Caravan company folds and closes for good

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:37]Hi and welcome to a new video and welcome to the channel.

[00:00:42]And um I'll just put you down here a bit more.

[00:00:46]>> [clears throat] >> Sunday evening.

[00:00:49]I want to have a quick beer.

[00:00:52]Um I don't usually drink at home, but uh >> [sighs and gasps] >> the way things have been going these last few weeks, I feel like it's necessary. Anyway, uh first of all, and I'll say this then again, we've had a lot of subscribers coming on board. I'm so so pleased about this.

[00:01:12]Um you know, really has been enlightening to see people coming on and new people coming on asking questions, et cetera.

[00:01:19]Um and also the keen supporters of this channel who continue to comment and I love hearing your stories. It's fantastic.

[00:01:33]>> [clears throat] >> Uh but anyway, this is a vlog uh which I was telling you about the um um >> [sighs] >> the Gobos.

[00:01:46]Uh and this is what's going on.

[00:01:48]So, I was really saddened to hear about Gobos to shop.

[00:01:54]Uh I know they stopped making their Caravel ranges, their folding caravans, some years ago now.

[00:02:02]But, they seem to be doing all right doing back up spares, etc. But, they've now basically shut down.

[00:02:14]And the two guys that ran it, oh, I had some fantastic fantastic chats with them at the NEC over the years.

[00:02:26]Cuz they used to tell you how it was.

[00:02:28]There was no messing about, no skirting.

[00:02:32]Um yeah, it's so sad that that's another maker really gone. I suppose you could say they'd gone in 2016 when they stopped making their folding caravans.

[00:02:48]But, I was fortunate enough to go in I think it's 2009.

[00:02:53]>> [snorts] >> I was stopping at the Caravan Club site at Sandringham.

[00:02:59]Um I had a couple of cars on test.

[00:03:05]And um I wanted to go down to uh I think it's um Melton Mowbray was it? I think Constable Street I think it was.

[00:03:17]Uh Bill Peacock Way Industrial Estate and go and see the uh Caravels go, well, Caravels.

[00:03:25]Now, I had um I knew then I had the new Kia um oh, crack, I've gone and I've forgotten the name of the blinking car now.

[00:03:34]Uh odd looking, fairly odd [clears throat] looking car.

[00:03:38]Gosh, the name escapes me.

[00:03:41]Yeah.

[00:03:42]Anyway, um we got this car, had it delivered, and they put a tow bar on it, and the ideal um van for it really was one of the Gold ones.

[00:03:57]So, the the two guys, Steve, they said, "Right, come to factory, pick one up and take it away."

[00:04:10]So, we did it and we went on a little site, we set it up.

[00:04:14]And it was an absolute glorious day, absolutely glorious. It was a red hot day.

[00:04:19]And then they said I said, "I'd really like to come to the factory cuz this was a review I was doing for Scottish Caravan magazine.

[00:04:28]Um And cuz what I wanted to do with Gold ones, I wanted people to know them more.

[00:04:34]Now, >> [sighs and gasps] >> they were niche.

[00:04:38]Um and they were pretty well made.

[00:04:44]Yes, they were they're quite dated, I suppose really inside. And the logo was like a an old-fashioned carousel. And I think possibly possibly where they possibly went wrong was they didn't really promote themselves really as they should have done.

[00:05:04]Um I think they sort of got people to stumble across them.

[00:05:08]Um when they found them, you know, they a lot of people liked them. There's there's one literally up the road from me in someone's garden and um they even did a little twin axle one in the early 80s.

[00:05:21]Uh when the twin axle uh um fads on because by the early 80s everything was on a twin axle, fair enough. You know, even 14-ft caravans were going on twin axles.

[00:05:33]It was it was getting a bit crazy.

[00:05:35]Anyway, so I learned that they were shutting down and I'm really really saddened by it.

[00:05:43]And um judging by what everyone's been saying on the um uh Caravan Industry Facebook page, you're all old, too. And I think a lot of people are thinking the same way. You know, maybe if they'd have been more driven uh on marketing and got out because they were now ideal for the electric car people. You know, on small uh tow limits.

[00:06:09]Um and the fact is that these caravans could be put up relatively simply.

[00:06:14]Um you could pull them down the rain, so it wasn't like they all uh uh folding caravans.

[00:06:22]Uh the old um canvassy ones like the Pennines and stuff.

[00:06:26]Um so, really, now if they'd have probably smartened up the interiors on them, updated them, they may have had a nice little following.

[00:06:38]I mean, let's face it. If someone's going to sleep on top of the car, in a tent box, I think someone's going to sleep in a small folding caravan with a proper kitchen, probably an oven, and a a shower a little shower a little washroom in them, and generally a very comfortable little caravan that you could pop pop down to next to nothing and shove it in your garage, and you'd be out of the way.

