I holidayed at Butlin's Filey in 1966 and 1967, the second holiday was a prize that my family won the previous year, great times, all the entertainment was free once you'd got there. My family were fans of Butlin's in the sixties, we went to Ayr in 1964, Skegness in 1868 and Bognor Regis in 1969.
We stayed a few times; twice in Chalet 1 on the Yellow Camp. I remember a redcoat called Mike who impressed my mum with his rendition of "Send in The Clowns". Always had a great time there. I clearly remember the sound of the fountains in the Hawaiian bar, the fairground and the ice-cream bar where my dad would treat me with a Nickerblocker glory on our last day. We also holidayed at Bognor Regis and had a day pass to Minehead but neither were a patch on Filey.
Thank you my friend for your kind comments I was a redcoat at filey the year it closed. It was a job that i wanted since i went there at 7 years old. I was lucky i just made it. The video was my story in pictures. Filey was the largest of the camps, and remained unique in its simplicity to entertain the many thousands of holiday makers that came through its gates. When it closed in 83, It was such a great shock to everyone. We can never share those memories again, until now. Enjoy. 63banjoboy
Thanks for uploading this Stuart Galloway I remember butlins Filey during the late 70s and early 80s as my late parents had 2 caravans on primrose Valley next door as a teenager I recall the during the late 70s butlins Filey In it’s prime the things like the chair lifts and the chalets though granted I never actually visited butlins Filey I do recall the sad sight of the chalets in decay around 1985 onwards before my parents sold on there caravans in late 1988 such a poignant video and brilliant memories and a tribute to the late Sir Billy Butlin who was such a forward thinking visionary it was a absolute shame that Butlins Filey did not survive
I worked there in 1975. A beautiful summer. I met my best friend there, we worked in Kent dining hall issuing the tea, coffee and milk jugs etc. The song 'I'm not in love' by 10CC puts me right back there.
You didn't happen to know a bloke called Eddie who worked in the kitchens in 1975, he only had the 1 season there in 1975, i dont know his last name unfortunately, my wife's friend is trying to locate him as its her biological dad, she was 15 months when he left
many memories of this place on holiday as a kid 79-82.the swimming pool was ace cos you could see people swimming through the glass windows.and the beachcomer bar had some great laughs in there.remember the masive snooker hall it looked huge when i was young. on a night the swimming pool and fountain was lit up back then i was in amazement. real shame things have to change, i know my kids would have loved it. RIP Filey butlins
My Mother and Father started going in 1946 up till the early 50's following the dance(big ) Bands.I spent the best holidays I ever had in the 60's there.I dont like people who probably never went calling Butlins Filey It was a FABULOUS place to be.I would rather be there anytime than stood in a queue at Manchester Airport with a load of Tattoed Peasants.
I went there in 1978, the year after the railway connection had closed but it was still a very busy place. I have good memories of the camp, shame to see it didn't survive. I do remember being in the TV room when Top Of The Pops was on and the number one came on - all the girls were singing along with "You're The One That I Want"!
such a weird feeling seeing this on you tube, i have so many memories as a child and funnily enough, when i got married to my childhood sweetheart, we had our honeymoon at this camp the year it closed in 1983. i still miss it to this day
I was there for a week in July 83. I'd just turned 13. Amazing place, girls everywhere lol I loved that boating pond and the swimming pools. The place was busy too, so sad they couldn't keep it going. A caravan park? Very sad.
i have so many happy memories of holidays at butlins but they're from bognor and skegness. Since 2004 ive enjoyed primrose valley and blue dolphin Haven caravan parks but now im older...43!...how i appreciate the ORIGINAL BRITISH holiday camp. how i envy butlins redcoats and how amazing their jobs were in the 70's and 80's.
