Lidos are outdoor public bathing pools, as an alternative to chlorine-soaked pools. A few are derelict but many communities are doing them up, to be used by the public once again. They first became popular in the early 1800s (the first opened in the city of Bath, in a Grade II listed building).
Named after the Italian word for ‘coast’, the aim was to keep people well and create jobs. Many tourists flocked to Blackpool and Scarborough simply due to lidos. Some are now important Art Deco buildings like Plymouth, Penzance and Saltdean (near Brighton). London once had almost 70 lidos.
In the 1960s, a report said swimming pools should be indoors, so many lidos were destroyed due to lack of funding. Now many charitable trusts have changed their mind and others are being restored by community groups. Read of the greenest choices for swimming costumes.
Bath Cleveland Pool in the late 1700s and has recently been restored, though it is temporarily closed due to flood damage. In 1801, the Bathwick Water Act banned nude bathing, and in 1827 the pools were sold to a local Reverend for £350. In 1867 the ‘eccentric Mr W Evans’ would teach swimming (and provide ginger beer and gingerbread), often diving into the pool from a height (wearing a tall hat to protect his head!) After briefly going bankrupt, it has in the years been a place to baptise ehovah’s Witnesses, a trout farm and a private residence, before finally reopening as a public bathing pool.
Bristol Lido first opened its doors back in 1850, and has recently been restored. The Victorian swimming baths closed in 1990 and was in danger of being redeveloped into flats. But instead someone bought the baths and they went a huge restoration project, now open again for local wild swimmers! Designed in an Egyptian style, there is a gallery on two sides of the pool, with the third side featuring rows of cubilcles with wood panelling fronts. The pool is the oldest surviving heated pool in England.
