Seacroft may not have the dramatic history of some of the larger and better-known holiday camps, but it played a steady role in the seaside holiday trade for almost a century. Its story deserves to be remembered as part of the wider history of Britain’s holiday camps.
Seacroft was opened in the 1920s by 19-year-old Jack Bishop, who was inspired after delivering meat from his family’s business to the nearby Hemsby Holiday Camp. Spotting the potential of the holiday trade, he purchased a piece of land across the road and soon had a camp of his own up and running which he named Seacroft. Bishop continued to operate and steadily improve the camp, personally overseeing all the details.
After running Seacroft for nearly 50 years he decided it was time to retire and sold the camp to Pontins in 1970, but remained on the board of directors. At the same time Pontins also purchased the Maddieson camp across the street. Mr Bishop went on to become mayor of Great Yarmouth in 1974.
It was always a full board site with all meals included and these were taken in the huge communal dining hall. Unlike most of Pontins other acquisitions, Seacroft was not heavily rebuilt and remained largely unchanged. The camp had a mix of newer 1960s chalets, all with their own bathrooms, to older wooden chalets that just had a sink and toilet. All chalets had electric heaters operated by coin meters. By the mid-1980s all chalets had been equipped with private bathrooms.
Pontins continued to operate the camp until 1998 when it was sold to the Richardson Group. Life continued much the same with the camp still retaining that old retro holiday camp feel. In 2017 Richardson’s merged it with their adjoining Hemsby Beach camp and most of Seacroft was demolished to make way for new caravans as part of a £10 million renovation. The whole site is now known as Hemsby Beach Holiday Park.
