Butlin's Minehead 

**There is a lot of history here if you wish to bypass this and go to the Minehead submenu, click on these words**

Before the Butlin's Holiday Camp
Looking for a new location for his next holiday camp, Sir William (Billy) Butlin would arrive at Minehead in Somerset. The location of his camps had to be in areas that had advantages for his customers to enjoy the Butlin's magic and the beauty of the town.  The 165 acres of farming land was purchased that was close to the railway, the ocean, the town and transport links. 

1961 - Construction had started
Building the new Butlin's camp was not going to be easy as the land was known for flooding. To help solve this issue, a trench was built around the camp to allow the water to drain away. A lake was built at the rear of the resort which later became the boating lake.  The cost of building this camp was 2 million pounds with chalets, a dining room and entertainment buildings in place. 
 
1962 - Butlin's Minehead opens its gates for the first time
The gates would open for the first time in Somerset as another Butlins was added to the United Kingdom map. The camp would have chalets, entertainment buildings and a dining room with the traditional funfair included. 

1964 -The miniature railway
The magic of Butlin's continued to expand as other areas were added to increase the experience for the customers as a miniature railway was added. 

1965 - Chairlifts
The chairlifts were added in 1965 to allow the customers to see the pure beauty of Minehead town and the camp. 

1967 -  The Iconic Butlin's Monorail Train
For the second time in Butlin's timeline, the Monorail train is installed in the Minehead camp. The track was not the same as Skegness as this one travelled around in a figure eight. This monorail train track was also unique as it allowed the trains to travel above and below each other above the outside swimming pool

1986 - 1998  - The birth of Butlins Somerwest World
The owners of Butlins, the Rank organisation, had made some major changes to Butlins with the closure of many other locations such as Clacton and Barry Island. With only five camps remaining, Minehead was one of the selected locations to continue the Butlin's name. Renamed Butlin's Somerwest World, the camp would see some major changes such as new villages built (Exmoor and Somerset Village) and the introduction of the caravans for the first time. The swimming pools would change to funpools with the main pool having flumes and rapids installed. The Oasis swimming pool would also be added at a later stage with the outside swimming pool being converted into a funpool also with slides being added. 

1999 - Butlins Holiday Camp was renamed to Holiday Resort
The owners at the time, the Rank organisation, had made a bold move to change Butlins in a big way and further reduce the number of camps and hotels that represent the name. All the hotels were sold as this division came to an end with only three remaining locations continuing the Butlin's name. They are Skegness, Bognor Regis and Minehead, which were all now known as Butlins Family Entertainment Resorts.

2002 - 2021 - Butlins Minehead has a new owner
Bourne Leisure Limited purchased the Rank holiday division and made some changes that brought back some former areas that were removed in the change in 1999. This included the reintroduction of the Adult weekends, which were stopped in the new resort format. Many chalets on the camp were upgraded to meet the new demands with a former single-decker accommodation being completely demolished to make way for the new Lakeside village chalet design.  Bourne Leisure Limited had invested a great deal of money in Butlins with many changes to make it modern with a traditional twist. 

2022  - 2024 - Butlins has a new owner -  The Harris Family Trust
Bourne Leisure Limited had seen a change in the ownership as a company called Blackstone had purchased a majority share. New plans were being made for the Haven and Warner's location with Butlins not fitting into these ideas.  Butlins was put up for sale for all three locations and this was when the Harris family had purchased them and from there, Butlin's continued to be in safe hands.