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A bit about fred Pontin
Fred Pontin was born in London's East
End on October 24th 1906 and went on to have a successful
career in the city's Stock Exchange. During the war years he became involved with helping to establish hostels for construction
workers and, using this experience decided to venture into the holiday business by forming a company to buy an old disused
camp at Brean Sands in 1946. The asking price was £23,000 with Pontin supplying 50% (helped by a substantial loan from Barclays)
with the remainder coming from various city investors. The small eight acre site had been open since the 1930s and had recently
seen use as a US Army base. It was in a pretty bad state and consisted of nothing more than a motley collection of semi-derelict
wooden huts with accommodation for 200 people. After a quick revamp, and an advert in the Sunday Express, the site opened
for business and was soon swamped with holiday makers. Seeing the success of his first venture Pontin immediately went on
the acquisition trail and within weeks had snapped up a second camp at Osmington Bay near Weymouth. He then transformed the
business into a publicly quoted company on the London Stock Exchange and additional funds were raised to purchase an additional
four camps the following year.
This set the pattern for future expansion, he'd usually buy
up existing camps and give them a Pontin makeover. Some of the camps were bought privately and run by himself for a year or
two before being transferred to the company of Pontins Ltd in exchange for additional company shares. Camps were hardly ever
built from scratch and were always much smaller than the mammoth sites being run by Butlins. By 1947 the six Pontin camps
had a total combined capacity of 1,300 people. Butlins had five camps with a total capacity of over 30,000 people! Pontin
never had any desire to copy this and always insisted that smaller camps were more manageable and cost effective. The lower
overheads were also reflected in the prices and a week at Pontins was always much cheaper, albeit without the huge range of
entertainment and attractions. During the summer of 1965 a week full-board at Butlins cost around £16 per adult - the same
week at Pontins was just £10.
Fred Pontin and Billy Butlin always had a strong but friendly
rivalry. Butlin once paid a secret visit to the Pontin camp at Brean Sands and nothing more was heard until several years
later when a photograph surfaced of him drinking in the camp bar. Pontin jumped at this wonderful publicity and the picture
appeared in the following years brochure with the slogan "All the best people come to Pontins!". Butlin was apparently none
too pleased. The expansion continued with the acquisition of a camp in Ireland as well as an upmarket manor house near Torquay
named Barton Hall - in 1963 this became home to Britain's first outdoor artificial ski slope.
The 1960s saw some major developments in the holiday camp
industry with Butlins opening three massive new centres. Pontins responded with more acquisitions and the empire grew to include
sixteen camps including expansion into the island of Jersey. A couple of brand new centres were also built on greenfield sites
and one of these (Prestatyn) later featured in the 1970s movie 'Holiday on the Buses'. The 1960s also saw the introduction
of the Pontin Bluecoats, a sneaky copy of their famous Red counterparts at Butlins (Warners had their Greencoats). Famous
ex-Bluecoats include Shane Ritchie, Brian Connelly, Bradley Walsh and Gemma Craven.
Butlins were still providing somewhat basic food and accommodation
and were focusing all their energies on bigger and better entertainment. Realising he could never compete in this area Pontin
decided to instead focus on improved accommodation and by carrying out a major revamp of the catering department. Chalets
were equipped with such luxuries as en-suite bathrooms and televisions, then unheard of at Butlins. Traditional dining halls
were replaced with wide ranging self-serve buffets. Pontin also pioneered the use of self-catering, an idea that Billy Butlin
had always opposed. It wasn't until his son Bobby took over that self catering first appeared at Butlins.
Pontin was also responsible for helping to start the foreign
package holiday craze in the 1960s with the construction of a new hotel in Sardinia. He could offer a two week holiday with
flights, accommodation, food, drink, entertainment (and guaranteed sun!) for less than £50. The venture was successful and
Pontinental Holidays was formed to build additional hotels and camps in Majorca, Spain and Ibiza. He also took over a Belgian
company which added a further six sites to his growing Mediterranean empire.
By the mid 1970s Butlins was heading on a downward spiral
due to its massive overheads and the need to fill thousands of beds at each camp. The smaller Pontin sites were still booming
and the empire now consisted of 24 camps plus the Mediterranean locations. In fact Billy Butlin accepted an invitation from
Pontin to join the board of directors at his Jersey camp. Pontin was knighted in 1976 and the following year his company announced
profits of £6.6 million (around £30 million in 2004 prices)
In 1978 the company was sold to betting company Coral in a
£56 million deal which Fred Pontin later regretted. In 1980 Coral (including Pontins) was bought out by brewing giant Bass
who later disposed of the Pontinental side of the business. In 1987 Pontins was sold to a management buyout team lead by Trevor
Hemmings who'd been involved with Pontins since the late 1960s when his construction company had built the new camps at Southport
and Prestatyn. He later sold this company to Pontins in return for a substantial shareholding and a seat on the board.
In 1989 Pontins was sold yet again, this time to Scottish
& Newscatle. Over the next 10 years the company made some major changes which included the sale/closure of a number of
sites. In 1995 the remaining camps benefited from a much needed 3-year £55 million modernisation programme which helped to
make up for the lack of investment over the previous 15 years. But the company was still not producing the expected returns
and in 2000 it was sold back to Mr Hemmings although only 8 camps now remained. Mr Hemmings is now a major player in the UK
leisure business and one of the wealthiest men in the country with assets of around £500 million.
Although Fred Pontin had deep regrets over the sale of his
company, in hindsight it was a good move as the holiday camp industry was set to suffer some major declines throughout the
1980s. He decided that retirement wasn't an option and involved himself in a number of new leisure interests including the
London Dungeon and a handful of small but exclusive hotels in the West Country. He spent his later years living in Blackpool
and it was there that his remarkable life ended on September 30th 2000 at the age of 93.
the infomation is thanks to the potins page on the Butlins memories web site | 