I first saw this back in 2011, was never at Butlins Filey, but so wish I had. However, the song by Glen Campbell, thanks to this video, my wife and I used as our first dance song at our wedding in 2013 😉. Thank you 👌👏
@@63BANJOBOY Thanks Stuart. My wife went to Butlins at Ayr many times. Have been there since it became Haven along with Primrose Valley, nice but not the same. This video and the soundtrack mean a lot to us, thank you for bringing to us. Best wishes. 😄😄😄👏🤗🤗🤗
I had many of a good holiday at butlins Filey and if it was still open today I would definitely go back to it we had many walks from Filey beach to Scarborough what lovely memories 😊
Well done, what a GREAT well produced video. Simple times, what a shame to see all those wonderful creations destroyed. Why did it close ?? I went to Butlins Pwefllie( sorry for spelling) in Wales around 1968 with my dear Mum & Dad what an adventure.I live on the Isle of Wight and a similar Holiday park called HARCOURT SANDS , right on the beach has been closed for a few years and now demolished, its such a shame. Cheers for doing this video.
thanx so much made a tear drop. what a secret site was looking at purchasing the remains of the pool never happened as wouldnt sell. may all who worked and visited live with smiles for the once great butlins...yours richy
I mind going here from age 5 too 13 When I was here I met h from steps when he was a red coat here :) I miss the butlins and one year the whizzy kids were here too
thanks for this it brought back so many memories all from a very happy childhood with gran mam and dad and brother in the 60s best holidays ever from swimming underwater waving through the windows to being put in the boxing ring at five ha ha many thanks
I worked there in '66 for only 3 weeks but remember it well. We worked/slaved in Windsor dining hall while the English vanquished the Germans 4-2 on a hot afternoon. I still have some photos somewhere.Lots of laugh after work! Get in touch Imogen and Kay and Chrissie and Pat from Aberdeen!
Aah, thank you soooooooooo very much, im in bita n pieces! I'm the Butlin Baby! Or Sammy Mason Rockys daughter! I had the best childhood any kid could wish for and it's thanks to Butlins Filey and all my dads wonderful staff who looked out for me, kept my from being bored, and made sure i was always safe. I was so chuffed the last shot of us all in OTM costume included me! haha! Wonderful memories, thank you so very very much for posting this up. Big X Sammy
Surely proof that Butlins itself could still be going strong there. In a way it virtually is, given that Primrose Valley is owned by Bourne Leisure, who now own Butlins too. Such a sad video but thanks for posting it.
Good video. It's really sad to see places like these left for ruins when you know at one time people were having fun times there. so sad. I didn't actually visit Filey but I did visit Butlins Barry Island and I made a video about that when it was sadly left for ruins. You can view it here on youtube if you type in Butlins barry island compilation.
I visited Butlins Filey once once, at the age of 2, so don't remember it really but I do know it was just as much of a special place as the other Butlins camps I have visited many many times over my childhood, and more recently too. Closing Filey must surely be the saddest decision any business has ever made. Primrose Valley is still operating right next door, and even on parts of the old butlins site, and now features several of the attractions Butlins once had.
Sadly I never went! It closed before I was born but reminds me of the great times I had at minehead as a child as I imagine it was all similar, just back from the bay and actually went for a lookround to see if anything was outstanding from the original site which sadly I couldn’t find other than the train station which is overgrown 😢
The turning loop for the land train is still there. Just near the top of the walk way down to the beach. Close to the foundation of the old chair lifts.
63 banjoboy thanks for the vid, always holidayed at Butlins or Pontins as a kid in 70/80's loved everything about it. i rememner smaking my head of the water fountain and still have the photo , i actually took the family to the Bay Filey last weekend by coincidence which was creepy looking out across the site could almost hear the red coats singing goodnight ! when it closed did you red coat at another site?
many happy memories of family holidays! Feels weird in the pit of my stomach when you just see wasteland! Thanks for sharing! tried to google earth but not sure what side of primrose valley butlins was??????
I'm starting my own urban myth - Your never more than an arms length away from a house brick. Lol! I'm serious, there every bloody where you dig. Talk about burying the past.
