Park and Hayling Island Holiday Park, filed separate notices to appoint advisers last week.

Documents on Companies House also revealed his appointment as director to both businesses was terminated on 7 July.

Bull was the second-highest new entry in the Sunday Times Rich List published in May this year, with a valuation of £1.905b.

The billionaire property tycoon known as “Bob the Builder” co-founded RoyaleLife, one of the UK’s largest bungalow providers for the over 45s, which is made up of over 200 legal entities.

His companies have been the subject of further scrutiny this past year.

On May 16, he wrote an article on LinkedIn in response to a winding-up petition, revealed by the Telegraph to have concerned his leisure estates business, Time Group Holdings, filed by City law firm DLA Piper.

The paper added that court filings showed a “slew of insolvency claims” made against Bull’s businesses.

He said: “While I am unable to elaborate too much for legal reasons, it’s fair to say I was extremely disappointed to hear of the winding-up order, which was based on unfounded information. In the meantime, I want to reassure our funders, suppliers, residents, and employees that it is very much business as usual.”

In June, Bull posted on his personal LinkedIn that RoyaleLife is on a “journey of growth”, as the company was said to be building 64 residential bungalow communities with an additional 40 in planning and development.

However, documents from Companies House also revealed that RoyaleResorts, the luxury holiday park provider owned by RoyaleLife, appointed administrators Daniel R W Smith and Oliver Haunch last month.

A spokesperson for RoyaleGroup told The Caterer: “All sites are continuing to trade as normal as we work towards a deal with our administrators, Grant Thornton and JCK Ltd. At this current time, no staff or job cuts are expected.

“More than 200 legal entities comprise the RoyaleGroup and these remain unaffected. Like many companies we had a challenging time emerging from the pandemic and, as an entity, we became subject to winding up orders based on false claims and unfounded information. These have either been dismissed or are the subject of legal action.”

“I therefore want to reassure our funders, suppliers, residents, and employees that it is very much business as usual.”

They added the company aims to install 1,000 new bungalows across the UK starting later this year amid a "recapitalisation of the business".