by Tom Leaning
Plans for the expansion of award-winning caravan and motorhome dealership Salop Leisure have been announced.
Up to a dozen new jobs will be created by Salop Leisure if the proposed development of the company’s headquarters at Emstrey is approved by Shropshire Council. The plans include extra storage pitches, a building extension to provide more display space for motorhomes and campervans and expansion of the Love Coffee restaurant to create an outdoor seating area, gardens and a large children’s play area.
There will also be extra parking spaces for customers and existing dwellings close to Emstrey island will be relocated to another part of Salop Leisure’s land.
“To continue to take the business forward and to meet increasing demand for the services we offer, we need additional space,” said Salop Leisure’s managing director Mark Bebb. “The expansion will allow the company to extend the business to cater for anticipated significant growth in domestic tourism, particularly caravan, lodge and motorhome ownership and increase the diversity of products that we offer to the leisure market.
“We need the extra storage capacity because our existing facility is full and we are currently having to reluctantly turn away customers. Owners are looking for somewhere safe, with the latest security systems, to store their touring caravans and motorhomes as they don’t have the space to park them on their drives at home.
“The Love Coffee café is very popular with visitors and local people who meet up over a coffee or light lunch. The proposals will allow the café to be extended to provide an outside seating area, play area and additional parking.
“This is a very significant development for the company with future growth of the UK leisure industry in mind and is good news for Shrewsbury’s economy as we aim to attract even more visitors to the town and create more employment for local people.”
The plans have been announced as work on a new £4 million touring and glamping resort, Love2Stay, on land alongside Salop Leisure’s headquarters is making steady progress. The resort will have 120 fully serviced touring caravan pitches, 22 luxury glamping tents, a BIOTOP natural swimming pool, spa facilities with hot tubs, a pilates and yoga studio and a well-equipped indoor fitness suite. The Caravan and Motorhome Club has accepted Love2Stay as a prestigious affiliated site.
Established at Meole Brace, Shrewsbury in 1966, Salop Leisure moved to state-of-the-art headquarters at Emstrey in 2006 and has continued to invest in the business ever since. The company has satellite sales centres in Machynlleth and Stourport-on-Severn.
Salop Leisure is now the main caravan and motorhome dealership in the West Midlands and one of the most successful in the UK, employing a workforce of more than 200. The company was recently named the UK’s top supplying dealership of new touring caravans in 2017.
