The lido revival Take the

THE LIDO REVIVAL

Britain ’ s outdoor baths are booming. With historic pools being restored and new ones created, we look at their rise in popularity – and where to take the plunge

Words CAT OLLEY

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HampsteadHeathPondsand(below) Bath’sClevelandPoolsproject

Attempt to book a last-minute slot at one of London’s beloved lidos and it will affirm what we already knew. Urban outdoor swimming is back – and in a big way.

WhenitreopenedattheendofMarchaftera long,lido-lesswinter,over400swimmersaday flockedtoTootingBecLido.Watertemperatures werestrugglingtotop10degrees,butthatdidn’t deter the hardy crowd, many of whom had discovered the delights of a daily dip as an alternative to a plod around the park that had long lost its shine. Seasoned swimmers, meanwhile,hadmournedtheabsenceof apreciouslocalresource,andthosewith faith in the antibacterial qualities of chlorinewereraringtoreturntothewater.

Thoughlockdownhasproventobethe great accelerator, the urban swimming renaissance is no splash in the pan. A flurryoflidorestorationprojectsupand down the country is clue enough that town and city dwellers are taking the plunge in ever increasing numbers. So farsavedfromthewreckingballaresites like the striking art deco Saltdean Lido inBrighton,theThamesLidoin ReadingandSouthWales’Ponty Lido, with its 1920s turnstiles and wooden cubicles.

Settojointhemnextsummer areHull’srestoredAlbertAvenue Baths and Brighton’s Sea Lanes, a new development on the seafront.Cumbria’sGrangeLido has just been granted the green light,whiletheteambehindThe People’sPoolinLiverpool–acity that once had 11 open-air pools – is busy finalising proposals.

Few projects have captured the imaginationofthecommunityquitelike Cleveland Pools in Bath, which at over 200yearsoldisBritain’searliestexample. ‘We’re excited to be part of this growing movement, ’ says project director Anna Baker.Openedin1815,itscurvedfaçade callstomindanotherGeorgianicon:The Royal Crescent. The revival is testament to the tenacity of a local trio and their 17-year campaign to save the Grade II-listedsiteafteritwasclosedin 1984andlateraddedtoHistoric England’s ‘Heritage at Risk’ register. ‘Thepoolswereatavery realthreatofbeinglostforever, ’ explains Baker. ‘Thankfully, hundreds of volunteers have rallied together to protect the site. This is a facility for the community,bythecommunity. ’

So why did our once-loved lidos disappear? ‘Indoor pools,

ThepoolattheBirch hotelinHertfordshire and(right)London’s OasisSportsCentre leisure centres and cheaper foreign holidays, ’ says journalist and author

Christopher Beanland, whose recent book Lido dives into the history of the world’smostbeautifulswimmingspots.

Healsopointstochangingsocialtrends at war with wellness –‘cigs, booze and cars, anyone?’ – and decisions forced by council funding cuts. Now, canny communities are safeguarding their locals – take Penzance’s Jubilee Pool, withitsnewgeothermalseawatersection, whichisownedby1,400localshareholders and run as a social enterprise.

It’s no coincidence that hip country hotelBirch,whicharrivedinHertfordshire last summer and prides itself on a communalatmosphere,hasrecentlyopened a lido. Tiled in ice cream tones, it feels faintlyretro–anod,perhaps,tolidos’1930s heyday. Shiny new housing projects, too, are integrating outdoor pools intotheirplans,likethedizzying new ‘floating’ Sky Pool at London’sNineElms,orthelido at Manchester’s upcoming Cotton Quay development in Salford, which will add 1,500 homes to the city’s docklands. Othersarelidosinnameonly. London’sSerpentineLido,home to the oldest swimming club in Britainandmorethanafewducks, looks suspiciously like a lake. Casualswimmerswillbereassured bythedelineatedboundary,but the frisson in this step towards wild swimming is half the fun. So, too, a dip in Hackney’s West Reservoir,orachancetotakein the tranquillity of Hampstead Heath’sSwimmingPonds.ClevedonMarine Lake,withitstidalinfinitypoolthatdirectly overlookstheBristolChannel,offersasimilar sense of integration with nature.

It’s hard not to feel roused by the steely determinationofarchitecturepracticeStudio OctopianditsvisionforThames Baths,afilteredpoolintheRiver Thames, which harks back to variousfloatingbathsthatdotted the waterway in the Victorian era.Themanifestoforthealmost decade-long campaign, which hashigh-profilebackerssuchas TraceyEmin,isarallyingcryfor greater claim over the capital’s largest public space. ‘It is our beliefthatitiseveryLondoner’s right to liberate themselves by swimmingintheThames. ’Don’t underestimate our appetite for wadingintounchartedwaters.

FOUR POOLS WORTH A PILGRIMAGE

Christopher Beanland, author of ‘Lido: A dip into outdoor swimming pools: the history, design and people behind them’ , selects his top swimming spots

JUBILEE POOL Penzance

The sheer abandon of Jubilee Pool is what stands out – you’d expect nothing less from something designed by a man who went by the title Captain F Latham. The bravado is epitomised by the bold shape, like a huge Dorito or Toblerone slice, and by its size. It’s the largest saltwater lido in Britain. Today that bravado continues: the people running the pool have drilled into the sea bed to provide the geothermal energy to heat its water. It’s lived through a lot – opened in 1935 for George V’s Silver Jubilee, it popularised Penzance as a resort in the art deco era.

LONDON FIELDS LIDO Hackney, London

This ultimately modest (but incredibly well-managed) lido exists without fanfare, save for the cute coloured changing room doors. It has something of a reputation as Britain’s most hipster lido and there is some truth in that – on weekday afternoons it’s more like WeWork-on-Sea, with creative freelancers blathering away on their phones and plenty of good-looking, well-groomed types. The work of Harry Arnold Rowbotham and T L Smithson, it opened in 1932 and had a twin in Kennington Park, which bit the dust in 1987. It’s been refurbished several times and is now one of the city’s most endearing little pockets of calm and pleasure.

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SALTDEAN LIDO Brighton

The modernism of England’s south coast offered a shot in the arm to several fading Edwardian resorts. These included Deal Pier, Bottle Alley in St Leonards, the art deco Embassy Court by Wells Coates in Brighton,andSergeChermayeffand Erich Mendelsohn’s symphony to smoothness,theDeLaWarrPavilion in Bexhill. The latter has much in common with Saltdean’s lustrous lido, which arrived three years later. It’s probably England’s best looking – though shouldn’t we judge lidos on their personality, too, these days? With its embracing arms and symmetrical purity, it perfectly reflects the age of health, efficiency and the new. It remains open as it’s slowly restored to former glory.

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TINSIDE LIDO Plymouth

John Wibberley’s masterwork is a lido the city of Plymouth can truly be proud of. The enormous curved pool projects out into the English Channel below the famous Hoe, where Francis Drake liked a game of bowls. It has an eight-sided theme, with octagonal fountains at either corner and one in the middle, which brings the whole piece to life, along with the old bathing beauty posters on the walls. Completed in 1935, it succumbed like so many others to a closure, from 1992-2005, which would be totally unthinkable today. Tinside Beach is just next door.