I'm sorry to al those with happy memories but when I went there in 1977 it was rank!. Chalet was literally Stalag style, concrete floor peeling paint on a concrete wall, damp. The other buildings were equally foul, old and decrepit.Food was no better than school dinners of the same era. Thank God it was only a week, which I think I actually did do - thank God - ( even though I reject religoun ) because it was one of those themed weeks for groups - dragged along by my parents.Church based hol.
I went in sept 80 and 81 with my dad, and it was 'church week'. The only difference was that the dining rooms were turned into religious book shops. Otherwise they were great hols even though we lived off hot dog sausages, smash and beans for a week because dad couldn't cook, though I did discover hamburgers there which were delicious.
We got Thatchered. Short term profits suddenly mattered much more than ordinary people's happiness. They blamed a drop in popularity but I was there in July 83 and it was very busy.
@@davidmccallum2179 I don’t think it was down to Maggie Thatcher. My guess would be the classic British Butlins holiday fell out of fashion for a lot of people because they wanted to fly and go abroad. Air travel became more affordable from the late 60s and even more so in the 80s and 90s.
@@nigelkthomas9501 Probably a number of factors tbh but a major one was the tax boom from the offshore oil industry poured into the treasury. The government were advised to funnel a lot of it into an oil fund to prevent it raising the pound to high too fast. They refused, believing a strong pound was more important. It delt a severe blow to our struggling industry's including the holiday industry. It was especially hard hit because the strong pound meant cheap holidays abroad became affordable to ordinary working class people. Of course the almost guaranteed sunshine helped but the whole experience was lost. Frying on a beach in Majorca is just not the same and the money flows out of this country instead of benefiting UK businesses. Maybe we are victims of our own success.....or excess......or just plain old fashioned greed. D
many happy memories of family holidays! Feels weird in the pit of my stomach when you just see wasteland! Thanks for sharing! tried to google earth but not sure what side of primrose valley butlins was??????
The site is right next to Primrose Valley Holiday Park, which owns 10 acres of the old butlins site. The rest is now a housing development known as The Bay, Filey.
I went from 1979 until 1983, I was there on the week it announced it was closing for good.
I holidayed at Butlin's Filey in 1966 and 1967, the second holiday was a prize that my family won the previous year, great times, all the entertainment was free once you'd got there. My family were fans of Butlin's in the sixties, we went to Ayr in 1964, Skegness in 1868 and Bognor Regis in 1969.
We stayed a few times; twice in Chalet 1 on the Yellow Camp. I remember a redcoat called Mike who impressed my mum with his rendition of "Send in The Clowns".
Always had a great time there. I clearly remember the sound of the fountains in the Hawaiian bar, the fairground and the ice-cream bar where my dad would treat me with a Nickerblocker glory on our last day.
We also holidayed at Bognor Regis and had a day pass to Minehead but neither were a patch on Filey.
Butlins made the world a better place. Thanks Billy and all of the staff.
Great video 😊
Thank you my friend for your kind comments I was a redcoat at filey the year it closed. It was a job that i wanted since i went there at 7 years old. I was lucky i just made it. The video was my story in pictures. Filey was the largest of the camps, and remained unique in its simplicity to entertain the many thousands of holiday makers that came through its gates. When it closed in 83, It was such a great shock to everyone. We can never share those memories again, until now. Enjoy.
63banjoboy
I loved that camp and the dinning Halls where you went for your meals I can remember if someone dropped a plate on the floor everyone cheered
Thanks for uploading this Stuart Galloway I remember butlins Filey during the late 70s and early 80s as my late parents had 2 caravans on primrose Valley next door as a teenager I recall the during the late 70s butlins Filey In it’s prime the things like the chair lifts and the chalets though granted I never actually visited butlins Filey I do recall the sad sight of the chalets in decay around 1985 onwards before my parents sold on there caravans in late 1988 such a poignant video and brilliant memories and a tribute to the late Sir Billy Butlin who was such a forward thinking visionary it was a absolute shame that Butlins Filey did not survive
If it wasnt for UA-cam we would not see this video. One aspect of important British history. Thanks for posting.
