The Youth Hostels Association (England & Wales) is a charitable organisation, registered with the Charity Commission, providing youth hostel accommodation in England and Wales. It is a member of the Hostelling International federation.
History
Formation The concept of youth hostels originated in Germany in 1909 with Richard Schirrmann and it took 20 years for the ideas to reach fruition in the United Kingdom. In 1929/30, several groups almost simultaneously formed to investigate establishing youth hostels in the UK. Foremost among these was the Merseyside Centre of the British Youth Hostels Association. On 10 April 1930, representatives of these bodies met and agreed to form the British Youth Hostels Association.Coburn p. 18. Shortly afterwards, it became YHA (England & Wales), with separate associations for Scotland (Hostelling Scotland) and Northern Ireland (Hostelling International Northern Ireland).
YHA's charitable objective is stated as:To help all, especially young people of limited means, to a greater knowledge, love and care of the countryside, and appreciation of the cultural values of towns and cities, particularly by providing youth hostels or other accommodation for them in their travels, and thus to promote their health, recreation and education.
Early years The first hostel to open was at Pennant Hall near Llanrwst in North Wales. Opened in December 1930, it closed in 1931 owing to problems with the water supply. The water, which came from a nearby brook, was contaminated by sewage from an adjacent farm. As was commented at the time: [the farmer] saw no sin in mixing manure with drinking water.Coburn p. 29. During the time that the first hostel was open, the warden (as the first YHA warden) was Connie Alexander.
Widespread openings of hostels commenced in 1931 and by the end of that year 75 hostels had opened, although 15 closed permanently at the end of the year.Neal & Neal The price of an overnight stay was 1/- (1 shilling) in every case. Annual membership was 5/- for Seniors and 2/6 for Juniors. Life membership was available for 3 guineas (£3 3s). Of the hostels opened in 1931, two remain open, Idwal Cottage and Street.
All hostels provided accommodation in single-sex dormitories, usually with bunk beds. Most hostels had accommodation for both sexes, but in a few towns, separate hostels were provided for males and females. Self-catering facilities were provided at all hostels and many hostels provided a meals service.
Each hostel was run by a manager known as a warden and all the hostels in an area were administered by a number of Regional Councils. Initially, there were 14 Regional Councils, but the number grew to 19 by the end of 1935.Maurice-Jones & Porter p. 47. A National Office to co-ordinate policy and standards was established in Welwyn Garden City.
Membership was required to stay at a hostel and everyone staying was required to assist in the running of the hostel by undertaking what were known as 'duties'. These ranged from washing up to cleaning the hostel and, in hostels with no water supply on site, replenishing the water supply.
Blankets and pillows were supplied. A sheet sleeping bag was used from the outset and could be hired for a small charge, but most members chose to provide their own, carrying it with them from hostel to hostel.
The emphasis was very much on a communal atmosphere within each hostel. The use of dormitory accommodation and common rooms in every hostel reinforced this. Also the shared interests, mostly walking and cycling, of those using the hostels contributed to this spirit.
From this rough and ready beginning, the organisation grew and grew so that, by the outbreak of World War II, there were 297 hostels and 83,000 members, with 600,000 overnight stays being recorded.Coburn p. 187.
It did not take long for the fledgling organisation to obtain royal approval and in 1932 the then Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) opened Derwent Hall hostel in Derbyshire.Maurice-Jones & Porter p. 9. With its panelled walls, it became a flagship hostel for the Association.
Wartime reduction The war had a significant effect on YHA. Membership levels in 1940 and 1941 slumped as men and women joined the armed services and leisure travel was discouraged. The number of hostels open decreased, with up to a third being closed for the duration due to their location in militarily sensitive areas. The low point was 1941, when only 170 hostels remained openCoburn p. 88. and overnight stays were reduced accordingly. It was not only the war that led to the closure of hostels: among the hostels that closed for good was Derwent Hall, flooded as a result of the Derwent Water Board project and the creation of Ladybower Reservoir.
From the low of 1941, things began to recover, so that by the end of the war more than 200 hostels were open and membership was back to prewar levels. This increase in the latter part of the war was partly due to government encouragement for factory workers to take short breaks away from the cities.
Post-war recovery With peace, the resurgence of YHA continued until, in 1950, the peak number of hostels open was reached, with 303 open in that year. Membership continued to grow and passed the 200,000 mark in 1950. Overnight stays grew from 1.1 million in 1950 to 1.45 million in 1970.
In 1955, the National Office moved from Welwyn Garden City to St Albans, where it remained until 2002 when a further move was made to Matlock. The buildings in St Albans and Matlock were both called Trevelyan House in honour of the first president of YHA, Dr G. M. Trevelyan.
In 1964, the number of regions was reduced to ten and financial changes made to make it easier for each region to manage its own affairs.
