Scanning back over 80 years, take a look at how our history unfolds and explore how Billy Butlin started his career as a travelling showman, progressed into holiday camps and grew his business into the iconic brand that it is today.
1930S
Skegness opened on 11 April 1936 and within a year had doubled in size. It was officially opened by Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia. Two years later Billy Butlin chose Clacton-on-Sea for his second camp.
...1940S
To help with the war efforts, Billy’s existing camps were given over to the government. Clacton became an army camp and Skegness became HMS Royal Arthur. Billy was asked to finish his new resort at Filey so it could be used by the milit...
1950S
Indoor heated pools designed to be used ‘whatever the weather’ opened at Ayr, Clacton, Pwllheli and Skegness. And after holidaying in the Caribbean, Billy sees a gap in the market and opens Butlin's Bahamas.
1960S
1970S
1980S
1990S
2000S
2010S
SPLASH WATERWORLD POOL – 2019 – BOGNOR REGIS
In 2019, we opened an Art Deco-inspired swimming pool at our Bognor Regis resort. With capacity for nearly 1,000 guests, this £40M investment features 478 metres-worth of slides.
STUDIO 36 – 2021 – ALL RESORTS
To ensure our guests could enjoy more shows than ever before in a Covid-safe way, we built huge, all-weather entertainment venues called Studio 36 at each resort.
SKYPARK - SKEGNESS (2023) & MINEHEAD (2024)
April 2023 saw the launch of SKYPARK, the UK’s most exciting playground, in Skegness. The £2.5M investment includes sensory elements and wheelchair-accessible equipment. Our second SKYPARK opened in July 2024 in Minehead.
PLAYXPERIENCE - OCTOBER 2024 - BOGNOR REGIS
Our brand-new £15M indoor activity centre, Butlin’s PLAYXPERIENCE opened on the 7 October in Bognor Regis, and is the first of its kind situated on any holiday resort in the UK.
The state-of-the-art attraction covers a whopping 50,000sqft across two floors, and is equipped with nine exciting activities* on offer, including: TechPutt, Escape Rooms, VR-cade, Glow Pong, Shuffleboard, Laser Tag, Batting Cage, Neo Games and Digi Darts, alongside a café and bar.