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Butlin's was founded by South African-born British entrepreneur Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families.
A 1956 "knobbly knees" contest at Butlin's Skegness. Eccentric games like this were the norm, and espoused a strong sense of family values and community spirit. (Photo: Wikimedia/CC BY-SA 2.0)
By the early 1960s, pop groups were becoming a staple of live entertainment at Butlin's holiday camps. In 1962, Skegness hosted a band called Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, whose drummer was one Richard Starkey. One evening, John Lennon and Paul McCartney visited the camp hoping to persuade the drummer to join their band, an outfit called the Beatles. He did, became Ringo Starr, and the rest, as they say, is history. Pictured is Ringo (far right and with beard) on stage at Skegness.
Butlin's first holiday camp opened at Skegness, a seaside town in Lincolnshire, northern England, in 1936. Pictured is a poster advertising the facility and the fact that "it's quicker by rail," a tagline promoting travel by train.
Competitors in a holiday camp piggy-back race get ready at the starting line.
Butlin's holiday camps were staffed by "Redcoats," the name given to frontline staff whose uniform was a red blazer and white trousers or skirts. Redcoats had duties ranging from adult entertainer or children's entertainer, to stewarding. Pictured at Skegness in 1939 are younger guests playing the traditional game of Oranges and Lemons.
Drinkers at a bar designed to resemble an old English Inn at Butlin's Holiday Camp in Skegness, 1939. Publicity made a point of reminding clients that "the hours are the same as in town and the prices are standard."
Butlin's Skegness resident disc jockey at work in 1939. Music would be piped throughout the camp by a public address system, which also served as a method of broadcasting news and other announcements.
A holidaymaker has her portrait painted by the resident artist at Butlin's Skegness.
Butlin's Skegness proved hugely popular with the general public, not least because of the low costs involved. In 1936, a good weekly wage for a manual worker was £2. A week at Butlin’s cost 45 shillings (£2.25) per person, with entertainment included!
Young adults country dancing at Skegness. For families from Britain’s noisy and grimy industrial heartland, the lawns, flowers, and fresh air sealed the deal on what was regarded as a luxury break.
Butlin's became popular in post-war Britain, with family entertainment and activities still available for the equivalent of a week's pay. Pictured are holidaymakers relaxing outside their chalet at Filey.
A team of 12 Redcoats stride towards the camera, arm-in-arm in the sunshine, as they prepare for another day's work at Filey. Their job description reads in part: "to see to it that each individual camper has a jolly time, twelve hours on end, each day of the Butlin hospitality."
With Skegness, Clacton, and Filey all fully operational, and with more holiday camps set to open across the United Kingdom, Butlin's became the place to sit back and relax. And the 1950s ushered in a new sense of freedom and opportunity.
Female campers wearing Marilyn Monroe face masks parade in their swimsuits in tribute to the Hollywood star, who in the 1950s was at the height of her fame.
A member of Butlin's Filey domestic staff collects some of the thousands of sheets which go to the laundry every week. By the mid-1950s, thousands of people were employed by Butlin's.
The beauty competition was a favorite means of entertainment for many, with young women hoping to become the next Miss Great Britain. Here contestants line up before the judges at a competition at Butlin's holiday camp in Blackpool, Lancashire in 1955.
The cultural, social, and economic impact made by Butlin's holiday camps during those days cannot be overestimated. Billy Butlin turned holiday camps into a multimillion-pound industry, and holidaying at Butlin's became a must-do for many. Butlin is seen here in 1963 with the Queen in the ballroom of the Butlin's holiday camp at Pwllheli, North Wales, during a royal walkabout.
Butlin's moved with the times in the 1960s. But by the early 1970s and the advent of the cheap package holiday abroad, the appeal of a Butlin's holiday began to wane. Pictured is a Redcoat running the "Glamourous Grandmother" competition at Skegness in 1982.
A kitchen worker sporting old Butlin's badges on his lapels, reminders of better days. Most of the Butlin's camps have now closed, demolished, or have been taken over and re-branded. However, three of the original camps, Skegness, Minehead, and Bognor Regis, are still operating under the Butlin's banner.
Once able to fill Skegness with a 1,000 campers a week, by the mid-1980s weekly guest numbers had dwindled to a few hundred. This image is captioned "First waltz in the Empire Ballroom, Butlin's Holiday Camp, Skegness, 1982."
