LIDOS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
compiled by Oliver Merrington,
who lives in
Waterbeach, near
Cambridge, UK
email
The homepage of www.lidos.org.uk
Where is my nearest lido? Grab a map and go to the A-Z index
My purpose in creating these webpages is to provide a historical background to each extant lido built in the 1930s or earlier, and, as a bonus, to provide enough detail on these and all other open-air swimming pools still open, for people to visit them. The website is non-profit, and compiled in my spare time.
The webpages I have compiled are:
*with Andy Hoines.
Andy Hoines compiled a list of opening / closing dates & opening times for the
2007 season (PDF). This includes lidos and open air swimming pools open out-of-season.
Extreme Lidos - a Lidos FAQ, by Andy Hoines
If you would like to share memories or discuss lidos, please join the
Lidos Yahoo Group ( = UK Lidos History Society). There are over 100 members. [If you want to join, but prefer not to have a Yahoo ID, just send an email to Oliver.]
For additional images of lidos worldwide go to the Flickr group on lidos.
For a detailed history of lidos in the UK, see Janet Smith's book published in July 2005 by English Heritage & Malavan Media. This book also contains a comprehensive list of all closed lidos in the U.K.
See also our webpage on Lidos in the London area no longer open.
Please note that this website makes no attempt to list the many lidos and outdoor swimming pools now closed elsewhere in the UK.
If you are interested in swimming in rivers and lakes, why not contact the
River and Lake Swimming Association, or go to www.wildswimming.co.uk where there are details of two new books on the subject.
A Reviving Lidos Campaign conference was held in 2006. The same year a Yahoo Group for all those concerned about the future of outdoor and indoor swimming pools in the U.K. was set up, called Pooling Resources.
To contact Oliver, send an email to
[sorry, not clickable, to reduce spam]
Please do not email photographs without contacting me first.
Refer to this webpage for media enquiries and requests from commercial organisations.
Index to all outdoor pools still open and included on
this website.
The entries include postcodes so you can use the web to find the exact location of each pool.
Abingdon: Abbey Meadow Open Air Swimming Pool, Oxfordshire [reopened Summer 2006]
Addlestone: Leisure Centre Outdoor Pool, Surrey [closed for 2008]
Aldershot Lido, Hampshire
Arundel Open Air Pool, West Sussex
Ashburton: Open Air Swimming Pool, Devon
Ashby de la Zouch: Hood Park Leisure
Centre, Leics.
Askham Swimming Pool, Cumbria
Aylesbury: Aqua Vale Swimming and Fitness
Centre, Bucks
Beccles Outdoor Swimming Pool, Suffolk
Bedford: Oasis Beach (small outdoor rapids)
Billinghay Community Swimming Pool, Lincs
Bourne Outdoor Swimming Pool, Lincs.
Bovey Tracey Swimming Pool, Devon
Brightlingsea Open Air Pool, Essex
Brighton: Saltdean Lido, East Sussex
Brixham seawater swimming pool, Devon
Broxbourne Lido is an indoor pool
Brynamman Swimming Pool, Dyfed, Wales
Buckfastleigh Swimming Pool, Devon
Bude Open Air Pool, Cornwall
Burgess Hill: Aztec Lido, West Sussex
Cambridge: Jesus Green Pool, Cambs.
Castle Donington Community College Outdoor
Pool, Derbyshire
Chagford Swimming Pool, Dartmoor, Devon
Chelmsford: Riverside Ice and Leisure
Centre, Essex
Cheltenham: Sandford Parks Lido, Gloucs.
Chesham Moor Gym & Swim (outdoor heated pool), Bucks. 
Chipping Norton: The Lido, Oxfordshire
Chudleigh: Community Swimming Pool, Devon
Cirencester Open Air Swimming Pool, Gloucs.
Clyst Hydon Swimming Pool, near Exeter, Devon
Cottenham Outdoor Heated Swimming Pool, Cambs.