Reform Significant modernisation of hostels occurred during the 1970s but by the early 1980s it became clear to YHA that it needed to change, since the stresses and strains of running a large organisation began to show on the almost entirely volunteer-run body. Direct management of the hostels was removed from the regional committees and a professional management structure was put in place. The regional committees were reformed into four regional councils: North, Central, South and Wales.
With a new management, YHA continued to thrive and by 2000 overnight stays had reached a new peak of over 2,000,000. Reflecting changes in the needs of young travellers, much effort was put into meeting a desire for less spartan facilities in hostels, such as smaller rooms, more showers and the abolition of washrooms.
As well as upgrading facilities in existing hostels, other experimental approaches to attracting young travellers were made. In 2000 a series of summer-only hostels utilising student accommodation was opened in locations near airports such as Luton and Leeds. The experiment was not repeated in following years.
A much more successful innovation was the introduction of the RentaHostel scheme. Under this scheme groups could hire whole hostels for their own use and without normal hostel rules applying. Rentahostel was available during the winter months to improve usage of hostels that were otherwise closed or doing very little business. The scheme continues to run but is now known as Exclusive Hire.
Foot-and-mouth disease crisis 2001 The 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth disease crisis hit YHA hard. An estimated £5,000,000 of income was lost as a consequence of hostels being closed and a drop in overnight stays from just under 2,000,000 to 1,667,000. Some hostels, such as Baldersdale, were totally inaccessible as they were within quarantine zones. This left YHA in a financial crisis and severe measures needed to be taken. The board of trustees agreed to sell 10 hostels at the end of 2002, the sites being Aysgarth, Linton (North Yorkshire), Dufton, Elton, Buxton, Copt Oak, Thurlby, Norwich, Windsor and Holmbury St Mary. Internal and local pressure saved Dufton and Holmbury St Mary from closure and Thurlby was sold to Lincolnshire County Council, who rented it back to YHA to continue as a hostel.
21st century
The YHA charitable object has changed over the years, most recently in 2005 when the objective was changed to: "To help all, especially young people of limited means, to a greater knowledge, love and care of the countryside, and appreciation of the cultural values of towns and cities, particularly by providing youth hostels or other accommodation for them in their travels, and thus to promote their health, recreation and education."
YHA has been investing in its youth hostels. Investment is funded largely from turnover. Donations, legacies and funds from other organisations, agencies and individuals also contribute. Since 2006 YHA has invested £48.5 million and opened six new youth hostels: Whitby, North Yorkshire; National Forest, Derbyshire; Berwick-on-Tweed, Northumberland; Castleton, Derbyshire; on the South Downs near Southease in East Sussex, and in London.Annual reports
In 2006 YHA announced the largest plan of network renewal. YHA regularly monitors all its hostels to establish if they are still viable and if necessary closes those that are no longer viable or have no prospects of becoming viable again in the future.A full list of all hostel openings and closing since 1931 is at List of past and present youth hostels in England and Wales However, the network renewal project was on top of this regular review and was a proposal to close and dispose of 32 hostels when it was announced. The aim of the exercise was to reduce borrowing and to provide funds for re-investment into the network. The closures were to take place over a three-year period, over and above the 13 others disposed of in the same period. The hostels involved were not necessarily poor performers but ones where the amount of investment required to bring them up to a desired standard was excessive (e.g. Steps Bridge) or in some cases because the site value was very high (e.g. Stainforth). When the news broke, there was a storm of protest not only among the membership, but also in local communities and local and regional government. Despite the protests YHA proceeded with the plan. Some hostels, such as Liverpool, have obtained reprieves either temporary or permanent and are still open but most of the other disposals have taken place. A number of the hostels disposed of have reopened, either as independent hostels or as EnterpriseEnterprise hostels are hostels that are privately owned but operated as part of the YHA under a licence agreement with YHA hostels within YHA.
In 2008, as part of the move towards raising standards, YHA replaced the traditional sheet sleeping bag with a fitted bottom sheet, duvet cover and pillow cases. From 2015 guests at most youth hostels found their beds already made for them. At the end of the first decade of the 21st century YHA had a network of around 140 youth hostels. In the previous ten years YHA had sold or not renewed the leases on 86 properties. Of these, 21 continued to run as part of the YHA network under a licensing scheme, YHA Enterprise. The sales of those properties netted YHA over £20 million, but YHA continued to make a small operating loss. The value of the property portfolio prices was £77.15 million.
In May 2010 YHA announced that, in a further realignment of the network and to support long-term financial stability called the "Capital Strategy", two new hostels would open in 2010 and eight would close. The two new hostels were Southease in Sussex and Berwick on Tweed. Those closed were Capel Curig (Gwynedd), Exeter (Devon), Grasmere Thorney Howe (Cumbria), Hunstanton (Norfolk), Kendal (Cumbria), River Dart (Devon), Saffron Walden (Essex) and Scarborough (North Yorkshire).