a friend and i worked as chalet maids in 1965, in minehead. it was an unforgettable experience. we could, after work, use all the facilities, see the shows , go on the fairground rides. we were fed very well in a huge self service canteen with as much as we could want to eat. this canteen closed after 6 pm so we couldnt get a free coffee after that time . . our problem was we had no money for the first two weeks so we couldnt buy a drink in a bar. not even a coffee. we smoked at the time and we never knew when we would get the next ciggie. silly now but at the time these little money problems were quite annoying.. and also we had to work 7 days a week. no day off. when we got our first wage packet, we went to town with it .got very drunk and ended up in the pool fully dressed after midnight. so we got sacked. one of my big regrets is the fact we messed up.
I loved Butlins as a kid .from the late 60's through to 1977 we visited quite a few of the camps . It was a magical colourful place ,and couldn't wait to get there ,but it was horrible when the last day came .But it was ok because we knew we'd be back the following year 😁👍 The camps we went to were. Clacton Yarmouth Skegness Minehead Bognor Filey
Absolutely lovely tribute to Sir Billy Butlin watching this brought back so many memories of butlins at Filey although at the time I never actually visited butlins Filey or any of his camps my late parents and late aunt had during the late 70s had 2 static caravans on Primrose Valley next door and I recall seeing butlins Filey In it’s latter years and the sad sight of it in the mid 80s during its closure and subsequent decay in later years before it was totally demolished and redeveloped as The Bay Filey and the remains of the chalets looking so sad and in states of decay but in its prime butlins Filey must have been a amazing camp
I knew Sir Billy and his daughters when I was younger. He'd get out of his Rolls Royce, big bushy beard a Hawian shirt ,scruffy jeans and sandals. Some years later I was working on Exmoor , and looking for a summer job. I was asked do you want to work at Minehead?, so ask the obvious Doing what ? Catering, came the reply. I pointed out I knew sweet all about catering and was told, you can feed cattle cant you?
i worked at butlins cleaning aged 14 lol.. used to go on the rides all day eat in the staff canteen.. pick up my 5 quid and hop back on the free bus back to taunton😂😂 sorry if you stayed at minehead in the mid 80’s and your chalet was dirty!
Love butlins as kids been too all 3 n now still as adults 35years later I go with my boyfriend too butlins skegness as we both love it love butlins n we go on 6 of Feb Monday 2023 we can't wait love butlins skegness 😊🥰😎xxxx
I was present at the start of the short lived Amtree Park site at Filey - they threw pennys at a mega project - even tried selling the old chalets as holiday homes - doomed to failure Cheers p Rob
Loved butlins as a kid holidayed at barry butlins a few times, Bognor once and minehead loads. Been since over the years with my own kids and it's just not the same. Anything worth doing is no longer free and I spent more time at the atm constantly taking more money out than enjoying the holidays. That said I did it a few times with my kids as there's a big age gap. They enjoyed but it just didn't have the attractions or value for money appeal and atmosphere it had when I was young. I've also done the adults only at minehead which I thoroughly loved.
I first went to butlins in filey, it was 1980, we came home on the day charles and diana got married. The helium balloons had just come out and we brought them back home, i tied mine to my pushbike handle bars and showed it off up and down the street 😂
Billy Butlin will be spinning in his grave at the rundown state of Butlin's Skegness. The exterior paintwork is peeling and in disrepair, the blocks could do with being jet washed. The Skyline pavilion covers need to be renewed.
2:05 I went in that pool about 10 years ago while visiting friends who were staying there. We were all told to exit the pool after a kid had done a bit dump in it. Quality place. You just dont get that standard of customer elsewhere.
There's a board they put up in my village years ago, it has a picture of Billy Butlins car pulled up, it was a picture worthy moment back then lol, also the pub next to my arcade and the pool we manage are where one of the black lace videos were filmed because my old landlord was their manager at the time, literally just down the road from Butlins in INGOLDMELLS(/seathorn-winthorpe maybe technically as well) not Skegness lol
My first Butlin's was in 1959 and 1960 when I was just a very young lad. Think it was Bognor but not 100%. Too young and long to remember. I remember winning a second or third prize (not first), again can't remember what it was, for wearing this flamboyant red Grenadier Guard costume and I had to march around the hall guarding the little girl who came first in the girls costumes. Can't remember what she wore. At that age I wasn't paying attention to girls , but I always loved the big red Butlin's toffee apples.
Very interesting - fingers cross for Butlins to grow and grow - with hopefully more than 3 resorts existing in 20 years time. Like the mini fair ground attractions "Within"; perhaps growing a bit more in size and extending open for day visitors to use more of its attractions and facilities.
