YHA (England & Wales) has added to its accommodation provision in the North of England with the acquisition of two city-centre based youth hostels.
The youth hostelling charity has acquired hostels in Newcastle and Liverpool city centres. The new hostels give YHA a much-needed presence in Newcastle and strengthen the charity’s offering in Liverpool.
Both properties have been acquired from the Euro Hostels chain.
YHA has rebranded both hostels and they are both available to book on YHA’s website.
The new YHA Liverpool Central is a 244-bed Matthew Street hostel and will be operated in addition to the charity’s popular Liverpool Albert Dock youth hostel. Having larger bedroom suites, the additional Liverpool hostel will be targeted at large groups visiting the iconic city, including school groups. YHA is delighted to be able to welcome thousands more young people to this iconic city each year.
YHA Newcastle Central, which is based in Carliol Square, offers 236 beds across 52 rooms, including doubles, twins and family rooms. YHA has not had a presence in Newcastle since 2011 following the closure of its smaller Jesmond site.
Both hostels are fully en suite and every room boasts WiFi. Centrally located, both youth hostels are also well served by public transport networks.
The new properties now bring YHA’s total number of youth hostels in England and Wales to 153, with 23 of them being in city centres. The acquisition of the city centre hostels is part of YHA’s ongoing investment strategy to provide affordable accommodation to enable young people and their families so they can benefit from travel and adventure
“We’re delighted to strengthen our presence in two key cities in the North of England,” said James Blake, Chief Executive of YHA (England & Wales).
He added: “Our Liverpool hostel is incredibly popular and the addition of a further site in the vibrant city centre will enable us to reach out to many more young people. Likewise, we are delighted to once again have a presence in Newcastle. We have long been searching for the right property in the right location and the Carliol Square hostel absolutely ticks all the boxes.
“With the addition of Newcastle, we now have a strong portfolio of affordable, high quality, accommodation which allows everyone access to heritage, urban culture and the arts.
“Together the two hostels will increase the number of young people staying with us every year by 7%. Both sites will ensure that thousands more young people will be able to learn, meet new people and improve their wellbeing and life skills as part of our operations in Liverpool and Newcastle. It’s a very exciting time for YHA as we enter our 90th year.”
YHA’s popular city centre hostels underpin the charity’s aim of making travel more accessible, whilst also supporting smaller rural youth hostels, which enable people to access the countryside and rural areas of England and Wales – including the National Parks.
Since 2011, the 89-year-old charity has invested more than £37m in its property portfolio. As well as the refurbishment of existing youth hostels, the investment has included the acquisition of six new hostels in Castleton in the Peak District, Brighton, Cardiff, The Sill in Northumberland and, most recently, Liverpool and Newcastle.
