Have you tried a CL yet? 2,266 to choose from

I would love to nominate my favourite CL but I don’t think I’d be very popular amongst the caravanners there and certainly not the owner! Chemical disposal point and water- that’s all I ask!

Thanks for the info CG.  I'm surprise there are so few adult only CL's, thought the % would be higher. 

Anybody new and looking at staying on a CL, I would check the reviews that other members have left, but please, please try them out. There are many members who only use CLs and find they meet their requirements perfectly.

Nice Opening post, CG.

If you like Merve prefer Off-Grid (non-ehu) CL sites there are currently 426 on the CAMC website however you cannot search for one!

So you can use the interactive map and spreadsheet here to do so until the Club provides this option!

A lot of homework in your post CG, very useful.

2266 cl's to date, when I joined there were nearer 5000. I certainly hope, with the membership numbers rising, the decline has ended.

We prefer the CL network for the peace, quiet and variety of surroundings provided. Long may they live but as harryb says, there used to be a lot more suggesting they are not profitable enough to keep open. 

However a fair few of them have moved on to become small commercial sites, the odd full blown CC site, or left the CC to join the CC&C. So not all of them have been lost.

We too much prefer CLs for the reasons you state.

Never used one.

Why, well as stated above the ability to search by location, services, and other conditions is not possible and I really don't have the time to sift through hundreds until I can find what I need.

Why the club can not replicate the search functions from the most commonly commercial websites is beyond me.  Look a UK Campsite or Pitchup and see the search utilities, this is what is required.

The highstreet died when the internet came along, having a good internet presence is essential. The club site is poorly designed, clunky, slow, and is not E commerce focused. Fortunately I think a lot of the membership are not early adopters or the club would struggle.

Put as much effort into the website as you do the site directory and the map, these should only be available as online resource. Even the phone company has given up on directories because  they are expensive and pretty much useless in todays world.

I tried to use the book but gave up the will to live after a while. 

How about a CL app that is geographically searchable by service or feature and bookable on line from a mobile. Its like whichcraft only better, give it a go.

Phishing - I wholeheartedly agree with everything you say.  At the same time the new app / service needs to make it easy for visitors to leave a review of the CL and for the owner to respond if necessary (aka AirBnB). 

Perhaps now that the club has spent circa £20M on Club sites, a few pennies can be spent on supporting the CL network before it slides off the map altogether.

I look forward to the well-overdue app that you describe, and a new generation of members keen to explore the UK countryside being given the tools to do so.  This might even extend to online booking!  BTW you can already book our CL (and 30-odd other CL's) online.

Sorry Ted, CLs are the past, not the future.  

Turning away non members, turning away younger people with a tent,  turning away everyone beyond the rigid limit of five, and because 75% of CLs have no facilities also turning away folding caravans and VWs without on board toilets, is not the way the offer a modern tourism leisure facility.

That plus the fact that with such a restriction on size few of you can afford to invest in the facilities that visitors want these days I think CLs will continue to fade gracefully away.