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- Butlins -
For millions of Holidaymakers the symbol of ‘sunny Skeggy’ has always been the ‘Jolly Fisherman’ – that splendid, ruddy-faced character with his sou’wester, boots and cheery smile who has enticed tourists to the east coast of Lincolnshire since 1908. But in actual fact he could very easily have found fame advertising some other seaside resort, rather than Skegness, with his jolly demeanour.
The artist John Hassall had no particular town in mind when he painted his ‘Jolly Fisherman’, but the Great Northern Railway Company paid £12 in 1908 to the link the image with Skegness on one of their posters – and it was the GNR who came up with the now famous recommendation that ‘Skegness is so bracing!’
Fifteen years later, when the spread of the motor car was causing a downturn in the numbers of holiday makers travelling to Skegness by train, the London and north-eastern Railway had Hassall update his poster by moving the fisherman to the left and adding the famous Skegness pier in the background. The original artwork for this new poster was discovered in a shed in Essex in 1995 and sold at auction for almost £6,000.
Built in 1881, the pier at Skegness always seemed cursed with bad luck, and after suffering the indignities of a fire, a shipping accident and a severe storm, most of it was washed away in 1978. But there’s plenty left at Skegness to keep the tourist coming in by the thousand – not least the miles of wide, sandy beaches with which this part of the Lincolnshire coast is blessed.
For centuries Skegness was just an obscure fishing village, and it was only at the end of the 18th century that the fashion for sea bathing brought a reason for expansion. By the early part of the 19th century two hotels were open, catering for the well to do visitors who came to Skegness for the supposed health benefits of salt water and fresh air.
The advent of cheap rail travel for the working classes in Victorian times transformed Skegness from a well-heeled health resort into a holiday destination that everyone could afford.
Billy Butlin did his bit for the area in 1936 when he opened his first holiday camp a few miles up the coast at Ingoldmells. Knobbly Knees competitions, ‘Hello campers!’ and the jolly Fisherman.
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