Council plans to reopen city lido

HULL: A major step is set to be taken this month towards reopening a lido which has been closed for 25 years to help meet the growing demand for outdoor swimming.

The pool at Albert Avenue Baths was last used for public swimming in the 1980s. The facility will join the small list of outdoor pools in Yorkshire.

A MAJOR step is to be taken this month towards reopening a Hull lido which has been closed for 25 years to help meet the growing demand for outdoor swimming.

The outdoor pool at Albert Avenue Baths was last used for public swimming in the late 1980s.

The renovated facility will join the small list of outdoor swimming pools in Yorkshire, including Ilkley Lido, which attracts up to 150,000 visits a year, and pools at Ingleton and Helmsley.

Coun Dave Craker, who holds the leisure portfolio on Hull Council, said: “Everybody I speak to thinks it is a great idea.

“Lots of groups have inquired about it. Outdoor swimming is a fashionable thing.”

The lido project is part of a £7.5m scheme which includes urgently needed maintenance for both Albert Avenue and Beverley Road Baths – both suffer with leaking roofs.

The cost of the project has soared by £2.8m over previously published estimates, in part, Coun Craker said, due to the cost of putting in pipes to heat the water in an outside lido.

A report to the council’s cabinet on Monday next week said the roof of Beverley Road Baths – which opened to the public in 1905 and is a Grade II star building – has “multiple areas of water ingress”.

The majority of the money, £4.6m, however, will be spent on Albert Avenue, which was built in 1933.

Extensions will be built to house an enlarged gym and new well-being classes and there will also be an internal refit of mechanical and electrical work to bring the building up to modern standards.

Hull Council leader Steve Brady said if a decision was made to progress the project at the

Outdoor swimming is a fashionable thing.

Coun Dave Craker, cabinet member for leisure on Hull Council.

meeting, they would “crack on” with it.

Coun Brady recalled the “many pleasurable hours” people spent at the lido in East Park, which opened in 1964 but closed in 1988.

He added: “One of the best things was the East Park Lido in times gone by. It was a big lido and people spent many pleasurable hours in there. It was absolutely packed.

“Hopefully it will have a reasonable temperature – we don’t get many warm days.”

Albert Avenue is due to close in March 2020 for between 14 and 16 months, while Beverley Road Baths will shut in May 2021 for 10 to 12 months.

Ennerdale Leisure Centre, which has been closed since July for a £1.76m revamp, is due to reopen in January.

It was announced last week all three swimming pools at Woodford Leisure Centre in Holderness Road would remain closed until further notice due to a problem with the heating system.

The centre reopened last May after being closed for 18 months for a multi-million pound renovation.