Butlin's

Butlin's is a chain of large seaside resorts in the United Kingdom, incorporated as Butlins Skyline Limited. Butlin's was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families.
Between 1936 and 1966, ten camps were built, including one in Ireland and one in the Bahamas. In the 1970s and 1980s, Butlin's also operated numerous large hotels, including one in Spain, a number of smaller holiday parks in England and France, and a revolving restaurant in the Post Office Tower in London.
Tough competition from overseas package holiday operators, rising operational costs, and rapidly changing demand, forced many of the Butlin's operations to close in the 1980s and 1990s. Three of the original camps remain open under the Butlins brand in Bognor Regis, Minehead, and Skegness. They are now owned and run by Butlins Skyline Ltd, which is now wholly owned by the Harris Family Trust.

History

Billy Butlin's inspiration for his holiday camp empire came from an unhappy holiday on Barry Island in his youth, when he had been locked out of his bed and breakfast accommodation all day by his landlady, which was normal practice at the time.
The first of the Butlin's holiday camps was opened by Butlin in 1936 in Skegness, following his success in developing amusement parks. A second camp quickly followed in Clacton in 1938, and construction of Filey Holiday Camp began in 1939. With the outbreak of the Second World War, building at Filey was postponed, and the camps at Skegness and Clacton were given over for military use. Wartime use of Butlin's camps continued, with resorts at Ayr, Filey, and Pwllheli being completed and opened as military camps. The Ayr camp was later renamed Wonderwest World, and is now owned and run by Haven under the name Craig Tara, part of Bourne Leisure, who previously owned both brands.
In 1945, with the war over, Filey was re-opened as a holiday camp. The camps at Skegness and Clacton opened in 1946, Ayr and Pwllheli in 1947 and Mosney on the east coast of Ireland in 1948. Butlin's became popular in post-war Britain, with family entertainment and activities available for the equivalent of a week's pay.
In 1948, Butlin acquired two hotels in the Bahamas, and in the 1950s Butlin's began acquiring hotels in England and Wales: Saltdean, near Brighton, Blackpool and five in Cliftonville. Further post-war camps were opened in the 1960s at Bognor Regis, Minehead and Barry Island. A site was acquired and permission given for a further camp at Holme Dunes, Norfolk. However, these plans were abandoned after the devastating floods of 31 January 1953; the site was later purchased by the Norfolk Naturalists Trust in 1965.
In the late 1940s, Butlin's launched an ambitious project to build a 1000-guest resort at West End, Grand Bahama Island in the Bahamas from scratch, including the construction of an airport, West End Airport. Almost all materials and equipment had to be brought in by air or boat onto an island that at the time was almost completely undeveloped. Butlin's operated the partially-completed facility for one season only before running out of money. A small part of the resort was put back into operation in 1955 before US interests redeveloped it in 1960.
The camps at Ayr and Skegness also had separate self-contained hotels within their grounds. In later years, they were joined by further hotels in Scarborough, Llandudno, London, a sixth hotel at Cliftonville and one in Spain. In the 1960s and 1970s, the company also operated the Top of the Tower revolving restaurant at the then-named Post Office Tower in London.
In 1968, Butlin's son Bobby took over the management of Butlin's, and in 1972 the business was sold to the Rank Organisation for £43 million. The number of camps peaked at ten between 1966 and 1980, but the business experienced the problems being faced by the British seaside holiday industry as a whole, with the introduction of cheap package holidays to Mediterranean resorts from the 1960s onwards. It also had an image problem of being seen as providing regimented holidays, which caused it to all but abandon the Butlin's name at its remaining resorts between 1987 and 1990.
The camp at Mosney closed in 1982, Clacton and Filey closed in 1983, and the camp at Barry was sold in 1986. The lease on the Top of the Tower restaurant expired in 1980. In 1998, the camps at Ayr and Pwllheli were handed over to Butlin's sister company; Haven. All the Butlin's hotels dating from the 1950s to 1990s were sold in 1998, but most are still open today under different ownership. The art deco style Ocean Hotel at Saltdean has been redeveloped into apartments, and the hotels at Cliftonville have both been demolished.
In 1998, the "Holiday Worlds" branding was dropped for the remaining resorts in favour of returning the emphasis to the core Butlin's name. Subsequently, in September 2000, the resorts and brand were sold to Bourne Leisure. A new Butlin's logo was eventually introduced in 1999, which has subsequently undergone several modifications and was used until 2011 when Butlin's introduced a design similar to their original logo. The new logo was originally only intended to be used temporarily to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Butlin's, but its use continued into 2012 and 2013 and is now the official logo.
In 2005, the new £10 million Shoreline hotel was unveiled at the Bognor Regis resort to expand on the existing variety of apartments on the site. The hotel, styled with an Art Deco theme, aimed to offer luxury accommodation in conjunction with the entertainment and facilities at the resort. Each of the 160 rooms features floor-to-ceiling windows, twin or king-size beds, leatherette chairs, televisions, DVD players and en-suite facilities. Some have sea views. A second site, Ocean Hotel, opened at Bognor in 2009, styled in a high contemporary standard.
In September 2022, it was announced that Blackstone Group that had bought Butlins in 2021 and the Bourne Leisure Group, sold Butlins back to one of the original founding families of Bourne Leisure. In a £300 million deal The Harris Family Trust bought back Butlins, the deal however does not include Butlins property assets as these were sold earlier in the year to the UK’s largest pension fund, the Universities Superannuation Scheme for £300 million.

