Sir Fred Pontin, the man who founded Pontin's holiday camps, has died aged 93. The leisure mogul, whose Bluecoats entertained millions of holidaymakers, died at a hospital in Blackpool.

Mike Austin, a former Pontin's director, said Sir Fred was recovering from a stroke but suffered a relapse on Saturday.

Mr Austin, who worked under Sir Fred in the 1960s, said: ''He gave joy and pleasure to millions of people.

''Sir Fred was essentially a one-off. He was a hard man but scrupulously fair in his dealings. He was devoted to his business but made sure he had plenty of fun himself and was great to go out with. It is very sad but he had a good innings.''

Sir Fred was frequently reputed to be the model for the tough Joe Maplin character in the BBC's holiday camp comedy Hi-De-Hi.

The East End-born entrepreneur left school at 15 with no qualifications and spent his early years making money on the stock exchange.

During the Second World War he was drafted to run tough workers' hostels in Bristol and Kidderminster.

While he was there he came up with the idea that would make his fortune - turning old military sites into mass seaside holiday camps.

The first opened at Brean Sands - a former American tank regiment base in the West Country - in 1946 and was quickly followed by more.

Sir Fred's formula was on a smaller scale than the camps run by Billy Butlin, but proved popular nevertheless. His favourite story was about when Butlin tried to secretly check out Brean Sands but the camp photographer took a picture of him at the bar. Sir Fred cheekily printed it later in a Pontin's brochure under the heading ''All the best people come to Pontin's''.

By the 1970s there were 22 Pontin's across the country catering to a million Britons a year.

In 1963 he pioneered the Mediterranean holiday with a further 10 ''Pontinental'' Centres offering a fortnight abroad for #50. His success even extended into racing, when his horse Specify won the Grand National in 1971.

With the advent of cheaper package deals, however, the camps' popularity began to wane and he retired in 1978 after a takeover by bookmakers Coral. But his empire, which has since had a number of different owners, including Scottish and Newcastle, continues, with nine camps in Great Britain and Ireland.

Sir Fred himself kept wheeler-dealing until well into his eighties, with a scheme to take tourists to

Disneyland Paris.

But he was forced to change the name from Mouse Tours to Magic Tours when Disney feared its logo, Freddie Mouse, would be confused with their own Mickey.

Sir Fred's funeral will be held in South Devon, followed by a cremation. He leaves a wife, Lady Joyce, and one daughter.