These are the images many people associate with a stay in a youth hostel. Yet the Youth Hostels Association has been overseeing a gradual process of modernisation and, this week, will make arguably its most significant move since it was founded by philanthropic members of the Holiday Fellowship in Liverpool in December 1929. Most significantly, the YHA has switched its focus away from the traditional, often remote countryside hostels to concentrate on city centre properties. In 2001, a foot and mouth epidemic saw rural travel restricted: hostels closed and the charity took a multi-million pound bashing. “It forced the closure of several hostels that should have been closed a long time ago,” she said.

Source: The Guardian September 24, 2016 11:55 UTC