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The Pleasure Beach Great Yarmouth is an amusement park located in the
seaside resort A seaside resort is a city, resort town, town, village, or hotel that serves as a Resort, vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of an official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requi ...
town of
Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...
,
Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
, on the English east coast. It opened in 1909. The largest and most popular ride at the park is the wooden
Roller Coaster A roller coaster is a type of list of amusement rides, amusement ride employing a form of elevated Railway track, railroad track that carries passengers on a roller coaster train, train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements, usua ...
which opened in 1932. There are also 25 other large rides at the park, as well as children's entertainment, amusement arcades, catering facilities, sweet shops and ice cream parlours.


History

In 1909 Charles B. Cochran applied to the local council to lease an area of sand dunes on the beach to develop an amusement park. His application was successful and sand dunes south of Nelson's Gardens were let to Cochran on which he constructed an L. A. Thompson
scenic railway Scenic railroad (American English) or Scenic railway (British English) may refer to: * Heritage railways operating leisurely train tours of sights such as mountain scenery, historic areas, and foliage tours * Scenic gravity railroad, early terminol ...
to the designs of William Napier. The Scenic Railway opened on 24 July 1909 along with the Katzenjammer Castle, which was a funhouse-style attraction. The following year, the Scenic Railway was clad in plaster sculpted to resemble mountainous terrain and decorated with lights, as was common for such rides at the time. A new ride, The River Caves, also opened. The park operated at a modest level until the outbreak of World War I, after which lease of the site passed to
John Henry Iles John Henry Iles OBE (17 September 1871 – 29 May 1951) was an English entrepreneur, musician and cricketer. He played for Gloucestershire between 1890 and 1891. In 1898, he acquired the British Bandsman magazine, and in 1900, he founded the ...
. Iles had secured the rights to construct L. A. Thompson's scenic railway rides in Britain, and the Scenic Railway at Pleasure Beach at the time was one of Iles's rides. Unfortunately, it was extensively damaged by fire in April 1919 and a large section of the track and support structure was destroyed. The ride was quickly rebuilt, however, and opened later that same year. Under Iles's management, the site expanded throughout the 1920s to encompass much of the area still used today. A variety of rides were installed, including Jack and Jill, Noah's Ark and Over The Falls. In 1925, a huge water chute was installed, which operated until 1928. Iles's lease of the site expired at the end of 1928 and the Council favoured an application for lease from showman Pat Collins. Iles removed his Scenic Railway and his involvement in the site came to an end. Pat Collins' son John was appointed to oversee day-to-day operations of the park. The Collinses installed a
Figure 8 roller coaster Figure 8 roller coasters are a category of roller coasters where the train (roller coaster), train runs through a figure 8 shaped course before returning to the boarding station. This design was one of the first designs to be featured in roller c ...
and the prototype circular water chute, which had been designed by German showman
Hugo Haase Hugo Haase (29 September 1863 – 7 November 1919) was a German socialist politician, jurist and pacifist. With Friedrich Ebert, he co-chaired of the Council of the People's Deputies during the German Revolution of 1918–19. Early life Hugo Ha ...
, both of which opened in 1929. In 1931 Pat and John visited the Colonial Exhibition in Paris where there was an amusement park among the attractions. The largest ride there was a scenic railway operated by Hugo Haase, who the Collinses had recently done business with. At the close of the Exhibition, Collins purchased the ride for Pleasure Beach and it was dismantled, shipped to England and erected in the park. The ride, now called
Roller Coaster A roller coaster is a type of list of amusement rides, amusement ride employing a form of elevated Railway track, railroad track that carries passengers on a roller coaster train, train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements, usua ...
, opened on 14 May 1932 and has been operational since. It remains the most popular ride at Pleasure Beach and it is now a rare example of the scenic railway design of roller coaster—being one of only two such rides left in the UK (the other being the
Scenic Railway Scenic railroad (American English) or Scenic railway (British English) may refer to: * Heritage railways operating leisurely train tours of sights such as mountain scenery, historic areas, and foliage tours * Scenic gravity railroad, early terminol ...
at Dreamland Amusement Park, Margate) and one of only seven in the world. In common with most scenic railways, a ' brakesperson' is required to ride with the train to control its speed and to stop it at the end of the ride, as there are no brakes on the track. By the 1950s, John Collins had endeavors elsewhere and could not commit the time to Pleasure Beach it needed. He sublet the site to Botton Brothers Limited ahead of the 1954 season. This was a company formed by brothers Albert and James Botton, who had operated various rides and attractions at travelling fairs and static parks around the south-east of England since 1942. Albert Botton moved to Great Yarmouth to oversee day-to-day operations of the park and a policy of annual improvement commenced. Some of the rides that were at the Pleasure Beach during this time included The Jets, Satellite, Paratrooper, Sky Wheels and Swirl. Botton Brothers also installed their Gallopers near the entrance to Pleasure Beach in 1954. Albert Botton died in 1975 and management of the park passed to Jimmy Jones, who had married Albert and his wife Lottie's daughter, Jane Botton. Jimmy Jones was managing director throughout the rest of the 1970s and 1980s. In 1982, the pop group
Madness Madness or The Madness may refer to: Emotion and mental health * Anger, an intense emotional response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat * Insanity, a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns * ...
recorded scenes for their music video for their song "
House of Fun "House of Fun" is a song by English ska/pop group Madness, credited to Mike Barson and Lee Thompson. Retrieved on 28 June 2007. It was released as a one-off single on 14 May 1982 and reached number one in the UK Singles Chart, spending nine ...
" at Pleasure Beach. In 1992 the various Botton Brothers companies were amalgamated into one company called Pleasure & Leisure Corporation PLC and freehold of the Pleasure Beach site was purchased at the end of 1993. At this time, Jimmy Jones ceded the role of managing director to his son Albert Jones. The Pleasure Beach Gardens opened in 1996. The Gardens are advertised as a place to relax away from the noise and excitement of the main park. The Gardens include Sara's Tearooms, a themed miniature golf course, refreshment kiosk, junior go-karts, Jurassic Gardens and an Upside Down House.