[00:07:00]Nobody'd know you would you got it.

[00:07:03]So, >> [clears throat] >> it is a bit it's a bit of a downer, really, that this is what's happened.

[00:07:12]That they've just gone to the >> [sighs] [gasps] >> gone to the history books, really. Um I did a little kit a book on micro caravans and uh motorhomes, and I think I included the Caravel in there, the little small one they did, which was like I think it was about 5 ft something wide.

[00:07:35]And um it was a cracking little little van for somebody who, you you had limited storage, small car, didn't want to tow anything big.

[00:07:46]Uh it's just great.

[00:07:48]Uh and now in this day and age, really, they should have been actually be in demand.

[00:07:56]Um in the '80s, I remember there was Rapido, they had the folding out big uh fold-out caravan.

[00:08:06]There was There was uh I think there was Is it Fleurette?

[00:08:10]Uh there was quite a few French manufacturers who were importing because these vans were actually, uh to be quite honest, a popular choice. A lot of people would start with a tent, maybe go into a folding caravan or folding camper, trailer tent, and then go on to something like a folding caravan.

[00:08:31]Um you know, there was quite a few dealers around. Not a lot, but there was quite a few.

[00:08:36]But those dealers just dwindled and dwindled away by the '90s.

[00:08:41]And I suppose the other thing is they've been taken over with the Eribas, the Hymer's and stuff.

[00:08:47]Uh the little Eriba vans, which are a little bit more cooler than little um tabs.

[00:08:52]Um but I think there was definitely a market there. I mean, they will know those two guys, they would know >> [sighs] >> uh Richard and Steve, they They were just brilliant guys. I really really um I bought See, again, they're probably getting very much out of it. They'll be probably retirement age.

[00:09:14]And nobody wants to take the business on.

[00:09:18]So, it's sad, isn't it?

[00:09:20]>> [sighs] >> You know, in business, no matter if you're producing caravans or whatever you're doing, business these days is tough, you know.

[00:09:29]Uh we're not going to get into political things, but it's not easy running a business these days. I mean, it never was, but these days there's so much more.

[00:09:38]Actually, insurance costs have gone up, the running costs have gone up, the materials are going up. You don't know from one day to the next if something's going up or or down. You know, especially with this thing with the Middle East, with Trump and all that business going on.

[00:09:52]It's just completely blown everything out the water.

[00:09:56]>> [sighs and gasps] >> So, this is my little video.

[00:10:01]My, if you like, um paying my respects to the two guys who ran this business from 1982.

[00:10:15]And sadly, it's now having to fold up and go.

[00:10:21]Uh and fold up was forgive the pun.

[00:10:23]But, uh as I say, I found all the still photographs um that I did in 2009.

[00:10:33]Taken with my first one of the first digital cameras, actually.

[00:10:36]It's a little Kodak, which is a built-in old camera to feature on front cover images.

[00:10:43]Uh and I'd say I did an article for a magazine called Scottish Camera, that you've heard me talk about before.

[00:10:49]Uh so, any of you who are Scottish Camera readers, I think there's people like Ian McLain and also, um uh there is others out there that Oh, my brain's just completely gone.

[00:11:07]Terrible, isn't it?

[00:11:09]Terrible.

[00:11:10]Don't know. A lot on this last few weeks. Uh well, months really, but it's getting really intense at the moment.

[00:11:18]So, um uh yeah, like Nigel I was going to say, he was Scottish Camera magazine reader.

[00:11:24]So, there might be one or two others out there. And if you had looked if you've kept any back copies, look for around 2009 and you'll see the article in there on Gobo on the carousel and the review I did.

[00:11:39]Right, I'll let you get on with the video and please give me your comments. Please like and subscribe if you're not subscribed already.

[00:11:49]And also just do what you enjoy this and you know, if you've never heard of them like a lot of people haven't, what do you think? Would they have succeeded if they'd had more marketing?

[00:11:59]If somebody come in and take the company over and let Stephen Richard just sort of say, "Right, okay, we're retiring. We're going to sit back. We'll be there for a bit of advice.

[00:12:09]But let's get it and let's launch it this business now as you know, this is the way to this is another alternative to go caravanning especially if you've got an electric car with a very low towing figures. You know, you could tow one of these.

[00:12:24]And and and give it a good spruce up inside and change the graphics and you know, kept the basic idea but basically modernize them and made sort of family vans, maybe a bit bigger ones maybe even.

[00:12:39]Right, on that score, I'm going to go and say thanks for watching and I'll say this is a quite sad video really. Um Yeah, it is. I don't want to see any manufacturer going.

[00:12:53]And >> [clears throat] >> especially Gobo.

[00:12:57]Yeah.

[00:12:59]I'll see you in the next one.

[00:13:01]And uh enjoy the video.

[00:13:04]Bye for now.

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