Exmouth Camp: Hope for future of closed-down site as football club unveils plan for reopening

New hope has been sparked for Exmouth Camp after a local football club revealed they are considering taking over the site and keeping it open for Bristolians to enjoy.

The outdoor camp, also known as Bristol Schools Camp or Avon Youth Camp, has been visited by thousands of Bristol schoolchildren since the 1920s.

So it came as a shock when Bristol City Council, which leases the land from the National Trust, announced this week that the camp would close for good in a ‘very sad move’ over soaring repair costs.

The authority is trying to bridge a £19.5million shortfall in its proposed budget for 2022/23, and is now looking to find an alternative use for the land in a bid to save £30,000.

But Exmouth Town Football Club has stepped forward and could be the ones to pull the camp back from the brink.

The club said it had ‘put initial feelers out’ with Bristol City Council about taking over the lease, after which it would consider running the site’s football pitches for its youth team during the season and bringing the campsite back over the summer.

Nick James, director of youth football at the club, said: “We need as much grass space as possible for football and the community in general to use, and this is a whopping site - about 24,000 square foot.

“We don’t have a lot of pitches in Exmouth and sites like this are golden.

“But we’d be more than open to bringing the campsite back during the summer so that people from Bristol can still come down.

“We very much want people to come here. We’re a tourist town and very heavily reliant on that trade.

“But it depends how much rent either Bristol City Council or the National Trust might want, as the site needs quite a bit of work and has to be able to wipe its own face.

“We’re willing to work with Bristol City Council on this and are on a waiting list to hear back about the idea.”

Meanwhile, the former manager of Exmouth Camp, Stuart Woolger, said he hoped something could be done to restore the ‘once great place’.

Mr Woolger, who managed the camp from 2011 to 2019, has shared fond memories of Bristol kids descending for school trips over the decade.

Children from the city were initially invited by OBE Edith Pratt in the 1920s and when she died in 1959, she passed the site into the hands of National Trust with the wish that it continued to be used by city children.

Mr Woolger said said: “The camp was much loved by all the schools that attended from Bristol and the old Avon area.

“Although the centre was very basic it’s character and location made it a great place to stay.

“Some of the young people that visited the camp were seeing the sea and the coast for the first time.

“Some of the children would reluctantly disembark from the coaches and drag their heels along the promenade to the camp moaning that they wouldn’t be able to play with their Playstation for the following week.

“On the last day those same children, well fed and buzzing from all the activities they had taken part in, would drag their heels out of the camp gate saying “Sir, do we have to go home?”.

“With up to 200 children on camp each week, many made new friends from other schools and on the last night disco hearts were broken and phone numbers swapped.”

BristolWorld understands Bristol City Council has been in contact with Mr James, but is to hold off on discussions until a decision is made on the budget, which includes the proposal by the city council to surrender its lease, next month.