Lido fully booked as doors reopen
The UK’S oldest lido near Bath has announced its reopening date.
Cleveland Pools in Bathwick is set to open its doors once again after the completion of a multimillion-pound restoration project.
Work first began in May last year after a 17-year campaign to bring the disused site back to life.
The project managers, in an update earlier this year, said they were “nearly there”, having been granted another £25,000 to get work over the line this summer.
Now, Cleveland Pools has announced it will be opening its doors to the public on Saturday, September 17, for a Heritage Open Day. Free tickets for the event have already been snapped up.
In an update shared on the pools’ website, the team said: “Due to an unprecedented response we are now fully booked for Heritage Open Day, both for swimming and general site visits. Thank you for your support. Please do check back in the coming days as we post information on our rolling opening programme. We look forward to seeing you at the pools!”
The pools will only be able to offer cold water swimming for the remainder of 2022 as the heating equipment is not yet fully operational. The site will host sessions on Wednesdays from noon until 6pm and Saturdays between 9am and 1pm from the autumn. More information is due to be released at a later date.
It is estimated that the pool is heated to around 20 degrees currently. If you are not used to swimming in unheated water, the team suggests preparing appropriately with a wetsuit and bringing lots of warm clothing for warming up afterwards.
Future visitors should be aware that they will need to travel to the pools on foot or by bus, as there will be no car parking on site. In response to an FAQ on their website, the team at Cleveland Pools explained that driving there was not an option.
Bristol-based Beard is leading the work on the UK’S oldest surviving outdoor swimming pool, which was built in 1815 and is now regarded as a nationally significant site. Approximately £9 million has been poured into the project to restore the pools to their former glory.
It is the longest surviving outdoor swimming bath in Britain, first opening as a river-fed pool and thriving through the Victorian era to its heyday in the 1970s until it eventually closed to swimming in the 1980s. It was used as a trout farm for a while, and was threatened with being knocked down thereafter.
The Cleveland Pools Trust (CPT) was set up in 2004 to rescue the pools from dilapidation and they were placed on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register in 2005. After a long campaign, the Georgian lido will soon be open for everyone to enjoy again.