Billy Butlin is an important figure in the history of British tourism. Even people who don’t know exactly who he was are likely to have experienced some of his impact on the travel industry.
Billy Butlin is synonymous with the British holiday resort company Butlin’s. He turned holiday camps into a multimillion-pound industry and remains an important part of British culture and travel history. This article explains who he was and why he was so influential.
Who was Billy Butlin?
William Heygate Edmund Colborne Butlin was born in the Cape Colony (part of modern-day South Africa) in September 1899. His parents were British but their marriage had not been considered socially acceptable, so they emigrated. His father was the son of a clergyman while his mother was from a family of travelling showmen. A few years later their marriage was in decline, and Billy Butlin returned to England with his mother and brother, Binkie.
Billy’s mother remarried and moved to Canada. Billy went with her, and left school at 14. He was reportedly unhappy at school, where he was mocked for his English accent. Billy got a job at Eaton’s, a department store in Toronto. He visited their summer camp as part of his employment. This was his first taste of a holiday camp, and it made a lasting impression.
Billy Butlin served for the Canadian Army in World War I. He then returned to England to stay with his uncle in Somerset; Billy purchased and successfully ran a hoopla stall. He made a good profit, and moved to London to set up a stall there. His business continued to grow and he was able to afford to bring his now-widowed mother home from Canada.
These early experiences shaped Butlin as an entrepreneur with a strong understanding of what entertained ordinary people.
How Billy Butlin created his empire
According to a popular story, Billy was sitting at a bus stop on a rainy afternoon in the summer, in the late 1920s. He overheard some disgruntled holidaymakers complaining about the lack of things to do in Skegness. It sparked an idea…
Billy Butlin established an amusement park – hoopla stalls, of course, alongside a haunted house, scenic railway and a tower slide. He also secured himself an exclusive licence to sell dodgem cars.
His park in Skegness was the first place where dodgems were available in Britain. He sold them to other showmen, more proof of his business mind. Billy Butlin continued to grow his Skegness park; by 1930 there was even a zoo.
“Our true intent is all for your delight” – this quote, from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, was the slogan for Butlin’s first Skegness camp.
He opened a similar park in Bognor Regis in 1932. His empire continued to expand: Billy Butlin had amusement parks in Littlehampton, Mablethorpe, Felixstowe, the Isle of Man, Southsea and Hayling Island. He also had winter fairs in Edinburgh and Glasgow. These parks provided multiple income streams for Butlin.
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Butlin’s holiday camps
The first camp, at Ingoldmells near Skegness, opened in April 1936. That same decade, the Holidays with Pay Act 1938 encouraged employers to give workers paid holidays, greatly increasing demand for affordable seaside breaks.
It was advertised in the Daily Express at a cost of £500 – a substantial sum at the time.
His own experience of staying in small hotels and boarding houses in seaside locations had convinced him that there was demand for something better: a week’s stay including three meals a day and free entertainment for a cost of between 35 shillings and £3, depending on the time of year.
Another Butlin’s camp opened in Clacton in 1938, but plans to open a third (in Filey) were halted due to WWII. However, Butlin used the war to his advantage.
He was able to persuade the government to complete his holiday camp in Filey and construct two more camps in Ayr and Pwllheli. These were used as training camps, and Billy reclaimed the sites when the war was over.
Thanks to the post-war boom, Butlin was able to open four more camps in Mosney, Bognor Regis, Minehead and Barry Island.
He also bought various hotels in Blackpool, Saltdean, and Cliftonville. Butlin’s empire thrived, and at its peak in the 1960s Butlin’s camps welcomed around a million visitors a year. Billy Butlin was knighted in 1964 and died in 1980.
Billy Butlin introduced an entirely new type of tourism and he revolutionised the post-war UK domestic tourism industry.
What is a Butlin’s Redcoat?
When the first camp opened in 1936, Billy Butlin saw that it wasn’t quite going as planned. Were his guests bored? Many didn’t seem to be engaging in the planned activities, at least.
Billy asked one of his engineers, Norman Bradford, to entertain the holidaymakers. His jokes completely changed the atmosphere of the camp, and the spirit of Butlin’s came alive.
Billy realised that he would need more than one person to take on the role of entertainer – thus, the role of the Redcoat was born.
Billy told Norman to go and buy a blazer, and to make it distinctive. Norman brought back a variety of blazers – one blue, one yellow and one white to match the camp’s colour scheme. But this wasn’t quite what Billy had in mind. He wanted a colour that evoked the cheerful holiday atmosphere that he yearned to create; he eventually chose a bright red blazer inspired by the Mounties he’d seen while living in Canada as a child.
