Editing Butlin's (section)

==History==
[[File:Billy Butlin at Filey.jpg|right|thumb|Billy Butlin receiving Filey camp back from the [[RAF]], who ran it as ''RAF Hunmanby Moor'' during the Second World War]]
[[File:Gwersyll Gwyliau Butlins ym Mhwllheli (18764084358).jpg|thumb|The Butlins camp at Pwllheli in 1961]]
{{More citations needed section|date=March 2013}}<!-- reference given does not support rest of section -->
Billy Butlin's inspiration for his holiday camp empire came from an unhappy holiday on [[Barry Island]] in his youth, when he had been locked out of his [[bed and breakfast]] accommodation all day by his [[landlord|landlady]], which was normal practice at the time.<ref name="butlin's 1">{{cite web
|title= Bygone Butlin's website
|url=http://www.bygonebutlins.com/barry/
|access-date=8 September 2008
|publisher=BygoneButlins.com 
|year=2007
|work=Barry Island
}}</ref> 
The first of the Butlin's holiday camps was opened by Butlin in 1936 in [[Skegness]], following his success in developing amusement parks. A second camp quickly followed in [[Clacton]] in 1938, and construction of [[Filey Holiday Camp]] began in 1939. With the outbreak of the [[World War II|Second World War]], building at Filey was postponed, and the camps at Skegness and Clacton were given over for military use. Wartime use of Butlin's camps continued, with resorts at [[Ayr]], Filey, and [[Pwllheli]] being completed and opened as military camps. The Ayr camp was later renamed ''Wonderwest World'', and is now owned and run by [[Haven Holidays|Haven]], part of [[Bourne Leisure]], who previously owned both brands.

In 1945, with the war over, Filey was re-opened as a holiday camp. The camps at Skegness and Clacton opened in 1946, Ayr and Pwllheli in 1947 and [[Mosney]] on the east coast of Ireland in 1948. Butlin's became popular in post-war Britain, with family entertainment and activities available for the equivalent of a week's pay.

In 1948, Butlin acquired two hotels in the Bahamas, and in the 1950s Butlin's began acquiring hotels in England and Wales: [[Saltdean]], near [[Brighton]] (1953), [[Blackpool]] (1955) and five in [[Cliftonville]] (1955–1956). Further post-war camps were opened in the 1960s at [[Bognor Regis]] (1960), [[Minehead]] (1962) and [[Barry Island]] (1966). A site was acquired and permission given for a further camp at Holme Dunes, Norfolk. However, these plans were abandoned after the [[North Sea flood of 1953|devastating floods of 31 January 1953]]; the site was later purchased by the [[Holme Dunes|Norfolk Naturalists Trust]] in 1965.

{{main|Midet Aviation#Butlin's Grand Bahama Island project}}
In the late 1940s, Butlin's launched an ambitious project to build a 1000-guest resort at [[West End, Bahamas|West End]], [[Grand Bahama Island]] in the Bahamas from scratch, including the construction of an airport, [[West End Airport]]. Almost all materials and equipment had to be brought in by air or boat onto an island that at the time was almost completely undeveloped. Butlin's operated the partially-completed facility for one season (1950) only before running out of money. A small part of the resort was put back into operation in 1955 before US interests redeveloped it in 1960.

The camps at Ayr and Skegness also had separate self-contained hotels within their grounds. In later years, they were joined by further hotels in [[Scarborough, North Yorkshire|Scarborough]] (1978), [[Llandudno]] (1981), London (1993), a sixth hotel at Cliftonville and one in Spain (1983). In the 1960s and 1970s, the company also operated the ''Top of the Tower'' revolving restaurant at the then-named [[BT Tower|Post Office Tower]] in London.   
 
In 1968, Butlin's son Bobby took over the management of Butlin's, and in 1972 the business was sold to the [[Rank Organisation]] for £43&nbsp;million. The number of camps peaked at ten between 1966 and 1980, but the business experienced the problems being faced by the British seaside holiday industry as a whole, with the introduction of cheap [[package holiday]]s to [[Mediterranean]] [[resort]]s from the 1960s onwards. It also had an image problem of being seen as providing regimented holidays, which caused it to all but abandon the Butlin's name at its remaining resorts between 1987 and 1990.

The camp at Mosney closed in 1982, Clacton and Filey closed in 1983, and the camp at Barry was sold in 1986 (eventually closing in 1996). The lease on the ''Top of the Tower'' restaurant expired in 1980. In 1998, the camps at Ayr and Pwllheli were handed over to Butlin's sister company; Haven. All the Butlin's hotels dating from the 1950s to 1990s were sold in 1998, but most are still open today under different ownership. The [[art deco]] style Ocean Hotel at Saltdean has been redeveloped into apartments, and the hotels at Cliftonville have both been demolished.

In 1998, the "Holiday Worlds" branding was dropped for the remaining resorts in favour of returning the emphasis to the core Butlin's name. Subsequently, in September 2000,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/rank-says-goodbye-to-redcoats-in-pound700m-sale-700020.html|title=Rank says goodbye to redcoats in £700m sale – Business News – Business – The Independent|work=The Independent}}</ref> the resorts and brand were sold to Bourne Leisure. A new Butlin's logo was eventually introduced in 1999, which has subsequently undergone several modifications and was used until 2011 when Butlin's introduced a design similar to their original logo. The new logo was originally only intended to be used temporarily to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Butlin's, but its use continued into 2012 and 2013 and is now the official logo.

In 2005, the new £10&nbsp;million Shoreline hotel was unveiled at the Bognor Regis resort to expand on the existing variety of apartments on the site. The hotel, styled with an [[Art Deco]] theme, aimed to offer luxury accommodation in conjunction with the entertainment and facilities at the resort. Each of the 160 rooms features floor-to-ceiling windows, twin or king-size beds, leatherette chairs, televisions, [[DVD player]]s and [[En-suite|en-suite facilities]]. Some have sea views.  A second site, Ocean Hotel, opened at Bognor in 2009, styled in a high contemporary standard.

In September 2022, it was announced that Blackstone Group that had bought Butlins in 2021 and the Bourne Leisure Group, sold Butlins back to one of the original founding families of Bourne Leisure. In a £300 million deal The Harris Family Trust bought back Butlins, the deal however does not include Butlins property assets as these were sold earlier in the year to the UK’s largest pension fund, the Universities Superannuation Scheme for £300 million. <ref> {{Cite web |date=2022-09-20 |title=Harris Family Trusts buys Butlin’s for £300m |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/20/harris-family-trusts-buys-butlins-for-300m |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=the Guardian |language=en}} </ref>