What happened to The YHA Ridgeway Centre when it turned into The Court Hill Centre?
The Court Hill Centre formerly known as Ridgeway Youth Hostel was a youth hostel the late 80s. In April 1987, it became an independent hostel managed by the Court Hill Trust. Despite being owned and run by the local community, this hostel was still marketed and advised by the Youth Hostel Association. The Court Hill Centre was a flag-ship hostelf for the YHA. It was run under their franchise scheme for over 10 years.
The centre made the break with the YHA in July 2007 because they felt the YHA was moving away from their core customers and restricting the private youth hostels own enterprise. More specifically because the YHA’s required that locals should be excluded from the hostel site. This could not be condoned by the Court Hill Trust as the Ridegway Centre. It was important to them that the hostel had a dual function of not only providing rural accommodationfor the young, but also as a service to the local community.
This hostel joined the Independent Hostels network in 2007 and has been with us ever since. Hosting over 4000 people a year for overnight visits and enjoyed by thousands of local people. Since becoming independent, the centre has been able move in exciting new directions! Such as, adding tearooms, a function room, a venue for a local film society and tipis for those who love to glamp. The hostel us flourishing independently! It is the ideal place to stay as there is plenty to do and close links to the local community.
If you would like to read more about the history of The Court Hill Centre, you can read on here.
Find out more about Court Hill Centre