Butlin’s Holiday Camp 1982

These vibrant photographs capture the unique and somewhat tragi-comic character of the most well-known of all British package holidays: the Butlin's 'jolliday'. Lewis, who worked at Butlin's in the 60s, returned to the Skegness camp in 1982 when the original vision was beginning to fade. Billy Butlin created his holiday attraction in the 1930s, when British workers were granted paid holidays for the first time and families were drawn by the promise of individual chalets, a theatre and a swimming pool. They endured the wet British summers with great joy but in the 80s the lure of affordable European travel and real sun took its toll.