I worked there in 1975. A beautiful summer. I met my best friend there, we worked in Kent dining hall issuing the tea, coffee and milk jugs etc. The song 'I'm not in love' by 10CC puts me right back there.
You didn't happen to know a bloke called Eddie who worked in the kitchens in 1975, he only had the 1 season there in 1975, i dont know his last name unfortunately, my wife's friend is trying to locate him as its her biological dad, she was 15 months when he left
Only three Butlins left, Skegness, Minehead and Bognor Regis. There used to be Filey, Pwllheli, Barry Island near Cardiff and Ayr, Scotland.
many memories of this place on holiday as a kid 79-82.the swimming pool was ace cos you could see people swimming through the glass windows.and the beachcomer bar had some great laughs in there.remember the masive snooker hall it looked huge when i was young.
on a night the swimming pool and fountain was lit up back then i was in amazement.
real shame things have to change, i know my kids would have loved it.
RIP Filey butlins
I'd forgotten about the glass swimming pool, thanks for reminding me. I loved the Beachcomber Bar.
My Mother and Father started going in 1946 up till the early 50's following the dance(big ) Bands.I spent the best holidays I ever had in the 60's there.I dont like people who probably never went calling Butlins Filey It was a FABULOUS place to be.I would rather be there anytime than stood in a queue at Manchester Airport with a load of Tattoed Peasants.
I went there in 1978, the year after the railway connection had closed but it was still a very busy place. I have good memories of the camp, shame to see it didn't survive.
I do remember being in the TV room when Top Of The Pops was on and the number one came on - all the girls were singing along with "You're The One That I Want"!
Can't we tip Primrose Valley into the sea and rebuild Butlins just as it was? If we do they will come - oh yes they will come...
such a weird feeling seeing this on you tube, i have so many memories as a child and funnily enough, when i got married to my childhood sweetheart, we had our honeymoon at this camp the year it closed in 1983. i still miss it to this day
Was there as a 5 year old in 83 and still have memories of the red coats, the pool, and the fun.
I was at Butlins Filey in 1965 when i was 12 years old and enjoyed it very much. who is singing the song? Thanks.
Heartbreaking.
the empty field at the end was harsh, sad. great film
There's a housing estate built there now😔
I was there for a week in July 83. I'd just turned 13. Amazing place, girls everywhere lol I loved that boating pond and the swimming pools. The place was busy too, so sad they couldn't keep it going. A caravan park? Very sad.
Memories of happy times are one of the few things that don't age.
I worked in Kent dining hall in 1975. Best year of my life. It all seems like a dream now......
Love your compilation of photos, what beautiful memories for me.
Thank you.
I was very moved. wonderful times.
i have so many happy memories of holidays at butlins but they're from bognor and skegness. Since 2004 ive enjoyed primrose valley and blue dolphin Haven caravan parks but now im older...43!...how i appreciate the ORIGINAL BRITISH holiday camp. how i envy butlins redcoats and how amazing their jobs were in the 70's and 80's.
Went in 1969 with my mom great memories meet a great girl Karen !
Fantastic video and appropriate music too. It brought back a lot of good memories. Thank you.
Yes the music was very poignant. I never went to Filey Butlins but I felt the atmosphere from this video, an amazing place.
GREAT VIDEO I miss Butlins in Ayr so much... Haven spolied the magic
great shame they all shut down great place to go for fun.
I first saw this back in 2011, was never at Butlins Filey, but so wish I had. However, the song by Glen Campbell, thanks to this video, my wife and I used as our first dance song at our wedding in 2013
😉. Thank you 👌👏
Many Years Of Happiness To You And Your Wife Arthur, Thanks Again, Stuart G
@@63BANJOBOY
Thanks Stuart. My wife went to Butlins at Ayr many times. Have been there since it became Haven along with Primrose Valley, nice but not the same. This video and the soundtrack mean a lot to us, thank you for bringing to us. Best wishes.
