Ayr | Barry Island | Bognor Regis | Clacton | Filey | Minehead | Mosney | Pwllheli | Skegness
After Butlins announced the closure of Filey in 1983 it lay empty until being sold to Trevor Guy in October 1985. His original plan was to demolish everything and to redevelop the site with luxury bungalows, a conference centre and a heli-pad for visiting off-shore oil workers. However he had a change of plan and decided instead to continue running it as a holiday camp. A 40 acre strip of land was sold to the adjoining Primrose Valley caravan park and all the buildings along this stretch were soon demolished. This included 836 chalets from Yellow and White camps, the York and Windsor dining halls and the Regency ballroom.
The rest of the camp was divided up with the remaining chalets being unfenced and separate from the main camp attractions and buildings. This enabled holidaymakers to come and go as they pleased without having to worry about security checks and passes. 800 chalets were earmarked for use and these were the self-catering units in Red, Green and Blue camps. No half board facility was offered. A number of chalets were also put up for sale with a 20 year lease and 13 were sold on the first day. Another change was to franchise out all the shops, bars and restaurants to local business people.
The main attractions were all located up towards the front and these were fenced in from the chalets with a separate admission fee being charged. Everything was pretty much unchanged from the Butlins era - the indoor and outdoor pools, theatres, bars, ballrooms, cinema, miniature railway and chairlift - virtually all of the buildings were reopened after a quick repaint.
The grand opening took place on 24th May 1986 with the official ceremony being performed by Ernie Wise. However it soon became clear that visitor numbers were much lower than expected and within days various attractions and buildings were closed down to save money. Even the chairlift didn't survive long. With most of the site now closed the action was mainly centred in and around the Kent and French buildings.
The camp finally closed on 7th July 1986, after only around 6 weeks of operation. Low visitor numbers and financial problems were blamed for the closure. The site contents were auctioned in April 1988 and the following month the land was sold to new owners. Demolition began the following year.
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