Locations

Location	Opened	Closed	Comments
Ayr	1947	1998	Known as Wonderwest World 1988–1998; operated as Craig Tara by Haven since 1999.
West End, Grand Bahama Island	1950	Late 1980s	Ambitious undertaking constructing a 1000-guest holiday camp from scratch on a nearly completely undeveloped island, including building an airport. The village received 18,363 visitors in 1950. It was reportedly operated for a single season before running out of money. The site is now occupied by a new hotel and marina complex known as Old Bahama Bay.
Barry Island	1966	1996	Operated independently until closure in 1996. Demolished in 2005.
Bognor Regis	1960	Current	Known as Southcoast World 1987–1998. Still open as Butlins Bognor Regis.
Clacton	1938	1983	Demolished, now a housing estate. Small area yet to be redeveloped.
Filey Holiday Camp	1945	1983	Operated independently for six weeks in 1986, but the venture failed and it closed. Gradually demolished between 1988 and 2003. The northern end of the site is now part of the Haven caravan park, Primrose Valley, and the southern end is being developed as The Bay Filey, comprising holiday homes, leisure and sports facilities and a hotel.
Minehead	1962	Current	Known as Somerwest World 1986–1998. Still open as Butlins Minehead 30 April 1999–present.
Mosney	1948	1980	Operated independently until closure and conversion into an Irish Government refugee centre for asylum seekers in 2000. Most of the original camp buildings are still in use.
Pwllheli	1947	1998	Known as Starcoast World 1990–1998; operated as Hafan Y Mor by Haven since 1999.
Skegness	1936	Current	Known as Funcoast World 1987–1998. Still open as Butlins Skegness.

In addition to these main locations known at various times as "Holiday Camps", "Holiday Centres", "Holiday Villages", "Holiday Worlds" and more recently as "Resorts", Butlins also operated numerous smaller holiday parks in England and France for several years during the late 1970s. These were known as "Freshfields holidays" and were more basic parks with far fewer facilities and little or no entertainment. They were aimed at those wanting a quieter, more relaxed holiday.

Location	Opened	Closed	Comments
Duporth Holiday Village, St Austell	1934	2006	Operated as Butlins from 1972; operated as Haven from 1985.
Seaview Holiday Village, Polperro	?	Present	Operated as Butlins from 1973; Currently operated independently and sold on the independent owners behalf by Hoseasons.
Sunshine Holiday Centre, Hayling Island	?	Present	Operated as Butlins from 1973; Currently operating independently as "Mill Rythe Holiday Resort".
St Minver	?	Present	Operated as Butlins from 1971; Currently operated by Parkdean Holidays.
Tencreek Holiday Park, Looe	?	Present	Operated as Butlins from 1973; Currently operated by Dolphin Holidays.
Ayrville, St Ives, Cornwall	?	Present	Operated as Butlins from 1974; Currently operating as "Ayr Holiday Park".
Two Chimneys, Penzance	?	Present	Operated as Butlins from 1974; Currently operated by Rojo Leisure.

Location	Opened	Closed	Comments
Ayr	1946	Early 1970s	Demolished in the 1970s
Bognor Regis – Wave	2012	Present	Newly opened within Bognor resort
Bognor Regis – Ocean	2009	Present	Opened 2009 within Bognor resort
Bognor Regis – Shoreline	2007	Present	Opened 2007 within Bognor resort
Borehamwood	1939	1942	Demolished in the 1980s and replaced with modern Hotel
Blackpool	1955	1998	Still open as Grand Metropole Hotel
Cliftonville	1955	1999	Partially demolished, remainder converted to flats.
Llandudno	1981	1998	Still open as Grand Hotel.
London	1993	1998	Still open as Grand Plaza Hotel.
Saltdean	1952	1999	Converted to flats.
Scarborough	1978	1999	Still open as Grand Hotel.
Skegness	1948	1974	Ingoldmells building still standing and now used as an amusement arcade within the Butlins Skegness resort
Torremolinos	1983	1998	Still open as Griego Mar Hotel.