Pitchup supporting local communities and businesses
By booking a stay on Pitchup.com, customers benefit both site owners and local communities during their visit. With pitch fees from as low as £4 per night for simpler campsites with only a few facilities available on site, campers are often left with money in their pocket to spend off site, such as in the local pub, fish and chip shop, cafe or deli.
In 2024 it was reported that touring visitors on average spent £101 per day, including £42 on site and £59 off site in local businesses. Visitors who owned their holiday caravan spent £102 per day, including £44 on site and £58 off site. This is higher than the average spend per night by UK visitors at £96 (Pitching the Value, UKCCA, 2024), and is great for businesses close to campsites and holiday parks.
Pop-up campsites help to keep rural pubs afloat
Domestic tourism is an essential income stream for the UK's rural and coastal destinations and businesses, with 84% of domestic overnight tourism spending occurring in destinations outside of London (Visit Britain 2026). However increasing costs and regulations, alongside the cost of living crisis and declining visitor numbers are making it difficult for rural businesses to survive, with one pub a day closing in 2025.
Pitchup's recent survey found that hosting temporary campsites is providing a vital source of income for rural pubs across Britain.
A boost for rural pubs
A pub listing camping pitches on Pitchup.com can make on average an additional £17,000 per year in pitch fees alone, with some making up to £120,000. And that's before adding in the spend per capita on food and drink in the pub during a stay (estimated by numerous landlords to be at least £50pp).
Pitchup's recent survey found that 84% of pub sites offering camping or caravanning pitches receive new customers in their pub – both those who are staying directly on site and guests in other parks and campsites nearby.
The pubs surveyed estimated that roughly 55% of their customers are staying in outdoor accommodation, and are spending between £20 and £90 per night on food and drink. Respondents reported that having a campsite or holiday park nearby has helped them to grow their businesses, which is a huge boost for rural areas that have been affected by declining visitor figures in recent years. In addition, those pub sites employ around 10 people on average, providing year-round employment opportunities for local people.
Rod Smallwood, manager at the Derwent Arms Pub, which hosts caravan and camping pitches, said that receiving customers from both their own site and other local accommodation providers has helped them to expand their business beyond just the summer. “Whereas previously we would only open for 9 months of the year, now we can open longer due to demand from people wanting to stay on the campsite all-year round," he commented.
Similarly, Ryan Strong, manager of Dorset Nectar Orchard Campsite, estimates that around 60% of customers at the site's taproom are from their own and other nearby campsites and holiday parks. His camping customers roughly spend around 50% of what they pay for their pitch in the on-site pub and gift shop, which he claims has offered the rural business more resilience in the off-season.
Happy, warm and dry customers
Beyond the financial benefits for pubs themselves, survey respondents also told us that their customers particularly enjoy the social element of having a pub on site or nearby, as a way to connect with other campers and locals alike, not to mention a place to shelter from the infamous British weather.
Lisa Howsam, manager of Apple Blossom Caravan and Camping Park, said that as well as campers having helped grow the business during summer months, customers staying on site often share that they love the pub as it offers a change of scenery and a chance to meet other people in a warm and fun environment.
Nick Arnold of Penuwch Inn Caravan and Camping echoes this sentiment too, sharing that his customers like visiting the on-site pub as they enjoy meeting the owners and can get first-hand recommendations on where to visit in the local area. He comments that around 80% of the pub's customers are campers, and without the campsite they wouldn’t have a business.
The chance to meet new people is appreciated on both sides, too. Morris and Gwyn Fenton, who run the Grade II-listed Red Lion in Brinkley, Cambridgeshire, said having campers stay on site has “been a great thing to try, and an incredibly enjoyable thing to do for us, personally – we really enjoyed meeting the people that we have stay with us".
Not all smooth sailing
However, while it is clear that revenue from campers is helping rural pubs to stay afloat, while also providing vital employment opportunities for local people and supporting tourism at local attractions, survey respondents also warned of challenges on the horizon.
