This is Jersey - 1979 - Part 2

From 1979 comes this holiday guide - "This is Jersey". This is a flat brochure which is larger that the later glossy designs, and it doesn't have nearly as many pages - 16 double sided in all, including front and back covers.

It does provide a very interesting snapshot of the tourism scene in 1979, just as it was more or less at its peak, just before Bergerac launched, and before the package tour market and cheap holiday destinations abroad made Jersey's prices suddenly more expensive and the bottom fell out of the market.

Tourism is today rebuilding a new approach geared to the lifestyle of the modern tourist. It still has plenty to offer, but the old style of tourism probably won't sell today. But here's a chance to capture that flavour.

WELCOME TO JERSEY, the largest of the Channel Islands, where life is fast enough to be fun, but so delightfully different.

It is no misnomer to call Jersey a "Paradise Island" and any visitor can be sure that his or her delight

is just around the corner. But which corner!

"This is Jersey" has been prepared as a free souvenir guide with the object of helping every visitor to get the very best out of this 45 square mile holiday haunt.

The magazine has been clearly divided into various sections containing a mine of information which can add to your holiday enjoyment.

Each advertiser has been given a reference letter and number, which can be cross-checked on the map, St. Helier, or on the Island map.

You'll find that Jersey has friendly but independant inhabitants, its own customs, traditions and way of life.

It's these factors that make Jersey so popular with holiday-makers. Welcome to their number!

The guide has some nice scenic photos.

It is interesting to see that the castle was floodlit back in 1979 together with the harbour also lit up, although floodlighting the castle alone goes back at least to the 1950s, as this image from a 1953 postcard I found shows.

The "useful information" is interesting, as most banks now also open on Saturday mornings, and some also have late closing on Fridays.

The initial series of Condor ferries were all hydrofoil passenger only ferries, with the exception of Condor 6 which was a passenger only catamaran. The ships began in service in 1964, and the one in this picture would have been either Condor 3, April 1974-1979, Condor 4, June 1974-1990, or Condor 5 (1976-April 1992). The final hydrofoil was Condor 7 (1985-1993).






Just as the Premium Bonds had "Ernie", the Channel Island Lottery had its own computer "Fred". I've note been able to find what that stood for, but my guess is "Fairly Reliable Electronic Device".

The Channel Islands Lottery was founded in 1975 with the merger of the Jersey Lottery and the Guernsey Lottery. The Jersey Lottery was established in 1966 and the Guernsey Lottery in 1971. The game is the oldest lottery in the British Isles, beating Ireland (1987) and the United Kingdom

Jersey's share of the profits from the lottery were initially used to finance the transformation of Fort Regent into a sports and entertainment complex. On the completion of that project, the States of Jersey agreed that the Jersey part of the profits from the Channel Islands Lottery should be applied to charitable purposes, through the Association of Jersey Charities.

In 1999, the Gambling Committee reported:

"After over 32 years of service, Super Fred retired, his services no longer being required. He performed his very last Lottery Draw on 15th January by undertaking the last of the pure drawn prize Draws. His sadness was evident as with great enthusiasm he drew his last prizes."

"Rumour had it that he has pledged always to be on hand should the community ever require the services of this ‘superhero’ again. From his retirement home somewhere on the south coast of Jersey, he now reflects on a lifetime of giving money away to thousands upon thousands of happy winners, not to mention raising over £2.5 million for good causes. The computer was re-programmed to undertake the Double Chance Draws which drew initially only three prizes. "

This is Jersey - 1979 - Part 1

From 1979 comes this holiday guide - "This is Jersey". This is a flat brochure which is larger that the later glossy designs, and it doesn't have nearly as many pages - 16 double sided in all, including front and back covers.

It does provide a very interesting snapshot of the tourism scene in 1979, just as it was more or less at its peak, just before Bergerac launched, and before the package tour market and cheap holiday destinations abroad made Jersey's prices suddenly more expensive and the bottom fell out of the market.

Tourism is today rebuilding a new approach geared to the lifestyle of the modern tourist. It still has plenty to offer, but the old style of tourism probably won't sell today. But here's a chance to capture that flavour.



May I, as President of the Jersey Hotel Guest House Association welcome you to the Island of Jersey where hope you will spend one of the most enjoyable holidays of your life. We, in the Association endeavour to see, that our guests receive only the very best of service coupled with friendly hospitality. We trust this will be to your liking and we shall have the pleasure of welcoming you back on many future occasions.

Mark Cliveley

Notice the brightly coloured brochure, and the advert for Mary Ann! Mary Ann is still brewed, by the Liberation Group at Longueville but back in the 1970s it was at Ann Street Brewery in St Helier.




I remember going to the Hotel de La Plage for New Years Eve in my late teens on several occasions with my parents and sister, the Miles family and their son Nigel - David Miles was chief accountant for the Seymour Group, and the Binnington family (Bernard and Betty and their children. Food and cabaret were the order of the evening, with often a very bad impressionist. It would end with the conga at Midnight through to the table laden with desert.

Another commentator who worked there around this time said:

"I worked there as a commis chef back in 1978 for the season it was a great place to work with all the chefs and staff , the kitchen was modern and good to work in plus you got good staff accommodation, I seemed to spend all my free time on the beach , shopping , or clubbing not a bad life for a young lad."

In the late 1980s, the Seymour group planned at extension to the Portelet Hotel

It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the decline in tourism began, although a significant pointer would be the Seymour hotel groups plans for a large new hotel at Portelet in the 1980s. The was a large groundswell of local feeling that this would have a detrimental visual impact upon Portelet bay, but eventually planning permission was granted. By that time, however, the Seymour group had decided that the decline in the tourism market meant that the project was no longer viable, and decided not to go ahead with the building.

Of the five hotels which formed part of the Seymour Group, only the Pomme d'Or and the flagship Merton Hotel remain. The others have been turned into flats. La Plage is now converted to Residence de la Plage, effectively flats.The last of the others to go was the Portelet Hotel which was knocked down last year to make way for flats.





The Caribbean bar has long since gone, with the closure of the La Plage Hotel, and Bodi and his Wunderbar German nights no longer feature at the Pomme D'Or Hotel.

German nights' were a popular form of entertainment for both tourists and locals in Jersey the 1970's - and the Pomme D'Or in particular used to feature an 'oom-pa-pa' Bierkeller-style singalong evening, featuring a German singer/accordionist called Bodi



In the mid-1970s Mascot coaches were offering a variety of two-hour morning tours for 65p and 3¼-hour afternoon tours with a stop for tea at 75p. Three-hour evening coastal tours were 70p for adults and 35p for children and there were also nightly coaches to Crazy Nites and other cabaret entertainment, as well as day-trips to France in the Trois Leopards.

Later on Seymour Hotels sold Mascot Motors to Jersey Motor Transport to concentrate on their core hotel business