By ‘eck, you see it all at Butlin’s. Once the preserve of the average British family looking for a summer escape in the pre-package holiday era, Butlin’s guest numbers dwindled as cheap foreign flights to exotic locales tempted away their core business. But the firm, founded in 1936, wasn’t about to roll over and die. The solution? Adult-only themed weekends. The idea would fill most people with horror, but there’s a big market out there for stag and hen parties (and oddballs who just love dressing up and getting pissed) to congregate together in a kind of human fancy dress zoo, smashing back lager and cheeky Vimto while wrapped in kitchen foil or dressed as Tinkerbell.
Who are these people? Brit photographer Anna Fox has been finding out, spending two years at the Bognor Regis resort in West Sussex with her camera (and, one supposes, a robust sense of humour). Her book Resort 2 is out now from Schilt Publishing; the 2013 precursor Resort 1 dealt in highly-saturated family portraits, but this time around Fox is in wilder, kid-free territory as she captures the working Joe and Joanne cut loose for two days and three nights of debauchery. Resort 2 includes 40 photographs from the series and an essay by David Chandler, and is available from the publisher.
Amy Winehouses, 2009
Tin Man, 2009
Man in Black Dress, 2009
Man in Purple Wig, 2009
Batman, 2009
Hens, 2009
Nuns, 2009
Yellow Bird, 2009