Most notably, in our survey we heard that businesses are struggling with recruitment and increased costs from utility charges, business rates and food and drink supplies, which are all squeezing already tight margins and restricting growth. Rod Smallwood, manager at the Derwent Arms, said that costs “have increased dramatically within three years, making it much harder to sustain the business, preventing us doing things that would grow the business and allow us to expand to benefit everyone from locals to tourists”.
Pitchup is committed to supporting and championing rural businesses by continuing to engage with national and local government, representing the interests of outdoor accommodation providers, and campaigning for fair and equitable regulation that helps to promote and support the sector.
Through our partnership with the British Institute of Innkeeping, Pitchup will continue to advocate for the future of British pubs with regulators and policymakers.
Pitchup supporting farmers to diversify
Pitchup has long supported British farmers to make use of their land for camping and caravanning as a viable diversification opportunity that can help to sustain their farms into the future.
Thanks to the agritourism and staycation trends of recent years we’ve seen over 1,500 working farm sites listed on Pitchup. Farmers are successfully running campsites alongside their day job, generating on average £13,000 additional income from pitch fees per year – with some making in excess of £150,000.
Pitchup's figures show that bookings for farm-based caravan parks and campsites in the UK have risen 23% year-on-year, which equates to a total of £24m in extra revenue for British farms in 2025, up 21% on 2024 figures. We are proud and thrilled that the popularity of farm-based breaks has continued to rise since the Covid pandemic, as customers seek out authentic countryside experiences in off-the-beaten-track locations that won’t break the bank.
One business that has benefited from the rise in farm-based holidays is Seatoller Farm at Borrowdale, Cumbria.
The site is run by Dan Simpson and Ruby Cappleman, and Dan also gives farm talks to guests wanting to learn about traditional hill farming. “We love the campsite and it is a great addition to the farm," said Dan. "We would definitely recommend providing outdoor accommodation to other farmers looking to diversify because it co-exists so well with the farm. The two complement each other, rather than get in the way.”
Ruby added that the campsite is key to helping sustain the farm in the long term, particularly given the removal of subsidies over recent years. She commented that “all our diversifications – the pizzas, shop and campsite – are helping to sustain the farm. We plan our diversifications so they directly link to or help the farm, such as using our own meat for the pizza toppings.”
Through our partnership with Farming Community Network, a charity supporting farmers and families within the farming community, Pitchup loosk forward to continuing to support British farmers into the future.
Holidays with even more feelgood factor: community campsites
Pitchup customers can have a positive impact on local communities during their holiday by booking a stay at a site that benefits a charity or a community project.
Unlike other commercial enterprises, these sites invest their profits into the local community, with projects ranging from improving local facilities to supporting a football club’s youth section.
These campsites are generally run by a small number of volunteers and we’re delighted to see the success they’re having on Pitchup.com.
We are working closely with Plunkett UK, a national charity which supports people in rural areas to set up and run a wide range of businesses in community ownership, to support more community-based organisations to raise revenue through providing outdoor accommodation.
Springbok Campsite, Surrey: A campsite supporting former seafarers
Springbok Campsite is part of a secluded 260-acre estate on the border of Surrey and West Sussex. The estate is run as a charity that provides accommodation and support for former seafarers, and any profits made by the campsite are fed back into providing services for the residents. Guests love the ethos here too:
“My son and I love coming to Springbok! It’s so peaceful and set in a lovely part of the countryside with lots of things to see. My son is a keen fisherman and so we spend most of our time relaxing and fishing by the pond. All the pitches are good hard standing pitches which you can choose which one you like best. Everyone on site is friendly and welcoming.” Samantha, Nov 2024
Wick River Campsite, Caithness: A campsite operating as a community enterprise
This popular site is run as a community enterprise, with all profits invested into regeneration and community projects in the town of Wick.
Mousehole Camping, Cornwall: A unique place to camp while supporting a local football club
Mousehole Camping is in the grounds of a friendly and progressive non-league football club in the village of Paul, near Penzance. All of the camping fees go back into Mousehole AFC, including provding support to more than 150 youngsters in the youth development section. There are occasional football matches from mid-July and all campers get free entry to all home matches.