Current operation

Pleasure & Leisure Corporation PLC were one of two applicants to reach the final stage in bidding for the large casino licence which was granted to
Great Yarmouth Borough Council Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" * Artel Great (bo ...
in 2007. The proposal for a complex called 'The Edge', to comprise a cinema, bowling alley,
Premier Inn Premier Inn Limited, a subsidiary of Whitbread, is a British limited-service hotel chain with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. As of 2025, the company owned and operated over 800 h ...
hotel and Beefeater restaurant, to be built on land south of the Pleasure Beach site, was accepted. However, the project was beset by various delays and ultimately significantly scaled back to remove the casino. An 81-bedroom Premier Inn hotel and a Beefeater restaurant, along with a new car park, opened in June 2019. The company operating Pleasure Beach became a
limited company In a limited company, the Legal liability, liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a c ...
in 2020. Managing director Albert Jones is assisted by his sons Jamie and Aaron Jones, who are also directors, and the third generation of Jones's to operate the park. Pleasure Beach continued operating during 2020 and 2021, despite concerns for closure due to the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
on tourism. New events, such as Coaster Cabana and Fairground Frights have proven popular and won awards.


Current rides and attractions


See also

*
List of amusement parks in the United Kingdom A list of past, present and future United Kingdom amusement parks. Current A–C *Adventure Farm *Adventure Island (amusement park), Adventure Island *Adventure Studio *Adventure Theme Park *Adventure Water Park *Adventure Zoo *Alton Towers, Al ...


References


External links


Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach Official Site
{{British theme parks Amusement parks in England 1909 establishments in England Tourist attractions in Norfolk Great Yarmouth Amusement parks opened in 1909