ATP - Camber vs Minehead
What's the deal with these 2 sites now?
I did Camber last year (my first ATP) and Breeders this year. I have to say I think Mineheads absolutely shits on Camber.
"It's not as charming and it doesn't have the Queen Vic" So what i say. More space, more relaxed, better beer, better chalets.
So why do they swap about? Jamie - will ATP use Camber again?
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Better beer?!
It's a sad day when San Miguel is the best on offer (and that was only in Reds)
I much much prefer Camber.
Camber is being pulled down and rebuilt, so it's not going to happen any time soon.
Although
I was at bangface last month, at Camber, and spoke to some Pontins staff who said the final plans hadn't even been drawn up yet so it'll be ages before it happens, so Bangface probably will still be there next year. So not ruled out entirely.
Really?
Well then, you never know...
Oh, and as to which is better,
Um, it depends. The Minehead chalets are certainly nicer (especially during the winter), and the waterslides are terrific, but Camber has something a little different. It's not as brash, it doesn't feel as though you're being sold something all the time, it's much more centralised, the chalet block layout lends itself much better to random encounters and meeting people, it's more intimate, and the beach. Oh, the beach!
I dunno
I got lost at Camber around the chalets about a million times. And the 'being sol something all the time' just adds to the surreal omg I'm at butlins-ness of ATP.
Camber's closing soon for refurbishment
So I doubt they'll be using that site for a while. I like both sites for different reasons- Camber's more compact, easier to get to from where I live and the Queen Vic is great. Minehead's bigger and generally seems to have more stuff going on, and it has a pizza hut (which is far better than any restaurants in or near Pontins).
They both have their pluspoints...
but the fact that Camber has a beautiful beach wins it for me.
Camber by about 65,000,000 miles
I was waiting for your reply
Was expecting more vitriol
I'm at work
so fairly busy, but...
Camber doesn't have:
Inbred halfwits selling 'Lovely Gollies'
a venue which stinks of arse
signs involving a cuddly bear telling me to wipe my shitty arse after the slitty axewound crap they serve as food obliterates my guts
and ISN'T IN THE FUCKING WEST COUNTRY
Oh that smell...
it's just awful. What the fuck is it?! It smells far worse than stale beer. Eurgh. And what's wrong with the food? I only really went to Pizza Hut, it was pretty good.
the food seems to be fine aye
that horrible smell is the hotdog vending..machine?
its normally at the left of the centre stage but it had been moved this year, leaving it smelling much nicer.
Obviously I wasn't at Breeders...
but we spent a rather excellent time in the westcountry apart from that. What's the major beef now with the westcountry?
You, mainly
Thanks
Thankyou Little Boots!
his outburst at the station was a thing of beauty
that train back we were on was awful though. it took less time than the 10am one there but seemed about four times as long due to stopping in places that consisted of a row of bungalows and some decaying industrial lots.
thats called 'Bridgewater'
ah, bridgewater
"the home of carnival", according to the signposts, which will come as a surprise to rio de janeiro. some utterly hilarious emo kids wandering about there too, it looks like hell on earth
i think it's called "berkshire"
i fell asleep on the train and woke up to see a view outside of a row of bungalows, a platform and NOTHING ELSE, and jonny roastthemonaspit, who had been sat next to me, had vanished. cue moment of blind panic as to where the fuck i was.
Whoops
Sorry about that, I just moved seats which had more legroom. The elderly woman by me also made comment on how long it was taking.
...
bridgewater is the centre of the universe, man! i get very nostalgic about that place.years ago I used to play shows there with 65 Days and Taint...best shows ever.
Easy.
Minehead.
minehead, thanks
i can actually sleep there. i actually enjoy watching bands in the venues there. people don't just spend all night stood around outside. there's a proper supermarket nearby. the chalets are actually pleasant to spend time in. the higher capacity ones are actually bigger than the smaller ones. there's way more to do onsite that doesn't involve watching bands in sweaty rooms or standing around outside.
7 berths are bigger than 6 berths are they?
nope
camber 6 berth = 2 rooms, 4 single beds, sofabed. 7 berth = 2 rooms, 3 single beds, 1 bunk bed, sofabed. same furnishings/kitchenware.
but that's literally the only case where that happens
we had an eight berth at P4rk ATP and it was only slightly bigger than a 4 berth.
that's another thing in minehead's favour as well - NO FUCKING SOFABEDS
yeah
i misread chris' post, thought he was saying 7s were bigger than 6s. there's nothing in it other than an extra bedroom. i mean, i feel like crap after two ATPs in two weeks, but if they'd been at camber - much as i love it - i would be in an asylum by now.
camber, overall
less walking
I was more than delighted to leave Minehead Butlins yesterday
although before that I quite liked it. After the second weekend the place was starting to feel like some kind of horrific, surreal prison. The food is absolute turd and has probably reduced my life expectancy by 10 years just from two weekends of being there. Plus the bus non-service is absolute joke. Every single member of Butlins staff can get fucked.
Camber beach is beautiful, and everything is closer together but the venues are ovens and there’s not much in the way of dancing into the small hours and chalet parties. Plus the chalets are a bit horrible. I quite like it there though, for some reason.