Still got photos of family on donkey's we loved it the beach Comber bar baby contest kids at Christmas getting a presant of santa on stage arriving at Christmas getting your turkey christmas dinner to cook in your chalet. We went there loads of times loved it .not the same now .R.I.P.😇 BILLY BUTLIN YOU MADE CHILDREN VERY HAPPY 💜💜💜
Would love to see butlins footage from minehead in the early 90s - my parents use to take me and it was the best memories. If anyone has any or can link me some more videos would be much appreciated.
all inclusive was great . but the bar screwed you . in 1979 in pwllheli it was £1 a pint . my bloody wages was only £16 per week . also most camps had done away with the all inclusive .
We went to Skegness with the jazz band my sister met her husband to be he moved to consett to be next to her later on got married had 2 girls and a boy
They might have survived if the British weather hadn't let them down that's why the costa's boomed because of not only the sun but it normally cheaper too.
went to Butlins with a group from old peoples home with my wife their warden, got a knock on the door at 2am for making to much noise we liked to go sequence dancing my wife first husband r did his basic training at Skegness when it was a stone frigate.
Growing up we always went abroad for holidays but after summer going back to school I was sooo jealous of my friends that would talk about their Butlins holidays I begged my parents to take me
I went to Butlins Clacton as a kid Christmas 1976, stayed at an apartment with no toilet, lol, no heating in the apartment, and dinner time being served roast duck! Only my Dad would eat it 😂 But still great fun, good memories despite the duck LOL
I’m nostalgic over this my parents came from there I never stayed there but they took me there to use the pools & it was defo a lot of fun (forgot about the windows haha! :-) XxxxxxxxxX
You have to be British, middle-aged and lower-middle class to like this kind of holiday. There are no comparable facilities on the continent because they do not correspond to the "extra-British" mentality.
My family went to Butlin's in Ayr when I was about six in the early eighties. My Dad was a policeman. I guess it seemed like a good deal to them but when we got there it just wasn't for us at all. We were all really shy and didn't want to join in stuff.😅 I think my Dad was annoyed - him and my Mum had been before when they were younger, and I think my Dad just thought we'd all change our personalities🤣. We probably had more freedom at home where we ran about the woods all summer, there was no security there, or passes to get in and out! It was good value if you liked joining in things though. Horses for courses. We ended up going to Hoseasons instead. A bit like Butlins but no forced activities...
I've always been fascinated by these places (I used to collect holiday brochures and had a shelf full of them) but it wouldn't be my sort of holiday. Even if I go abroad I don' really enjoy beach holidays, I prefer city breaks (shopping and sightseeing) or hiring a car and driving around
At 9:01, I found it funny that the guests had sabotaged the tannoy speakers, causing them to blow up because they didn't like that same old wake up record! lol😂
I remember being at Minehead with the family and in the morning "Owen MD" music being played, loud! After an attempt to disarm the box on the wall and failed! I went to the glass room where they sat and told them to change the record as it was annoying! Needless to say I was told to go away but not in those words you little runt! Well, I was Nine at the time! now I've had my moan 54 years later I'm going to sign out of those who love Butlins, but to me it was a Marmite moment in my life!
on our own holiday in the the1980s the chalet cleaning was minimal I think if .it was clean enough why send a cleaner to an ok chalet I joined a Que at the chalet office for replacement and cleaning, came back to find my wife had thrown out half the furniture and bent pots and pans
sad when BUTLINS near Ayr in South Ayrshire, Scotland closed it's doors in 1998 later to re-opened in 1999 under the management of Haven Holidays who renamed it Craig Tara. was a great place to go till that happened miss them days out when i was a teenager jumping on a train down for the day
Always seems to happen. I've found that generally, you can put any (heart filled or creative) business down to the three generation rule. That being the first generation is the person who created it and by the third generation, the company will have either lost it's message and character, been sold off, gone bankrupt, or ended up in tatters.
I was a redcoat at Minehead around 1965 was a singer on the Sunday night show with the stars and also sang daily in the pub pig and whistle or blinking owl.
Had to laugh at Butlins holidaymakers 'looking for romance'. What a euphemism. More like a shag with anyone that was available. A friend of mine worked at Butlins Ayr in the mid 80s, and said the customers were all the dregs of society from Glasgow in particular. He had to clear away lots of used condoms strewn all over the lawns, spoke of people just interested in getting drunk night after night etc. Sounds like a living hell, and not the happy, friendly place that this film portrays.
Butlins is awful now. Nothing like it use to be, i still take my kids but it’s a shadow of its former self. The funfair was magical, the kids clubs, scaletrix, monorail, the free cinema, roller skating, boating lake, beachcomber bar, ball dancing, knobbly knees and glamour Grannies, will never forget the place. Now it’s just arcades, bad entertainment and charges for everything. Nothing for kids without their parents, no clubs or gaiety theatre or free films. Just not the same at all.
