Butlin's Pwllheli (latterly Starcoast World) was a holiday camp located near Pwllheli in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. The site is now used by

Haven Holidays Haven Holidays is a chain of holiday parks in the United Kingdom. It operates self catering static caravan holiday parks with many also including touring and camping facilities. The company operates 41 sites in the UK in predominantly coastal ...

for a caravan park and has been renamed '' Hafan y Môr''. When originally opened in 1947, it was named

Butlins Butlin's is a chain of large seaside resorts in the United Kingdom. Butlin's was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families. Between 1936 and 1966, ten camps were built, including one in Ireland and o ...

Pwllheli, but in 1990 was renamed ''Starcoast World''.

Butlins

During World War II the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

, who had already taken over his camp at

Filey Filey () is a seaside town and civil parish in the Borough of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the East Riding of Yorkshire, it is located between Scarborough and Bridlington on Filey Bay. Although it was a fishing ...

, asked Billy Butlin to construct two new camps; one in North Wales and the other in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. Butlin found 150 acres of farm land on the

Llŷn Peninsula The Llŷn Peninsula ( cy, Penrhyn Llŷn or , ) extends into the Irish Sea from North West Wales, south west of the Isle of Anglesey. It is part of the historic county of Caernarfonshire, and historic region and local authority area of Gwynedd. Mu ...

in Wales. The camp opened in 1940 as HMS ''Glendower'', an overflow training camp to HMS ''Royal Establishment''.The National Archives, Kew. ADM 1/10431 The

contracted with Butlin's to extend the camp in 1942. In 1946, after the war, Butlin took back ownership of the camp from the Admiralty and Butlins Pwllheli was opened to the public after some reconstruction work. The holiday camp expanded during the 1950s and 1960s with additional chalet lines and facilities. At the peak in the late 1960s it could accommodate 12,000 campers, serviced by 1,500 staff. On 9 August 1963 Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh paid an official visit to the holiday camp. Pwllheli holiday camp contained established Butlins ingredients: the

Butlins Redcoats ''Redcoat'' is the name given to frontline staff at Butlins holiday camps in the UK. A Redcoat has duties ranging from adult entertainer or children's entertainer to stewarding. History The first Redcoat was Norman Bradford. When Sir Billy ...

, funfair, early morning wake up, dining hall (with the cheers going up when a waitress drops a plate), indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a ballroom, a boating lake, tennis courts, a sports field (for the three legged and egg & spoon races and the donkey derby),

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

and snooker tables, an amusement arcade, a medical centre, a theatre, arcades of shops, a

chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. Th ...

system and a miniature railway. There were many bars and coffee bars. A £1 million entertainment complex at the camp, constructed in 1962, was destroyed by fire in the early hours of 9 August 1973. No one died, although some campers suffered minor injuries. The cause was identified as faulty electrical wiring. During the 1989 summer season, chalets were damaged by a

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

, and the 3,500 guests present had to leave. The estimated £2 million damage was a contributing factor in the later transfer of the camp to the Haven brand.

Railway station

Penychain railway station, formerly known as (and still sometimes referred to as) Butlins Penychain railway station, is located at an overbridge on an unclassified lane just west of the camp. This railway station is an unstaffed halt on the Cambrian Coast Railway with passenger services to Pwllheli, Porthmadog, Harlech, Barmouth, Machynlleth and Shrewsbury. The station still serves the camp but trains only call by request.

Haven Holidays

In 1999, the camp became part of Haven Holidays along with the Heads of Ayr camp as part of an internal reorganisation within

The Rank Group The Rank Group is a gambling company based in the United Kingdom. Rank was involved in the cinema and motion picture industry until 2006, and continues to use the Gongman logo originally used by the Rank Organisation's film distribution subsi ...

who, at the time, owned both Butlins and Haven (both have since been purchased by the owner of British Holidays,

Bourne Leisure Bourne Leisure Holdings Limited is a British private company which owns a number of subsidiary undertakings operating in the leisure and holiday sectors in the United Kingdom including Haven Holidays and Warner Leisure Hotels. Company structure ...

, in 2000). Since being taken over by Haven Holidays it was renamed ''Hafan y Môr'' (Sea Haven) and the focus of operations was transformed from predominantly chalet accommodation to mostly static caravan accommodation. Most of the attractions were also removed including the chairlift, miniature railway, roller coaster and funfair.

References

External links

{{Butlins Llannor Llanystumdwy Tourist attractions in Gwynedd Pwllheli 1947 establishments in Wales Buildings and structures in Gwynedd