This site also raises funds for the local RNLI Penlee Lifeboat station through the sale of firewood for on-site barbecues.
The Lowther Arms, Cumbria: a community-run pub
By staying at The Lowther Arms, customers can lend their support to a deserving project. The Lowther Arms is a cooperative and community-owned pub that was saved from permanent closure and conversion to a house by the local community and over 300 shareholders. After being closed for two and a half years, the pub re-opened in June 2021, and is now more than a pub – it's a comfortable place to have a drink, enjoy a meal, meet with friends, or find simply a quiet corner to read in, as well as camp! Any income generated by the site is invested back into the pub and its facilities.
Fen End Farm, Cambridgeshire
Fen End Farm is a small organic farm who are passionate about looking after the environment. They have replanted 4km of native hedgerows, created a hectare of woodland, and generate all their electricity with an on-site wind turbine and solar panels.
In addition, their volunteer led group ‘Fen End Bodgers’, provides weekly sessions for those living with a brain injury or mental health challenge, to learn the permaculture principles of working with nature, creating gardens for the Sandringham Flower Show, working with Cottenham Parish Youth Council to create an accessible sensory garden to benefit the community, and with local university students to create a therapy garden. Any surplus food grown on-site is donated to Cambridge Sustainable Food to benefit local foodbank users.
Chyan Farm, Cornwall
Chyan Farm volunteer’s aim is to involve as many local people as possible in their site and activities. To facilitate this, the volunteers have transformed 2.2 acres of disused, overgrown field into a community field, now featuring veggie plots, a pond, tea-shed, tool store, polytunnels and a sensory garden. The field also has a playground, mud kitchen, willow den and community orchard, and the team at Chyan Farm work closely with the local community hosting weekly events and activities for local nursery and school groups, courses in gardening, traditional crafts, and sustainable building and a ‘Roots & Seeds’ volunteer grower group who grow organic, vegan food. In addition, two wind turbines power the site, and water comes from a local spring!
Pitchup customers love the community ethos on this site too:
“EVERYTHING! The stream, orchard, community, mud kitchen, natural swimming pool, how safe it is for children, the peace and tranquility, the sunrise on top of the hill, Swamp Circus, location - it is a dream camp spot.” Rebecca B, Aug 2025.
Lazonby Campsite, Cumbria: a community-run swimming pool, campsite and play area
Lazonby Swimming Pool was built in 1964 after a fundraising campaign led by John Hume, the headmaster of Lazonby School. The campaign wanted somewhere to provide safer swimming facilities for the local community and schoolchildren, and to this day many surrounding primary schools still use the pool for their swimming lessons. The pool is still managed, as it always has been, by a group of local volunteers.
Lazonby Pool has always taken its environmental credentials seriously – since 1982 the pool has been heated by a ground source heat pump that takes energy from the local river. The pool has also been using solar panels to heat the showers for 20 years, and the owners are exploring installing more solar panels to cover the rest of their electricity needs!
Pitchup customers love this site too:
“Great site, kids love the easy access to the park/swings. Lovely outdoor pool, and walk to the river. Amazingly friendly pool all run by volunteers.” Anonymous, Sept 2025
“Took my 11 year old granddaughter for her first camping trip. We absolutely had an amazing time at this site, it was so much fun. The atmosphere was great on the campsite, the people we met were very friendly and sociable, both the pool and play ground were great for the kids and adults! We had a very relaxed, enjoyable stay. Great base from which to explore Keswick and Penrith. We will definitely be back.” Judith H, August 2025
Pitchup's partnerships
Pitchup champions the outdoor accommodation sector in partnership with numerous community and industry organisations. Through these partnerships, our aim is to support outdoor accommodation providers including microbusinesses, farmers and pubs, and to campaign with policymakers and regulators to ensure the future of rural tourism remains economically viable, and environmentally sustainable.
