This film is part of Free

Skegness Holiday Report

Fighting back against the allure of the Costa Brava - Butlins tempts the East Midlands holidaymakers.

News 1979 3 mins

From the collection of:

Logo for Media Archive for Central England

Overview

Billy Butlin opened his holiday camp at Skegness in Lincolnshire in 1936. It was the first of many for the famous name that became synonymous with the holiday camps that boomed in the post-war years. By 1979. when Tony Maycock visited for ATV Today. the resort was still teeming with thousands of visitors from the East Midlands who enjoyed the unique brand of entertainment on offer from baby competitions to the ever-smiling Red Coats.

The Skegness Butlins remains one of three surviving camps operated by the firm. The other two are at Minehead and Bognor Regis. The monorail seen in this news report was the first commercial monorail system in the UK and had opened back in 1965. It continued to operate as a pleasure ride at the camp until 2002.