While writing about hostels that were once part of the YHA, I asked Denise from Kirkby Stephen Hostel if she had any thoughts or memories to share. What she sent me was so interesting and full of character that I felt it deserved to be shared in its own right.
I was working on a series of articles about independent hostels that had been part of the YHA, following the recent sale of more than 20 youth hostels and the YHA’s introduction of its new Partnership scheme.
Denise’s hostel, Kirkby Stephen Hostel, wasn’t among those recently sold. Its story goes back a little further. The YHA sold the hostel in the early 2000s, when it launched its first franchise scheme—the Enterprise Scheme—alongside a large-scale sale of rural hostels.
I’ve published Denise’s story as an article in her own words. It’s a lovely account of the hostel, its history and the many people who have stayed there over the years.
More than that, it shows how Denise continues to preserve the spirit and value of hostelling.
Denise bought the hostel around 2008, although it had already been independent for several years by then.
In the early 2000s, the YHA was selling a number of its rural hostels and had just introduced the Enterprise Scheme. This allowed new owners to run the hostels as independent businesses while continuing to operate under the YHA name and within its network.
The idea was that hostels which were no longer viable under direct YHA ownership could instead thrive as small, locally run businesses. In many cases, that proved to be the case.
Through hard work, good hosting and a strong connection with their local areas, some of these former YHA hostels have continued to flourish ever since—although not all have remained part of the YHA network.