Beachcomber bars, ballrooms and snooker halls…Fabulous John Hinde Butlin’s Postcards

Huge, beautifully lit 'narrative tableaux' of Beachcomber bars, gardens, outdoor swimming pools, ballrooms and snooker halls

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the prestigious John Hinde Studio, based in Dublin, produced a series  of elaborately staged photographs that were made into postcards. The most popular of these were the amazing colourful John Hinde Butlin’s photographs. In those days more than a million Britons had a holiday at one of Butlin’s holiday camps every year. Three photographers, two German (Elmar Ludwig and Edmund Nägele) and one British (David Noble) took photographs to Hinde’s detailed and meticulous instructions.

Each photograph utilised a large cast of real holidaymakers acting out roles in huge, beautifully lit ‘narrative tableaux’ of Beachcomber bars, gardens, outdoor swimming pools, ballrooms and snooker halls. The Somerset born Hinde sold his company in 1972 to pursue his love of painting.

The Regency Ballroom, Bognor Regis, David Noble

John Hinde Butlin's

Butlin’s Ayr – Garden and the Camp Signpost.

 

Barry Island, the Main Arcade, Edmund Nagele

 

John Hinde Butlin's

Butlin’s Bognor Regis – The Boating Lake

The French Bar at Filey’s Butlins

 

John Hinde Butlin's

Butlin’s Bognor Regis – The Regis Ballroom

 

 

John Hinde Butlin's

Butlin’s Bognor Regis Beachcomber Bar by Night

 

John Hinde Butlin's

Butlin’s Clacton-on-Sea The outdoor swimming pool

 

John Hinde Butlin's

Butlin’s Filey A Billiard Room.

 

John Hinde Butlin's

Butlin’s Filey Beachcomber Bar

 

John Hinde Butlin's

Butlin’s Minehead – the Beachcomber Bar

 

John Hinde Butlin's

Butlin’s Minehead – The Old Tyme Ballroom

 

John Hinde Butlin's

Butlin’s Minehead A Corner of the Beachcomber Bar

 

John Hinde Butlin's

Butlin’s Minehead Beachcomber Bar

John Hinde Butlin’s

John Hinde Butlin's

utlin’s-Minehead-Monorail-over-Swimming-Pool

 

John Hinde Butlin's

Butlins-Mosney-Skating-Rink-and-Chalets

 

John Hinde Butlin's

Butlin’s Pwllheli – Train and Panorama

 

John Hinde Butlin's

Butlin’s Skegness – The Beachcomber Bar

 

John Hinde Butlin's

Butlin’s Skegness – the Playroom, Infants Centre.

 

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