Students to live at Ainsdale Pontin's camp

Students at a Lancashire university are being offered accommodation at a holiday camp in Merseyside. Edge Hill University, in Ormskirk, is placing some of its 25,000 students in holiday apartments at Pontin's in Southport after campus halls filled up. The university, which was founded as a women's teacher training college in 1885, has seen applications quadruple in the past decade. The holiday camp offers students a swimming pool and a supermarket. Attractions include Lunars Showbar, crazy golf and a giant Connect 4 game. The Pontin's website states: "Pontin's in Ainsdale (near Southport) is approximately a 25-minute drive from Ormskirk and the apartments include fitted kitchen, private bathroom, TVs (with TV licence) and on-site facilities including swimming pool and supermarket." New students have been offered guided tours of the holiday camp by Pontin's representatives. The Pontin's group was bought in January by Alex Langsam, who also owns the Britannia Hotel Group, for a reported £20m. Mr Langsam said at the time that he intended to invest £25m and hoped to bring some "Disney-style magic" to the camps, which had struggled financially.