Empire Theatre

Located at Primrose Valley, 2-miles south of the seaside resort of Filey, North Yorkshire. The Butlin’s Holiday Camp was built in 1939 for Billy Butlin. Due to the Outbreak of World War II it was taken over by the government and opened as a military training camp named RAF Hunmanby Moor. The camp had its own cinema named the North Theatre and a live theatre named the South Theatre. The North Theatre (and most likely the South Theatre) was designed by noted cinema architect Robert Cromie.

In 1945 the Government handed the camp back to Billy Butlin and it opened for the 1945 season. It was the third (and largest) of the Butlin’s Holiday Camp’s. The camp could accommodate 11,000 visitors who enjoyed an ‘all inclusive’ holiday experience'. It gained its own railway station on a branch of the the Hull-Scarborough line in 1945, which operated until closure in 1977. Around 1961 the North Theatre (cinema) was re-named Empire Theatre and the South Theatre (live theatre) was renamed Gaiety Theatre and later the Princess Theatre. The camp (which was last owned by the Rank Organisation) was closed in 1983. It was put up ‘For Sale’ and briefly re-opened as Amtree Park in 1986.

The camp buildings were demolished between 1988 and 2003. The site today is Primrose Valley Holiday Park for the elderly.

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