There were some extra charges, though. Here, early morning tea is delivered to a chalet. This room service was provided at an extra cost, a shilling in fact, which today equates to about 12 pence UK sterling. A tad steep, actually.
In the early years, accommodation at a Butlin's holiday camp typically consisted of long lines of single bedrooms in blocks known as "chalet lines." These were arranged so that each line of chalets faced another line, with a grassed area in the middle. Chalet fittings include a wash basin with running water, wardrobe, and dressing table... but no toilet! Instead, campers had to use communal toilet blocks located in the middle of the chalet lines.
A Butlin's holiday camp would be sold out weeks in advance, with as many as 1,000 guests being accommodated in any given week throughout the summer.
The success of Billy Butlin's holiday camp concept meant that within two years of Skegness opening, a second facility was inaugurated in Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, not far from London.
The 1950s and '60s were to prove the heyday for Butlin's. The strong focus on family holidays and the special emphasis on children's activities proved as popular as ever. But times were beginning to change.
Butlin's Filey pirate leads laughing and smiling children on a hunt for the villainous Captain Thunder in a game that brought together kids from all across the country.
Butlin's mission statement was revolutionary: "Our true intent is all for your delight." And a holiday was all about having fun. Here, a group of campers wave from the car of an onsite roller-coaster.
One thing you couldn't predict back in the 1930s—and still can't today—is the notoriously fickle British summer weather. Pictured in August 1939 are swimmers toweling up against the cold.
Children enjoying the merry-go-round at Clacton-on-Sea during the summer of 1939. Photographs taken during this period are particularly poignant in that just one month later Britain was at war with Nazi Germany.
During World War II, the holiday camps at Skegness and Clacton were given over for military use. Pictured marching under hoardings advertising children's cycles, roller skates, and mechanical horses is a British Army unit taking the salute.
Work had begun on Butlin's Filey Holiday Camp in North Yorkshire in 1939. Construction resumed in 1945 after being handed back to Butlin by the military. It formally opened in 1947, the third holiday camp in Butlin's burgeoning leisure property empire. He's pictured chatting to Sergeant J Caffrey, VC, one of the Commissionaires at Filey Holiday Camp. Caffrey won his Victoria Cross at Ypres during World War I.
Redcoats entertaining guests at Skegness. The popularity of the "staycation" has seen visitor numbers increase over recent years, with the British public deciding to holiday at home and rediscover a brand that defined the seaside for a generation.
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Butlin's. To many, the name conjures up quaint, old-fashioned vacations in obscure corners of the United Kingdom in wind, rain, and occasional sunshine. The butt of jokes for decades, the Butlin's Holiday Camp was a place the poor relation went, where for a few shillings a week you could be fed, watered, and entertained practically under the same roof. But to dismiss Butlin's as a wet weekend would be to ignore one of Britain's most hallowed holiday institutions.
A stay at Butlin's was once one of the most popular getaway options in the Britain. The company's founder, Billy Butlin, recognized the need for safe, affordable, and fun-filled holidays for ordinary British families and in the 1930s created the holiday camp concept. Butlin's holiday camps still exist today, and remain an important and much-loved aspect of British culture.
Click through the following gallery for a nostalgic and slightly eccentric look back at how Brits holidayed at Butlin's in bygone days. And don't laugh! Remember: it was all about having innocent fun in a gentler world.
Enjoy a delightfully nostalgic stay at Butlin's Holiday Camp
A very English vacation experience
TRAVEL Vacation
Butlin's. To many, the name conjures up quaint, old-fashioned vacations in obscure corners of the United Kingdom in wind, rain, and occasional sunshine. The butt of jokes for decades, the Butlin's Holiday Camp was a place the poor relation went, where for a few shillings a week you could be fed, watered, and entertained practically under the same roof. But to dismiss Butlin's as a wet weekend would be to ignore one of Britain's most hallowed holiday institutions.
A stay at Butlin's was once one of the most popular getaway options in the Britain. The company's founder, Billy Butlin, recognized the need for safe, affordable, and fun-filled holidays for ordinary British families and in the 1930s created the holiday camp concept. Butlin's holiday camps still exist today, and remain an important and much-loved aspect of British culture.
Click through the following gallery for a nostalgic and slightly eccentric look back at how Brits holidayed at Butlin's in bygone days. And don't laugh! Remember: it was all about having innocent fun in a gentler world.