Open to All - how youth hostels changed the world

Youth hostels changed the world. Beginning in 1929 with no money, no leader and only a simple idea, today they cover the globe.

They boast bars, restaurants, and en suites. You can find them in cities, in towns, in the wilderness, in castles, mansions, mills, and converted hotels.

Open to all is the story of youth hostels in England and Wales and the people and ideas behind them. Through years of tumultuous change, of boom and bust and revolution they set young people free.

Duncan M Simpson worked for many years in and for youth hostels, as a seasonal assistant and manager. For ten years he was head of corporate affairs for YHA (England and Wales).

Based on wide ranging research and original material, Open to all is the fascinating story of youth hostels, of how they grew up and how, having changed the world, youth hostels raced to catch up with the young people they had set free.