Dunno then. I’m just not in the mood for either of them right now.
in fairness, the food at camber isn't exactly great either
there's that pizza place and, uh... yeah. that's it.
There's that cafe that overlooks the beach though
which is good. There is literally nowhere that does a good fried breakfast in Minehead.
I found an amazing place for a fried breakfast during last weekend
near the church. Totally worth it for the friendly people and the unlimited toast. There was no way I was gonna have a breakfast from the Sun and Moon again.
Planning me lad
We had some pretty epic breakfasts, although I appreciate you guys didn't have a kitchen
yeah, see, there you go
DON'T BOOK NON-CATERING UNLESS YOU HAVE TO.
I like how Camber is much smaller...
meaning you keep bumping into people you know. You never have to phone people to see where they are, just wonder about there and you're sure to see them sooner or later.
Minehead may have more 'luxuries' but it also means I spend more money on these 'luxuries'
Camber
I've been to seven or eight ATPs at Camber (and the Bowlie!) and only been to Minehead once for ATP and for some reason I just don't want to go back there. It's difficult to get to from London (reading the bus nightmare stories don't help). I can see why ATP felt the need to expand to a bigger site, sell more tickets and present more gigs over the weekend but I felt at Camber the ATP vibes were taking over the site completely whereas at Minehead the site is so big, there are so many horrible pubs, Burger Kings, fish and chip shops in and around the site, it's a bit harder for that elusive ATP feeling to take over. Last time I was at Camber we all noticed the way the courtyards were arranged, with the chalets all facing each other, they encouraged people to hang out together, there was always something going on in front of you. Most of the people I used to go to Camber with are not interested in travelling to Minehead, it could just be nostalgia to some extent. The beach is way better in Camber, it's one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to actually. The main stage in Minehead doesn't really work for me (Wilco's remark of staging a concert in a "food court" were spot on - that's what it felt like - hard to get a good atmosphere in that space). On the other hand, the area around Minehead is pretty cool to explore, Dunster is worth spending a few hours in, the South West coast path starts on the other side of the seafront, so it's not all bad or black and white...
"Last time I was at Camber we all noticed the way the courtyards were arranged, with the chalets all facing each other, they encouraged people to hang out together, there was always something going on in front of you."
this also makes it impossible to sleep, as there'll always be some cocks singing Just Like Heaven really loudly at 5:30am
true...
but during the day, it was fun to hang out and watch people from your chalet. I didn't really see all the different accomodation areas in Minehead, but where I was, two people room, you didn't really have that... oh well, if Minehead works for a lot of people, I don't want to complain too much, I've got a bit of festival fatigue anyway in the last few years, definitely with ATP...
Minehead
if they can sort out the Pavilion,its like watching bands in a service station.
But Camber does have a certain
if you
prefer Minehead to Camber Sands then there is something wrong with you.
charm
must learn to finish sentences.
if they just moved ATP forward a few weeks
i could travel to minehead by boat. that would tip the balance.
people miffling about trains: get a car between you. camber is just as much as a pain in the arse to get to, it's just nearer london.
camber's more of a pain from london really
you have to get twon trains and nrrrrrrr
Camber? are you serious?
CAMBER was bleak, cold, wet, run down, miles away from anywhere.
Minehead has: Sports Bar, Bowling, Amazing Swimming Pool, Good Cinema, Local town, bars and pubs, easy access from the Motorway, more stages, nice chalets, better access to the beach...
i would NEVER ever EVER go back to ATP if it moved to Camber. Not a chance.
I like both
I'd probably lean towards Minehead just for greater comfort and feeling of space. And because it is bigger the line-ups are better, as I assume the budget is that much bigger.
In Minehead you can have have the shower and the cooker on at the same time
:D
Camber, by some distance
Minehead is pretty soulless in comparison.
Camber Sands
when it returns then so do I. They gave us these cool submarine things in the swimming pool - best day of my life
camber by such a margin I can't even put it into words
mine head is like a shopping centre.
The best thing about camber was the 2 venues, pub, arcade, playground were all in the same place, really nice communal atmosphere. Minehead with its burgerkings and numerous empty arcades is just a bit depressing, still good line ups = good festival, but yeah camber FTW
Minehead, definitely
the ONLY better thing about Camber is the beach. How can people prefer Camber?! YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN COOKER/SHOWER.
easy
shower, whenever i've booked self catering ive been kidding myself
because the camber sands canteen and beach greasy spoon are so awesome
I've only been to Minehead
But I like it
People complaining "Oh there's a Burger King", do you get upset walking down the street?
Yeah smaller acts can get a bit lost on the Pavillion stage, but when the headliner realy goes for it it feels like an EVENT
I do
I go out of my way to find a wimpy
i'm actually struggling to think of a headliner in the pavillion in the last few years
who hasn't sounded fantastic. national? yep. broken social scene? yep. spiritualized? yep. devo? yep. foals? yep.
the problem is that the very few of the smaller bands don't really know how to fill the space, but they seem to have got around that by only putting a few bands on in there. the average seemed to be about 3 a day this year, whereas centre stage had more like 8.
ps
"i like the crowds at the really big shows / people touchin' people that they don't even know"
:)
I'm struggling to think of one that wouldn't have sounded better on Centre Stage,
or in the main room of Camber instead though.
