Butlin's Clacton was a holiday camp

Holiday camp

Holiday camp, in Britain, generally refers to a resort with a boundary that includes accommodation, entertainment and other facilities.As distinct from camping, accommodation typically consisted of chalets – small buildings arranged either individually or in blocks. Some had three or four storeys,...

 located on Clacton-on-Sea

Clacton-on-Sea

Clacton-on-Sea is the largest town on the Tendring peninsula, in Essex, England and was founded in 1871. It is a seaside resort that attracted many tourists in the summer months between the 1950s and 1970s, but which like many other British sea-side resorts went into decline as a holiday...

 in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It opened in 1938 and closed in 1983.

History

Clacton-on-Sea is the largest town on the Tendring

Tendring

Tendring is a local government district in North East Essex, England. It extends from the River Stour in the north, to the coast and the River Colne in the south, with the coast to the East and the town of Colchester to the west. Its council is based in Clacton-on-Sea. Towns in the district...

 Peninsula

Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....

 in Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

 and was founded in 1871. It is a seaside resort

Seaside resort

A seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...

 that attracted many tourists in the summer months between the 1950s and 1970s, but like many other British seaside resorts went into decline as a holiday destination since holidays abroad became more affordable. In 1936 Billy Butlin

Billy Butlin

Sir William Heygate Edmund Colborne Butlin, , was a British, South Africa-born entrepreneur whose name is synonymous with the British holiday camp.American Heritage Dictionary 2004, p. 135.Scott 2001, p. 5...

 made moves to create a new holiday camp there, by buying and refurbishing the West Clacton Estate, an amusement park to the west of the town. After gaining the support of the local council, construction began and the camp opened on 11 June 1938.
During the War years, all the Butlin's camps were requisitioned by the Government. Clacton was originally planned to be used as a POW camp, fortunately it was spared this indignity and was used as a training site for the pioneer corps. However during its occupation, the camp suffered significant damage and substantial repairs had to be carried out to put the camp back into operation. It reopened to the public in 1946. In 1972, Butlin's as an organisation was bought by the Rank Group.

The Clacton camp was open until 1983 when due to package holiday

Package holiday

A package holiday or package tour consists of transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided like a rental car, activities or outings during the holiday. Transport can be via charter airline to a foreign country...

s and changing tastes, the holiday camp was closed and sold to a group of former departmental managers at the camp who reopened it as a short-lived theme park called Atlas Park. Atlas Park only lasted a year and the land was then sold and redeveloped with housing.