“A few more people like Norman around would work wonders” – Billy Butlin, 1936
Hotels across the globe now have entertainment teams, just like this. Common especially in all-inclusive resort style hotels, entertainment teams are responsible for ensuring guests have as much fun as possible on their holiday, day and night.
During the day, hotel entertainment teams round up guests for archery, aqua aerobics, volleyball and more. And at night, teams perform musical numbers, circus tricks, elaborate dances and so on. They are keen to involve holidaymakers in the fun.
Billy Butlin’s Redcoats can be seen as a blueprint for hotel and resort entertainment teams around the world.
Why did Billy Butlin have such a big impact on travel?
Butlin had a major impact on the travel industry.
He didn’t have specific training that led him to understand tourism, and his experience was mostly in entertainment rather than specifically ‘holidays’. Nonetheless, he managed to understand and work with the mood of the country in the 30s, and design the luxury holiday camps that went on to be so popular.
From paper to production, everything was Billy Butlin’s vision. His determination and ability to problem-solve was revolutionary at the time, and has continued to inspire hoteliers and other tour operators throughout the years.
Others adopted elements of his business model. Pontins, founded in 1946, offered a similar type of holiday camp, although it has closed most of its parks in recent years. Today, holiday park operators such as Haven, Parkdean Resorts and Center Parcs offer accommodation, entertainment and activities on site. The concept has evolved over time, but the basic idea of a holiday where everything can be found in one place remains.
It has been argued that Billy Butlin was the first person to apply Henry Ford’s mass production techniques to holidaying in Britain.
Holiday camps existed before Butlin’s – for example, Cunningham’s camp on the Isle of Man from the 1890s and Harry Warner’s first camp on Hayling Island in 1931 – but many earlier camps were fairly basic, with simple accommodation, shared catering and limited entertainment.
Butlin made his camps bigger and better. He offered comparative luxury: fashionable and modern (at the time) art deco buildings, based on the designs of ocean liners and grand hotels. They had a wow factor – Butlin’s holiday camps left a mark on the memories of those who visited, right from the beginning.
Modern parallels with Billy Butlin’s techniques
Butlin was a master marketer. From that one Daily Express advert the response was phenomenal, and it gave Billy the confidence to continue with what he was doing and grow his empire. His approach focused on direct business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing, without intermediaries.
Thanks to his days as a travelling showman, face-to-face contact with potential customers was in Butlin’s nature. This meant that he knew what people wanted, at an almost-instinctive level.
Hotels today are often marketed in a similar way – while they can be booked through external sites, many hotels continue to advertise themselves to potential customers. Whether that’s through influencer marketing, full page adverts in glossy magazines or even TV ads, many hotel companies market directly to their target audience today.
It is clear to see that what Billy Butlin created has lived on in terms of product. All-inclusive holidays (whether that’s on a cruise ship, at a Caribbean resort or at a holiday park in the UK) are as popular as ever. Butlin’s camps offered three meals a day, copious entertainment, swimming pools, tennis courts and everything else a family could want. It was a one of a kind holiday experience in the 1930s, and something that continues to be emulated today.
Billy Butlin: To conclude
Billy Butlin had a huge impact on the travel industry. By offering affordable, family-friendly seaside holidays, he changed the way people thought about leisure time. Today, Butlin’s operates resorts at Skegness, Minehead and Bognor Regis, and his legacy can be seen in holiday parks, all-inclusive resorts and entertainment teams around the world.
Billy Butlin: FAQs
Below are answers to some of the most common questions about Billy Butlin.
Who was Billy Butlin?
Sir William ‘Billy’ Butlin (1899-1980) was an entrepreneur who founded the Butlin’s holiday camps and transformed British domestic tourism in the 20th century.
When did the first Butlin’s open?
The first Butlin’s holiday camp opened at Ingoldmells, near Skegness, in April 1936.
What is a Butlin’s Redcoat?
Redcoats are Butlin’s entertainment staff, named after their red blazers. The role began in 1936 and inspired resort entertainment teams around the world.
How many Butlin’s resorts are there today?
Butlin’s currently operates three resorts in the UK: Skegness, Minehead and Bognor Regis.
Why was Billy Butlin important to tourism?
He made affordable, all-in seaside holidays with meals and entertainment available to working families, helping to create mass domestic tourism in Britain.
Further reading
If you found this article helpful, the following posts may also be of interest:
- The history of tourism
- What is domestic tourism?
- What is mass tourism?
- What is a staycation?
- What is enclave tourism?
- What is Fordism?
