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.
Bath’s Cleveland lido was reopened in 2023. This Grade II listed building is believed to be the oldest outdoor public pool in England, a semi-circular pool designed in 1815. Although popular back in the day, the pool went bankrupt and later became a trout farm, before falling into disrepair. Located within a walled garden, this lido is surrounded by trees and the original buildings (which surive) include the caretaker’s cottage and changing rooms (which are arranged in a semi-circle, to resemble Bath’s Royal Crescent!) Read of the greenest choices for swimming costumes.