Unity Beach Somerset — Hotel in Great Britain

A Shambolic Shadow of Its Former Self – Line Dancing or Bust at the “Wonkey Donkey”||Having attended the Country Festival at Unity four times now, I was hopeful—albeit cautious—about returning after the revamp of the old Tavern, now awkwardly renamed The Wonkey Donkey. Sadly, this year’s experience was nothing short of infuriating and deeply disappointing.||Style Over Substance (and Sanity)|While the interior has been updated with a more modern (read: generic, overly Americanised) décor, it quickly becomes apparent that style was prioritised far above function. The raised dining area, inexplicably plonked in the middle of the room, completely obstructs the view of the stage for anyone seated behind it. Whoever signed off on that architectural blunder should seriously consider asking for a refund on their planning qualifications.||Seating is a chaotic mess—mismatched tables, cramped spaces, and obstructive bench seating make even basic navigation feel like a military operation. Accessibility and comfort? Apparently foreign concepts to the design team.||The Dance Floor Debacle|But the worst offence? The laughably named dance floor. What was once a shared space for communal enjoyment has now become an exclusive, near-militant zone for line dancers only. Morning, noon, and night—the floor is monopolised by line dancing classes, practices, performances, and self-indulgent “look at me” routines.||Want to enjoy live music or—heaven forbid—dance freely to it? Unless you’re a card-carrying line dancer, expect to be glared at, blocked, or physically edged off the floor.|Breakfast is serenaded by a screeching instructor barking out commands. Lunch becomes background noise to relentless shuffling boots. And by evening, the floor transforms into a competitive exhibition for seasoned dancers desperate for attention. This isn’t entertainment—it’s exclusionary theatre.||Table-Hogging Tactics|Line dancers don’t just dominate the floor—they take over the seating too. Arriving early to commandeer tables, they’ll camp out all day—sending one member to "guard" the seats while the others disappear to change clothes, eat elsewhere, and return later. Meanwhile, paying guests who actually want to enjoy the music and atmosphere are left standing or wandering aimlessly.||Unity’s refusal to accommodate a wider audience isn’t just shortsighted—it’s alienating. Younger guests, casual dancers, and those seeking a varied, welcoming country music experience are being pushed out.|Compare this with other venues, like The Seagull, which sensibly caps line dancing at 7PM, allowing the rest of the evening to be inclusive and genuinely enjoyable. Why Unity refuses to follow suit is baffling.||Presentation & Programming Missteps|The female compare seriously needs to step aside—or at the very least, stick to her day job. Forgetting artists' names is more than amateurish—it’s flat-out disrespectful. And the so-called banter and innuendo between her and the line dance instructor? Cringeworthy and embarrassing.||As for the acts themselves—there’s far too much catering to the over-60s line dancing crowd. Country music today is evolving. Artists like Luke Combs, Cody Johnson, Brothers Osborne, and Chris Stapleton are dominating the charts and bringing a fresh, modern sound to the scene. Unity should take note.||It was refreshing to see a few acts—Adam Harding, Lainey Wilson, and a solid Garth Brooks tribute—break the mould and bring a more current, vibrant energy to the show. But they were the exception. Too many performances felt dated and uninspired.|Final Thoughts||The so-called “revamp” has turned this once-beloved venue into a niche dance hall with a bar attached. If you’re not a competitive line dancer or part of the clique, don’t bother.|Unity may believe this direction is profitable—but when dancers buy a single drink and occupy a table for 10 hours, one has to question the logic. Meanwhile, the joy, spontaneity, and inclusivity that once defined the festival are all but gone.|Unity: The festival may be a small part of your year-round calendar, but alienate this core audience, and they will vote with their feet.|It's time to wake up and remember who the entertainment is...

A group of us came here for 4 days. The accommodation itself was great. We stayed in a caravan. The caravan was clean, and it felt modern.

Places osite, however, felt a little different, especially for the opening times of the chip shop and pizza restaurants. They were only open for the Fridays and weekends. Im not sure if they change these times during peak season, as we arrived in June, but it was still a bit of a letdown as we only stayed for 4 days and were not able to try these. It's such a shame.

The Chinese/chipshop takeaway is only closed on a Monday, so that was a little better. The food was also decent at this place. We have had better elsewhere, but it was fair, to say the least.

The onsite entertainment RJ's was ok and for me was just that. Some of the acts on stage felt lifeless, with some of the performers almost having stiff movements while dancing and their faces telling a story that they weren't enjoying it. Not all the performers were like this, however, but the fact that I mostly enjoyed the performances when I was inebriated says something about the quality of some of the shows, especially when "dance the night away" came on when heatwave performed. It felt especially painful, especially when it requires a pass to be able to see the shows.

The prices at RJ's for some of the drinks were also incredibly expensive, especially for 2 buckets of cocktails, which came to £22. For this price, you'd expect the buckets to be in with the price, especially since you can get much cheaper elsewhere. We now know not to order the buckets in the future as it did feel like a of a rip off. Another shame to behold.

The location is not too bad either, with swimming pools, amusements and the brean leisure park nearby. It is also pretty quiet in the area, which is a plus for peace, but not so great for nearby shopping

The WIFI is also another thing to be disappointed at. While I understand that it is the norm for caravan sites to charge money for some WiFi packages, we did not bother. The prices were quite expensive, especially since the packages only covered for the device that logged into the online portal for the registered account. Not only that, the speeds seemed pretty poor. The free plan also kept disconnecting and dropping, so we were totally turned off paying for an unstable package that we wouldn't be able to make much use of.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about the site itself. Hopefully, it does a lot better during peak season because this time just was not for me, sadly. As stated earlier, the best part of the site was the accommodation and the restaurant, which is why it managed to score 3 out of 5 stars.

Would I recommend this place? For my experience while just out of...

We've been coming to Unity for nearly ten years now, with our kids that have grown up with the park. Our last visit is the first since it has been bought out and although money has been spent on the site (upgrade to the Pavilions pub, parks and entertainment) the customer service has really taken a nose dive. So much so, that we won't be staying again.

I have complained one the phone to a member of staff who sad they would pass it on and written an email to the park management. No one has come back to me..

We had a number of issues including:

Luxury lodge not available at agreed (and paid for) check in time Lodge being changed from the one paid for Money-back vouchers (for booking the holiday last year) not being available and having to chase up The previously used reloadable gift card being replaced with paper vouchers - that can't be broken into change The vouchers not being redeemable at the same locations.

The main issue that killed our holiday was the Luxury lodge we pre-booked at the Golf course - and confirmed via email in May - was changed to another lodge. We explicitly paid extra for this as we have an autistic so who needs familiarity and this would be the 3rd time we would have stayed in it. No one contacted us about this change - even after confirming in May. Our son was totally overwhelmed and dysregulated so much so that he couldn't stay. He went home with my wife. Leaving me and my daughter to "enjoy" the holiday on our own.

Remember, this is AFTER our check-in time was passed - so we were already stressed.

Talking to reception, there was no empathy or nothing to try and resolve Just a " we cannot guarantee lodges". Even though I PAID to reserve a lodge AND had it in writing in May.

My daughter and I left after 3 days - or a 5 day holiday. They then had the cheek to have a salesman call to try and sell us our own caravan!

Overall, they have treated us very poorly and the management have not responded to us.

We won't be staying again and ask that families who have children with additional needs also...