page_title: Butlins Skegness
section_title: Butlin's camp
hierarchical_section_title: Butlins Skegness / Butlin's camp
caption_attribution_description: English: One of Butlins original chalets at Butlins Skegness, Ingoldmells near Skegness, Lincolnshire, England.
context_page_description: Butlins Skegness, formerly Butlin's Skegness or Funcoast World; is a holiday camp located in Ingoldmells near Skegness in Lincolnshire, England. Sir William Butlin conceived of its creation based on his experiences at a Canadian summer camp in his youth and by observation of the actions of other holiday accommodation providers, both in seaside resort lodging houses and in earlier smaller holiday camps.
  Construction of the camp began in 1935 and it was opened in 1936, when it quickly proved to be a success with a need for expansion.
  The camp included dining and recreation facilities, such as dance halls and sports fields. During World War II, the camp was subject to a short military occupation when it served as a Naval training base, reverting to being a holiday camp in 1946. Over the past 75 years the camp has seen continuous use and development, in the mid-1980s and again in the late 1990s being subject to substantial investment and redevelopment.
  In the late 1990s the site was re-branded as a holiday resort, and remains open today as one of three remaining Butlins resorts.
context_section_description: During the early 1930s Butlin joined the board of Harry Warner's holiday camp company (now Warner Leisure Hotels) and in 1935 he observed the construction of Warner's holiday camp in Seaton, Devon. Butlin learned from the experience of Warner, and employed the workers who had constructed the Seaton camp to come to Lincolnshire to build his new camp at Skegness.
  Construction began in September 1935 with the local paper reporting the first sod being turned on the 4th of that month. Butlin designed the camp himself and said of the camp, "my plans were for 1,000 people in 600 chalets with electricity, running water, 250 bathrooms, dining and recreational halls. A theatre, a gymnasium, a rhododendron bordered swimming pool with cascades at both ends and a boating lake." However Butlin hired the architect Harold Ridley Hooper,  to draw up the formal plans for the camp buildings. In the camp's landscaped grounds, there were to be tennis courts, bowling and putting greens and cricket pitches. The total cost of the project was £100,000 (2011:£5.7 million) and despite having suffered a financial shortfall during construction, the camp opened on schedule in 1936. One of the original 1936 chalet accommodation units is still present and is now a grade II listed building, recognising its historical significance.
  He opened his camp on 11 April 1936 (Easter Even). It was officially opened by Amy Johnson from Hull, who had been the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia. An advertisement costing £500 (2011:£28 thousand) was placed in the Daily Express, announcing the opening of the camp and inviting the public to book for a week's holiday. The advertisement offered holidays with three meals a day and free entertainment with a week's full board, at a cost of between 35 shillings (£1.75) and £3 (2011:£167.00), according to the time of year. The advert proved successful, and over the first summer season the capacity of the camp had to be increased from 500 to 2,000, to cope with the demand.
  When the camp opened, Butlin realised that his guests were not engaging with activities in the way he had envisioned, as most kept to themselves, and others looked bored. He asked Norman Bradford (who was engaged as an engineer constructing the camp) to take on the duty of entertaining the guests which he did with a series of ice breakers and jokes. By the end of the night the camp was buzzing and the Butlin's atmosphere was born. From that point on, entertainment was at the very heart of Butlin's and Bradford became the first of the Butlin's Redcoats. That night Butlin decided that for his camp to work he would require an army of people to carry out the same job as Bradford, and the role of Redcoat was formed.
  In 1938 Butlin won the contract to supply amusements to the Empire Exhibition in Glasgow. After the exhibition was complete, Butlin returned with some of the infrastructure. His Clacton camp and Sheerness amusement park each received miniature railways, while Skegness received a building in the shape of the "Butlin theatre" which was later renamed the "Gaiety".
  Butlin continued to increase the capacity of the camp until 3 September 1939 when the Second World War was declared. The next morning, the campers were sent home and the site was taken over by the Royal Navy for use as a training establishment.
caption: One of Butlin's original chalets preserved and listed in Skegness
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