And out of the bands that you list, only Devo didn't leave me feeling underwhelmed.
exactly
even foals sounded amazing.
can someone tell me what the 'charm' of the queen vic is too? not exactly steeped in history is it? i remember it being a pokey place with limited lagers, shitty furniture.
The best being the grass outside which most people seem to agree is pretty useless when the weather is shite.
I suppose teh question is, are there any better Butlins than Minehead?!
Foals sounded EPIC
I definitely prefer Camber
but Minehead this year was miles better than my previous visit (the first Xmas ATP there was awful) ... on paper Minehead is better in most ways but Camber is much more fun
The first Xmas ATP at Minehead was my first ATP and it was pretty great
the queues, not so great, but they'd sorted that out by the summer.
Minehead = great. Not a fan of the pavillion stage in general, but that's about my only beef.
I have also only been to Minehead
but cannot believe that people take their pretensions so far to prefer a location because it has less ammenities!Not sure what the food complaints are about - get self catered. And the problems with the main stage have been sorted by the addition of a high-tech black curtain.
I think a lot of us have affection for Camber Sands
because we've been going there for years and had such great times there (I've been to 11 ATPs, I think - 9 at Camber - plus the Bowlie) ... yeah, the accomodation isn't a patch on Minehead (but it's still far more comfortable than a tent in a field) but for me the pluses (the Queen Vic, the beach, etc) outweigh the negatives ... but then, if I'd gone to Minehead first I expect I'd have a very different view
Camber = diabolical when the weather's bad
Good when it's good, though Pitchfork was WAY too hot indoors.
I think Minehead is basically good, except for the Pavilion, though accept it's a necessary evil for an event that size, and in all fairness ATP are not insensitive to the fact some bigger acts need to be on centre stage
After careful consideration
the air hockey tables at camber are better
The air hockey tables at Minehead were shite.
Lack of even air flow. Probably clogged up with hot dog vapour.
I like both, but Minehead probably just edges it.
I'm getting old now, I like having better chalets.
Minehead's a bit big..
Minehead felt a bit big for the Breeders ATP iv just come back from. Had an ace time anyway, and the chalets are better but Camber Sands felt more intimate.
Minehead by a million miles
I don't ever want to go back to little Poland thanks.
POLS!
hahahaha. thats the word i was looking for.
Camber by miles
Although Minehead is definitely more comfortable, the Queen Vic, the atmosphere and the steps at the back of the larger room outweighs everything else Minehead.
The only way to get to/from Minehead is by taxi/steam train. We just made the 1015 train from Minehead on the Monday, and it was on time, and not full at all.
You forgot the bus
Which I hope I never have to travel on ever again
or car or national express or local bus
local bus that takes 100 minutes
may as well fucking walk
the only way
Sorry that should read the only civilised way (other transport methods are available)
Minehead, obviously!
I can't even believe it's up for debate. The site is in a different league compared to the piss-hole of Camber, where there was absolutely nothing to do except stand around outside, and where the beds were unspeakably bad. That was fine when i was 19 and just get pissed and tick off how many bands I'd seen.
But there really is no contest now. I can't see how Camber's "steps at the back of the larger room" outweighs a funfair, an immense swimming pool, crazy golf, better amenities, a better supermarket, better chalets, a cinema, proper five-a-side footy courts, great bowling, and nearby town that is actually worth a little visit.
All these complaints about train, buses etc... you know there's a massive car-park? Driving down to ATP singing along to specially crafted mix-tapes is one part of the festival experience i wouldnt want to miss out on.
^^
yes.
although camber does have charm and intimacy in it's favour, it is a shithole hallowed by those who like to wallow in nostalgia. For me, I like my comforts these days.
I love the thing about the step at the back at Camber.
Unlike the, errrr, steps at the back of the Centre stage and Redz at Minehead. And the seats. And the venues both being way better shaped than a long thing venue. What are you talking about??!
Minehead lacked any communal atmosphere
in that it has NONE, I was shocked to see how little it had!
Camber, lovely, people were always doing stuff outside your challet and people were walking up to you being friendly n the like... I didnt get that at all at Minehead. The numerous flaws Camber has doesnt matter, the communal feeling is what I come to festivals for and Camber hit it on the head, where as my block at Butlins? Bobbins! Totally empty, I think the were only 4 challets taken in our block so we had no neighbours :(
^this was very weird at Butlins
For the supposedly sold-out Breeders ATP our row had 2 occupied chalets in a row of 12. Good for undisturbed sleep, but not for friendly neighbour chats.
yeah,
must admit this was the worse thing I found at the Fans, I think only one or two chalets were used up in our row. I think the numbers they sell is probably related to how many people can fit into the various venues and not the amount of chalets available. Thats probably why last year ATP added some more 2 berths nearer the festival as they realised that the big berths probably wouldn't sell out at that late stage.
We did meet some fun people at the actually venues and on the green but would have liked a more communal atmosphere around the chalets.