😄😄😄👏🤗🤗🤗
Worked at Filey in 1983. Remember it well. I was in main catering.
I had many of a good holiday at butlins Filey and if it was still open today I would definitely go back to it we had many walks from Filey beach to Scarborough what lovely memories 😊
I went to Butlins in 1967, loved the place, till i got food poisoning on day 3, and was ill the rest of the week.
thank you for the great british holiday
the memories will last forever
Well done, what a GREAT well produced video. Simple times, what a shame to see all those wonderful creations destroyed. Why did it close ?? I went to Butlins Pwefllie( sorry for spelling) in Wales around 1968 with my dear Mum & Dad what an adventure.I live on the Isle of Wight and a similar Holiday park called HARCOURT SANDS , right on the beach has been closed for a few years and now demolished, its such a shame.
Cheers for doing this video.
thanx so much made a tear drop. what a secret site was looking at purchasing the remains of the pool never happened as wouldnt sell. may all who worked and visited live with smiles for the once great butlins...yours richy
Hello Henry purchasing the pool what do you mean ? Regards Steve .
I mind going here from age 5 too 13
When I was here I met h from steps when he was a red coat here :) I miss the butlins and one year the whizzy kids were here too
thanks for this it brought back so many memories all from a very happy childhood with gran mam and dad and brother in the 60s best holidays ever from swimming underwater waving through the windows to being put in the boxing ring at five ha ha many thanks
Great video. Thanks for posting.
That was lovely. Well done.
I was down in Skegness by then.Still in touch with a few Filey ents staff,,,,,even Rocky.
Very sad yet uplifting as well.
I worked there in '66 for only 3 weeks but remember it well. We worked/slaved in Windsor dining hall while the English vanquished the Germans 4-2 on a hot afternoon. I still have some photos somewhere.Lots of laugh after work! Get in touch Imogen and Kay and Chrissie and Pat from Aberdeen!
My dad Drew Burns worked there in '66.
Aah, thank you soooooooooo very much, im in bita n pieces! I'm the Butlin Baby! Or Sammy Mason Rockys daughter! I had the best childhood any kid could wish for and it's thanks to Butlins Filey and all my dads wonderful staff who looked out for me, kept my from being bored, and made sure i was always safe. I was so chuffed the last shot of us all in OTM costume included me! haha! Wonderful memories, thank you so very very much for posting this up. Big X Sammy
I ran the skating rink there is the 1974 - 75 I didn't know how well off I was lol
Surely proof that Butlins itself could still be going strong there. In a way it virtually is, given that Primrose Valley is owned by Bourne Leisure, who now own Butlins too.
Such a sad video but thanks for posting it.
Went as a kid good memories
Good video. It's really sad to see places like these left for ruins when you know at one time people were having fun times there. so sad. I didn't actually visit Filey but I did visit Butlins Barry Island and I made a video about that when it was sadly left for ruins. You can view it here on youtube if you type in Butlins barry island compilation.
There's always a Ted Bovis and a Sylvia. When we used to go to Pontins, there was all sorts of shenanigans going on with the staff 😂
I visited Butlins Filey once once, at the age of 2, so don't remember it really but I do know it was just as much of a special place as the other Butlins camps I have visited many many times over my childhood, and more recently too.
Closing Filey must surely be the saddest decision any business has ever made. Primrose Valley is still operating right next door, and even on parts of the old butlins site, and now features several of the attractions Butlins once had.
Fun Finder i
Sadly I never went! It closed before I was born but reminds me of the great times I had at minehead as a child as I imagine it was all similar, just back from the bay and actually went for a lookround to see if anything was outstanding from the original site which sadly I couldn’t find other than the train station which is overgrown 😢
The turning loop for the land train is still there. Just near the top of the walk way down to the beach. Close to the foundation of the old chair lifts.
