Broad Lane Leisure calls in administrators

Broad Lane Leisure, which has been selling and servicing caravans in the south Midlands area since 1971, has called in the administrators.

The company has already sold its Kenilworth site to Spinney earlier this year, leaving it with just one site at Alcester.

But Broad Lane Leisure continued to face cash flow problems because of reduced demand, and on 9 July Ben Jones and Raj Mittal of specialist business advisory firm FRP Advisory were appointed as joint administrators.

The closure should not affect distribution of the Mink Camper in the UK. Although Broad Lane was the initial UK distributor for the Icelandic rugged teardrop caravan, earlier this year that franchise passed to River Motorhomes in Sutton Coldfield.

But it was not immediately clear what will happen to customers who may have put deposits down with Broad Lane, or may have vehicles being serviced there.

A spokesperson for FRP said the administrators are currently contacting customers about pending orders and deposits.

Along with initially bringing the Mink to this country, Broad Lane was also known for its dealer specials, including the Swift-based Fairway range.

The Mink franchise extends River Motorhomes’ reach further into caravans. Previously the only makes of caravan the company supplied was the Trigano Group’s Silver folding caravans.

In other industry news, Knaus has announced it will be launching a new brand later this year, with the name to be unveiled at Caravan Salon in August.

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PeterBaber

Peter Baber is Reviews Editor of both Practical Motorhome and Practical Caravan. He has been reviewing motorhomes for the best part of a decade now. His first caravan reviews date back to the early 1990s when he first worked on Practical Caravan, before he embarked on a 20-year career in business journalism which saw him edit a wide variety of magazines, and launch a few too, including one that won an award. Although he enjoyed that, he always knew he wanted to come back. Peter reports on all the new models that make it to dealer forecourts each season, giving his judgement online and in magazine reviews. He has twice been shortlisted for a Caravan Writers Guild award. When he is not working, apart from going on motorhome trips himself (mostly local to where he lives in West Yorkshire, but also last year right across France) he likes trying to write novels, cooking, throwing the odd pot, and has just taken up tennis.