Manchester and the rest of the UK has been blessed with dry, sunny, and warm weather for some time now. And while many have woken up today again to blue skies this could all come to an abrupt end later today.
21.05.2023 - 09:25 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Countless Greater Manchester families looked forward to spending their summer holiday at a now demolished Pontins holiday camp.
Pontins holiday park in Blackpool was the place generations of Mancunians would escape to for a convenient and pocket-friendly holiday for more than 40-years. Based on Clifton Drive North, the camp was technically in Lytham St Anne's it was advertised as Pontins Blackpool and saw business boom after it opened in 1962.
Pontins holiday camps were the brainchild of Fred Pontin, who opened his first Pontins in a former US army base in Weston-super-Mare in Somerset in 1946. Over the years, the holiday camp magnate bought more camps, expanding his empire to 30 sites at its peak.
Smaller and less expensive than Butlin's holiday camps, Pontins had Bluecoats to entertain guests as opposed to the Redcoats of its major rival. TV stars who learned their comedy trade as former Bluecoats include Bradley Walsh, Shane Richie, Bobby Davro and Lee Mack.
Although there were no actual Pontins camps in Greater Manchester, every year thousands of Mancunians would visit Pontins holiday parks in nearby Southport, Prestatyn, Morecambe and the ever popular Blackpool resort. After Fred Pontin purchased the Blackpool site in 1961, he set about modernising the former Squires Gate holiday camp site into his brand new Pontins.
Later in the 1960s, the original outdoor pool at the site was remodelled and enclosed underneath an arched glass roof. In 1972, a brochure for the Blackpool Pontins site listed its amenities which included a ballroom and theatre, three bars, heated indoor swimming and paddling pool, TV lounges, two cafes, an amusement arcade and even a betting and fish and chip shop.
Outdoor entertainment included a
Manchester and the rest of the UK has been blessed with dry, sunny, and warm weather for some time now. And while many have woken up today again to blue skies this could all come to an abrupt end later today.
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