This 36-acre seafront site began life as a cricket ground, but in 1963 it was taken over by a group of New Zealanders in partnership with Lord Langford. Together, they invested £125,000 to transform the area into the UK’s only purpose-built harness racing track. Constructed in just four months, the development featured a large oval limestone track and a 3,000-seat covered grandstand. The official opening was conducted by Billy Butlin himself, who even tried his hand at racing one of the horses against Lord Langford.
The cricket club were told they could relocate inside the new raceway once it was built but this never happened. After much arguing the cricket club relocated to a site just outside the raceway, and in 1971 a new club house was built.
In 1967, Pontins first arrived in Prestatyn with plans to build an 18-acre holiday camp adjacent to the raceway. It was to be located on either side of Barkby Avenue, with 12 acres to the west and six acres to the east, connected by an underpass. This development would have encroached on the council-owned golf course, eliminating four holes, the practice area, and the clubhouse. Plans were drafted to rebuild these lost facilities on undeveloped land. However, planning permission was rejected by the Secretary of State for Wales.
In January 1969, the raceway was sold to Albert Gubay and Ken Nicholson, owners of the Kwik Save supermarket chain, for £150,000. They invested £60,000 to enclose the grandstand in glass, build a new restaurant, and install an inner circuit intended for stock car racing. Modern stables were built for 60 horses, and weekly harness racing events continued.
Less than 18 months later Pontins returned to Prestatyn and made an offer to buy the raceway which was accepted by the directors. Mr Gubay found a new location in Chasewater and went off to build another harness track.
Planning permission for the camp was granted in September 1970. The following month, a sod-cutting ceremony took place, followed by a luncheon at the adjacent Grand Hotel which had also been bought by Pontins. In his speech, Fred Pontin assured that the £1.5 million camp would be a credit to the area, stating, “We will not have any shanty town.”
At the time, it was the largest post-war holiday development in Wales. The construction was carried out by Hemmings & Kent, a company owned by Trevor Hemmings. However, the project was plagued by industrial disputes and “atrocious” working conditions, leading to several walkouts and strikes.
Despite all this, the camp was built in just 9 months with all chalets being traditionally built using no precast or prefab components. It was one of the new style of ‘rent-a-chalet’ camps that had been pioneered by Pontins at Brean Sands. Basically hundreds of flats housing thousands of people. These huge soulless camps lacked the charm and character of the smaller sites and most ended up looking more like council estates. But from a business perspective they were hugely profitable.
The majority of the 800 chalets followed Pontins’ standard A5 design, a 20ft by 20ft (6m x 6m) layout that could sleep up to six people. Each included a kitchen, lounge, bathroom, and two bedrooms each with two beds, while a sofa bed in the lounge provided two more sleeping spaces. A smaller number of one-bedroom chalets were available for four guests. Electricity was supplied through coin meters, televisions were coin-operated, and the showers required guests to repeatedly press a button to keep the water flowing.
Pontins Prestatyn opened on 3rd July 1971, two months later than planned. The distinctive oval track of the raceway was retained and paved to form the internal road layout. The apartments were built in two-storey blocks and were located both inside and outside the loop. It became the largest Pontins camp in terms of capacity.
The camp was typically open from May to October, but in its early years, the swimming pool remained open throughout the winter, in collaboration with the council, for the benefit of local residents.
In 1973, the camp played a starring role in the comedy film Holiday on the Buses. In 2004, a plaque was unveiled at the main entrance to commemorate the occasion.
In 1974, the camp staged its very first snooker pro-am tournament, drawing more than a thousand amateur players. From this huge field, the final 24 earned the chance to face one of eight top professionals. The tournament proved such a success that it became an annual fixture at Prestatyn for the next 35 years, running until 2009. Over the decades it attracted all the big names in snooker, with the pros typically staying next door at the Pontins Grand Hotel.
In 1975, Pontins acquired the nearby Prestatyn Holiday Camp, which had been operating since 1939. The rundown camp had fallen on hard times and after a hefty investment it was reopened under the Pontins name in 1977 and renamed Tower Beach. Despite best efforts, it was not a success and closed at the end of 1984.
Tragedy struck in 1978 when 21-year-old waiter David Bennett died in his chalet after being overcome by carbon monoxide from a gas cooker. In 1999, a woman was found murdered in one of the chalets, and her boyfriend was later charged with her death.
By the 1990s, the Prestatyn camp, like many of the remaining Pontins sites, was looking a bit rundown. In 1996, Pontins launched a £55 million refurbishment program, though the investment was spread across eight camps. Several new facilities were added including a ‘Queen Vic’ pub, along with a junior driving school, quad bikes and abseiling wall.
A number of chalets were refurbished which included new windows, furniture and bathrooms. These were listed as Club apartments and attracted a premium price – they also featured free electricity, satellite TV, free towels and early check-in. The older chalets were listed as either Classic or Basic.
In 2008 Pontins changed hand for £46 million to a company called Ocean Parcs, a consortium led by Graham Parr, a former Pontins executive. The new owners talked big, unveiling ambitious plans for sweeping changes and a £50 million refurbishment programme. In reality, little materialised. Standards continued to slip, investment failed to appear, and by 2011 the company collapsed into bankruptcy. Pontins was sold Britannia Hotels for £18.5 million. They soon accused the previous owners of “milking it for money” and displaying “tremendous arrogance.”
Britannia have since been blamed for everything that went wrong with Pontins. In truth, they inherited a bunch of rundown camps that had suffered years of under investment. Restoring the sites fully would have required an enormous outlay that made little financial sense. To their credit, Britannia did invest several million pounds, refurbishing chalets with new furniture, fresh paint, updated windows, and new flooring. The entertainment buildings were refreshed and acres of new carpet was installed. Yes, it was all done “on the cheap” but under Britannia, the camps were all looking far better than they had in years, and showing clear signs of investment.
However, they largely continued the long-standing policy of pitching the camps at the budget end of the market, To put it in perspective, an apartment that cost £259 per week in August 1990 was priced at just £209 per week in August 2015. On top of this, a steady stream of offers and discounts meant that most guests ended up paying even less.
But it was a losing battle. The low prices left little margin for cleaning, maintenance, or future investment, and inevitably attracted a less desirable clientele. In truth, many people only returned because the camp was cheap, not because it offered a quality experience. Reviews were overwhelmingly negative, and the company faced a steady stream of bad press.
Britannia eventually threw in the towel in 2023 by announcing the closures of camps at Camber Sands, Southport and Prestatyn. At the time of writing the Prestatyn camp is still closed and awaiting the next chapter in its life.
To read more about Sir Fred Pontin and the history of Pontins Holiday Camps read our blog post here. We’ve also covered the history of several other Pontin camps which can be seen in our A-Z blog index.
We’d love to hear your stories and memories of Pontins Prestatyn. Please feel free to leave a comment below
