page_title: Skegness
section_title: Since the Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: Skegness / History / Since the Second World War
caption_attribution_description: English: Amusement arcade on Grand Parade
context_page_description: Skegness is a seaside town and civil parish in Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is 43 miles east of Lincoln and 22 miles north-east of Boston. With a population of 19,579, it is the largest settlement in the East Lindsey district; it also incorporates Winthorpe and Seacroft, and forms a larger built-up area with the resorts of Ingoldmells and Chapel St Leonards to the north. The town is on the A52 and A158 roads, connecting it with Boston and the East Midlands, and Lincoln respectively; Skegness railway station is on the Nottingham to Skegness line.
  The original Skegness, which was lost to the sea, was situated further east at the mouth of The Wash; its Norse name refers to a headland which sat near the settlement. By the 14th century, it was a locally important port for coastal trade. The natural sea defences which protected the harbour eroded in the later Middle Ages, and it was lost to the sea after a storm in the 1520s. Rebuilt along the new shoreline, early modern Skegness was a small fishing and farming village, but from the late 18th century members of the local gentry visited for holidays.
context_section_description: Since the Second World War, self-catered holidays have become popular, prompting the growth of caravan parks and chalet accommodation. By 1981, 20 caravan sites were in operation and five years later there were over 100,000 holiday caravans and chalets in Skegness and Ingoldmells. Increasingly the lodging accommodation in the town centre closed as a result, or was converted into flats or shops. The 1970s also witnessed the birth of the cheap package airline holiday abroad, which took visitors away from British seaside towns. The decline in coal mining in the East Midlands in the 1980s caused what the BBC described as a "damaging dip in trade". Nevertheless, holiday-makers continued to visit the town and, in the 1980s and 1990s, people ventured to Skegness for their second holiday alongside trips abroad; it also proved popular among the elderly in the winter months. The resort's popularity grew during the late 2000s Great Recession, as it offered a cheaper alternative to holidays abroad. Between 2006 and 2008, 870,000 people made overnight trips to Skegness; this figure had risen to 1,030,000 for 2010–12.
  The fabric of the town centre has also changed. North and South Bracing were built in 1948–49. Butlin's left the main amusement park and it was extensively refurbished by Botton Bros in 1966; the switchback on North Parade was demolished in 1970. Residential development has included council estates near St Clement's Church and Winthorpe, as well as private developments in various locations around the town. The seafront was fully developed in the 1970s and the last of The Park built on in 1982. In 1971, the pier entrance was remodelled; seven years later, a large section was swept away in a storm. The Embassy Ballroom and the swimming baths were replaced in 1999 with the Embassy Theatre Complex, which includes a theatre, indoor swimming pool, leisure centre and cark park. By 2001, European Union grants had provided millions of pounds towards regeneration schemes. Since the war, most of the seafront's hotels, cinemas and theatres have been turned into amusement arcades, nightclubs, shops and bingo halls. What remained of Frederica Terrace, one of Skegness's oldest buildings, had been converted into entertainment bars and arcades before it was destroyed in a fire in 2007.
caption: Grand Parade, showing some of the late-20th-century amusements which have replaced hotels and cinemas
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