Pontins Hemsby Holiday Camp

Pontins Hemsby began life as the little 9-acre Hemsby Holiday Camp which was opened back in 1920 by Hector Potter. It was the first camp in the country to have permanent structures as opposed to tents and is widely regarded as the first proper holiday camp in the country. A couple of years later another camp opened across the street called Seacroft which was built by 19-year old Jack Bishop.

In 1924 Potter sold the camp to Harry Maddieson for £8,000 and later went on to establish the Potters Resort in Hopton which continues to thrive today. Over the next 46 years the Maddieson family continued to operate and improve the camp. It was a full board facility so all meals were included and taken in the large communal dining hall. Chalets consisted of a bed and maybe a bathroom.

In January 1950 a large fire destroyed the main entertainment building. The names and addresses of 10,000 people who’d booked to stay at the camp were lost. Thankfully a large new structure was built in time for the summer season. Maddieson went on to acquire four more holiday camps along the south coast.

Pontins Hemsby

In 1970 Fred Pontin arrived in Hemsby and bought both the Maddieson and Seacroft camps. While Seacroft remained relatively unchanged Pontin totally rebuilt and enlarged the old Maddieson site. He acquired more land to the south, increasing the size to 22 acres. All the old chalets were demolished and replaced with new self-catering apartment blocks. It then became one of his new “rent a chalet” camps.  Sadly it lost a lot of its old charm and character and ended up looking more like a housing estate. Several of the old Maddieson structures were retained including the main entertainment building, the swimming pool and the club house. The pool was enclosed inside a new building.

The new camp reopened on 17th July 1971 but construction wasn’t finished with plenty of customers walking out and demanding refunds. This continued for the remainder of that first year. The official opening took place in May 1972 when everything was finally complete. Once the initial troubles were ironed out it settled down to a successful existence.

Each of the 512 apartments had a kitchen, bathroom, lounge and one or two bedrooms. Electricity and heating was supplied via a coin meter and even the early TVs required a coin to operate. The showers had a button that had to be pressed every few seconds to keep the water flowing.

Facilities included a boating lake, ballroom, several bars, an outdoor playground, a kids nursery with resident nanny, games room, launderette, hairdressers and a first aid surgery with a registered nurse. The boating lake was later filled in and the land used for a kids playground.

By the 1990s, the Hemsby camp, like many of the remaining sites, had become pretty rundown. In 1996, Pontins launched a £55 million refurbishment scheme, though the funds were spread across eight camps. Most of the apartments received new double glazing, with some also getting new kitchens and bathrooms. Several new attractions were added including a junior driving school, quad bikes, an abseiling wall and a Queen Vic pub.

By the late-2000s the camp was looking very shabby and neglected. In January 2009 it was announced that it would be closing with immediate effect with the company blaming low bookings. Many people thought the camp had been deliberately rundown so they could justify the closure and sell the land for housing.

The site sat abandoned and derelict for the next 11 years while various planning applications to cover the site with housing were rejected. In 2018 a huge fire destroyed the main entertainment building which dated back to the 1950 Maddiesons era.

In February 2019 the site was sold for £4 million and plans were announced to keep most of the chalets but convert them into 279 private apartments. The old Pontins entertainment buildings were demolished although the indoor pool was retained. Work soon began on stripping out interiors, knocking down walls and adding pitched roofs to the old chalet blocks. Around 75% of the chalets are being kept and refurbished.The end results are impressive.

After starting work the developers later collapsed into administration. In July 2022 the site was sold to new owners for £7 million who announced they’d be continuing with the previous redevelopment. The first family moved in the following year.

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