March 2017 | Business View Caribbean

46 47 The Coconut Court Beach Hotel Coconut Court Staff Ted’s Island Tours from the hotel as well.” The Blades family involvement in the island’s tourism goes back as far as the early 1960’s when they owned and operated a small guest house on the beach in St. Lawrence Gap, called White Sands. With five children to feed, Charlie also moonlighted as a tour rep for a fledg- ling Canadian tour company named, Skylark Holidays. “One of the hotels that my dad would visit regularly was a South Coast hotel named Coconut Court,” Lampkin says. “The hotel was owned by an eccentric Englishman named Mr. Happy Apthorpe whose wealthy family also owned Bejam Frozen Foods in the UK.When Mr. Apthor- pe was ready to retire and return to the UK, he asked my father to buy the hotel from him.With the help of family and friends, my Dad scraped the money together and bought Coconut Court. To this day, my dad grateful- ly refers to Mr Apthorpe as his ‘godfather’ and credits him with giving him the opportunity of a lifetime.” In the early days, Coconut Court consisted of forty rooms and a small snack bar. It was a badly rundown property with a poor reputation. With the efforts of Charlie and Lorraine, and the support of a small team of dedicated staff, things started to turn around and the business began to prosper. In 1981, an additional twenty rooms and a full-sized restaurant were construct- ed; in 1989 a second extension was built and the hotel grew in size to ninety rooms; in 1997 a final thirty rooms were added bringing the total to 120 rooms.Today, there are 112 hotel rooms in oper- ation,with an additional 12 self-catering apart- ments located across the street in The Annex. The pool deck features a freshwater pool and outdoor Jacuzzi as well as a separate children’s paddling pool. There are two restaurants and a beach bar serving light snacks and tasty home cooked meals.Weekly entertainment includes live music, Managers Rum Punch Party, Beach BBQs, and moonlight movies on the beach. Guests can also enjoy several daily cocktail specials and happy hours. There is an activities desk and gift shop as well as a hospitality suite for guests’ convenience. Free WIFI is offered