There are more than 160 lidos in the UK, and in the last five years, their revival has been turbocharged by local campaigning groups that have helped restore and reopen old landmarks – such as the UK’s oldest in Bath and Tooting Bec’s 90m pool in south London – and create brand new pools entirely. These include Sea Lanes on Brighton’s seafront and the soon-to-open outpost in Canary Wharf, London.
Whenever anyone wants to guess where I am, they always quip: “Are you at the Lido again?”. They’re usually right.
It was a nice little hobby until I wrote a book about lidos, then it got out of control. I had to swim in pools and lakes all over the world. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it.
Cleveland Pools lido was built in 1815 (Photo: Matt Cardy/Getty Images)The book came out during the pandemic and, with all publicity, talks and festivals cancelled, it sank like the rubber brick you had to pick off the pool floor as part of school swimming lessons.
As things began to open after lockdown, people discovered, or rediscovered, the joy of alfresco swimming. I sought out even more pools and swimming holes.
When Saltdean, a coastal village in Sussex, took the wraps off its Art Deco lido – one of Britain’s finest – I swam there with my friend, Cassie.
Saltdean Lido’s main pool initially reopened in 2017 following a volunteer campaign for its restoration. Behind the pool, a curving block embraces the scene, painted white and with the sharp lines of a docked ocean liner. Its restored signage is pure Great-Gatsby cool.
Speaking of Art Deco designs, I once almost missed a flight after a day at Tinside Lido. The Grade II-listed salt water swimming pool in Plymouth looks like something from an episode of Poirot. You expect tiller girls to start dancing among the spraying fountains.
Tinside Lido, a 1935 grade II-listed Art Deco lido (Photo: Historic England Archive/Heritage Images/Getty)I was due to fly to Madeira that day. I’d been delayed on the train back to Paddington when it got stuck outside Taunton because of cows that had strayed onto the tracks. I felt like I was living in an episode of Brass Eye. Once finally in Madeira, I relished the Albatroz sea pools (at Albatroz Beach and Yacht Club) below the cliffs of the airport.
Brass Eye’s director, Michael Cumming, loves lidos too and made a film about Grange Lido in Cumbria, which is also slowly being restored. I’ve been working with another director, Francis Hanly, on ideas for a lidos documentary about the beauty of Britain’s outdoor pools. Stonehaven is our most northerly and, on the day I went there, I enjoyed the scene of that homely place with an Irn Bru and some biscuits.
On recent trips to Europe I’ve been taken by Dantebad in Munich. I watched a chain-smoking women leafing through the German version of Psychology Today on a white plastic sunbed, which was planted on the extensive lawns.
I’m puzzled by why everyone gets their heads in a spin about Budapest’s touristy spas and ignores the Palatinus Strand. This Art Deco treasure is architecturally striking with clean white lines and curved glass staircases, as well as huge gardens.
www.instagram.com/p/B8oFWPLnQo5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==But swimmers shouldn’t limit themselves to square pools. One of my favourite places to swim is Lake Bled lido in Slovenia, which was policed by a lifeguard with a Paul Hollywood tan when I visited.
Markermeer in the Netherlands is accessed from a pontoon outside the De Durgerdam boutique hotel, while Gansehaufel (yes, its name means “a pile of geese”) in Vienna is more like an inland resort, with long rows of cabins, cafes and giant chess. Austria looks after its water and swimming in the Old Danube is safe, in terms of cleanliness.
With wild swimming more dodgy in Britain, the West Reservoir Centre in Hackney, London is a rare outlier – perfect for clean, open-water swims.
Sydney has a stand-out option (Photo: Bronte Pool/Tourism Australia)Further afield, Australia’s pools are a joy. Bronte Baths is a pool smashed out of the rocks and skulking below sandy cliffs. There, I spoke to Therese Spruhan. She’s the author of The Memory Pool – a dreamy treatise on outdoor swimming’s place in Aussie culture. We talked about the champion swimmers Eveyln Whillier and Fanny Durack, who trained by the beach in this Sydney suburb.
But, of all the lidos, the one where you’ll find me most often is London Fields, with its colourful changing room doors. I love chatting to the staff and lifeguard team. Sitting by the back wall catching the sun with a Penguin bar and a lemon Fanta is one of my personal pleasures. Life is precious. What better way to spend it than by the pool, with a few lengths of front crawl and a sugary snack for after.
London Fields Lido was built in 1931 (Photo: Roy James Shakespeare All Rights Reserved/Getty)Lido is published by Batsford Books, batsfordbooks.com. Christopher Beanland presents Park Date Podcast, parkdate.co.uk.
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