63 banjoboy thanks for the vid,
always holidayed at Butlins or Pontins as a kid in 70/80's loved everything about it.
i rememner smaking my head of the water fountain and still have the photo , i actually took the family to the Bay Filey last weekend by coincidence which was creepy looking out across the site could almost hear the red coats singing goodnight ! when it closed did you red coat at another site?
Great memories
I remember the "Pig & Whistle Bar". from being "Staff in 1966".
1945 till 1983 not 1946.
it's ashame it had to close
many happy memories of family holidays! Feels weird in the pit of my stomach when you just see wasteland! Thanks for sharing! tried to google earth but not sure what side of primrose valley butlins was??????
on the Brid side
My only memory of the camp was as a child they had to stop the little Big Dipper for me to get off.
Wow
I'm starting my own urban myth - Your never more than an arms length away from a house brick. Lol! I'm serious, there every bloody where you dig. Talk about burying the past.
Please could someone tell us the music and artist to this great but sad video.
Glen Campbell - Grow Old with Me: One of the cover versions he did after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's, I believe
@@marcusmercer3208 Thanks Marcus...what a lovely sad sentimental song. Best wishes
Two of my photos in this video. alas, not the happier ones. :(
I remember a bar/pub that what have like a storm in it an flash lights an play thunder
The beachcomer bar. magical had a Hawaiian theme .Back then it was fantastic .
I'm sorry to al those with happy memories but when I went there in 1977 it was rank!. Chalet was literally Stalag style, concrete floor peeling paint on a concrete wall, damp. The other buildings were equally foul, old and decrepit.Food was no better than school dinners of the same era. Thank God it was only a week, which I think I actually did do - thank God - ( even though I reject religoun ) because it was one of those themed weeks for groups - dragged along by my parents.Church based hol.
I went in sept 80 and 81 with my dad, and it was 'church week'. The only difference was that the dining rooms were turned into religious book shops. Otherwise they were great hols even though we lived off hot dog sausages, smash and beans for a week because dad couldn't cook, though I did discover hamburgers there which were delicious.
I went in September 1983, probably to the last week at Butlins, Filey ever. It was a christian week. :)
Yes, Christian week. I was told Cliff Richard was there in Christian week the year before I first went, in 1979.
i was only 2 then lol x
What went wrong?
We got Thatchered. Short term profits suddenly mattered much more than ordinary people's happiness. They blamed a drop in popularity but I was there in July 83 and it was very busy.
@@davidmccallum2179 I don’t think it was down to Maggie Thatcher. My guess would be the classic British Butlins holiday fell out of fashion for a lot of people because they wanted to fly and go abroad. Air travel became more affordable from the late 60s and even more so in the 80s and 90s.
@@nigelkthomas9501 Probably a number of factors tbh but a major one was the tax boom from the offshore oil industry poured into the treasury. The government were advised to funnel a lot of it into an oil fund to prevent it raising the pound to high too fast. They refused, believing a strong pound was more important. It delt a severe blow to our struggling industry's including the holiday industry. It was especially hard hit because the strong pound meant cheap holidays abroad became affordable to ordinary working class people. Of course the almost guaranteed sunshine helped but the whole experience was lost. Frying on a beach in Majorca is just not the same and the money flows out of this country instead of benefiting UK businesses. Maybe we are victims of our own success.....or excess......or just plain old fashioned greed. D
@@davidmccallum2179 Yep. I’ll go with that!
i went to york in august i could'nt find nothing to do with butlins filey now signs plaques or info.
many happy memories of family holidays! Feels weird in the pit of my stomach when you just see wasteland! Thanks for sharing! tried to google earth but not sure what side of primrose valley butlins was??????
The site is right next to Primrose Valley Holiday Park, which owns 10 acres of the old butlins site. The rest is now a housing development known as The Bay, Filey.
@@goodolgranite8247 not a housing development, it's a holiday village. Been there.