Butlins Skegness

Butlins Skegness

Butlins Skegness looking toward the Skyline pavilion.
Butlins Skegness
Location	Ingoldmells, Skegness, Lincolnshire, England
Coordinates	53.18°0′0″N 0.35°0′0″E / 53.18000°N 0.35000°E / 53.18000; 0.35000Coordinates: 53.18°0′0″N 0.35°0′0″E / 53.18000°N 0.35000°E / 53.18000; 0.35000
Subsequent names	Butlin's Skegness (1936–1987) Funcoast World (1987–1999) Butlins Resort Skegness (1999 – present)
Chain	Butlins
Opening date	11 April 1936
Residences	over 1,000
Other Facilities	Amusement Park, Swimming pool
Total site area	200 acres (81 ha)
Website	http://www.butlins.com https://www.butlinsskegnesscaravans.com

Butlins Skegness (officially Butlins Resort 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.

In 1914, Billy Butlin was living in Toronto with his mother and stepfather, when he left school and went to work for Eatons department store. According to Butlin, one of the best aspects of working for the company was that he was able to visit their summer camp which gave him his first taste of a real holiday—indeed a taste of what was to become a very big part of his life.

The onset of World War I led to his leaving Eatons and enlisting in the Canadian Expeditionary Force serving in Europe, but seeing little if any action. After the war, Butlin made his way back to England where he used some of his last £5 (2011:£189.00) to purchase a stall in his uncle Marshall Hill's travelling fair.

As a showman, Butlin quickly became successful, one stall becoming several, and several becoming his own travelling fair. Butlin soon had fixed fairground sites as well as his travelling fair – the first was at Olympia in London outside Bertram Mills' Circus. In 1925 he opened a set of fairground stalls in Barry Island, Wales where he observed the way landladies in seaside resorts would (sometimes literally) push families out of the lodgings between meals, and began to nurture the idea of a holiday camp similar to the one he had attended whilst an employee at Eatons.