Culgaith Swimming Pool, Cumbria
Droitwich Spa Lido, Worcestershire [reopened June 2007]
Eversholt: Open Air Swimming Pool, Bedfordshire
Faversham Swimming Pool, Kent
Gillingham: Strand Leisure Pool, Kent
Gourock Outdoor Pool, Strathclyde, Scotland
Greystoke Swimming Pool, Cumbria
Guernsey: La Vallette Bathing Pools, Channel Is.
Guildford Lido, Surrey
Halesworth Outdoor Swimming Pool, Suffolk
Haltwhistle Swimming and Leisure Centre,
Northumberland
Hathersage Open Air Heated Swimming
Pool, Derbyshire
Hayle Swimming Pool, Cornwall
Helmsley Open Air Pool, N Yorkshire
Hemel Hempstead: Outdoor Swimming Pool, Herts.
Highley: Severn Centre Outdoor Pool, Shropshire
Highworth Recreation Centre, Wiltshire [closed for
refurbishment]
Hilsea Lido, Portsmouth, Hampshire [closure threatened]
Hitchin Swimming Centre, Hertfordshire
Hoddesdon: Spinning Wheel Open Air Pool, Hertfordshire
High Wycombe: Holywell Mead Outdoor Swimming
Pool, Bucks.
Huish Episcopi Sports Centre: Swimming Pool, Somerset
Hull: Albert Avenue Lido, Yorkshire [not open to the public]
Hunsonby: Swimming Pool, Cumbria
Ilkley Pool and Lido, W Yorkshire
Ingleton Swimming Pool, N Yorkshire
Irvine: Magnum Leisure Centre, Ayrshire, Scotland
Ivybridge: South Dartmoor Leisure Centre Outdoor Pool, Devon
Jersey: Havre des Pas Swimming Pool, Channel
Islands
Kenilworth: Abbey Fields Swimming Pool, Warwickshire
Kingsteignton: Swimming Pool, Devon
Lazonby Swimming Pool, Cumbria
Letchworth Open Air Pool, Hertfordshire
Lewes: The Pells Outdoor Swimming Pool, East Sussex
London: Brockwell Lido LB Lambeth
London: Charlton Lido LB Greenwich
London: Ealing Village Pool (private, for the use of
residents only) LB Ealing
London: Finchley Lido Leisure Centre
London: Hampstead Mixed Pond LB Camden
London: Highgate Ponds LB Camden
London: Hampton Heated Open Air Pool LB
Richmond-upon-Thames
London: Hornsey, Park Road Pools LB
Haringey
London: King's Oak PH Swimming Pool, High Beach, Essex
London: London Fields Lido [reopened in 2006]
London: Oasis Swimming Pool LB Camden
London: Parliament Hill Lido LB Camden
London: Richmond Pools in the
Park) LB Richmond-upon-Thames
London: The Serpentine Lido LB
Kensington & Chelsea
London: Southlands Lido is now a health spa. LB Bromley
London: Tooting Bec Lido LB
Wandsworth
London: Trent Park Open-Air Pool (part of Middlesex
University)
Loughborough: Stanford Hall Outdoor Pool, Leics./Notts. [now derelict]
Loughton: King's Oak PH Swimming Pool, High Beach, Essex
Lydney: Bathurst Swimming Pool, Gloucs.
Lymington: Seawater Baths, Hampshire
Maldon Marine Lake, Essex [closed for swimming]
Marbury Park Open Air Pool, Cheshire
Margate: The Lido is a night club, but the town has two tidal pools
Market Drayton Swimming Centre, Shropshire
Matlock Lido is an indoor pool
Metheringham: Swimming Pool, Lincolnshire
Milton Keynes: Wolverton Pool, Buckinghamshire [?final season 2008]
Moretonhampstead: Town Swimming pool, Devon
Nantwich Outdoor Brine Pool, Cheshire
Newbury: Northcroft Leisure Centre, Berkshire
Newquay, The Oasis, Hendra Holiday Park (open to non residents)
New Cumnock Swimming Pool, East Ayrshire, Scotland
Oxford: Hinksey Pool, Oxfordshire
Penzance: Jubilee Pool, Cornwall
Peterborough Lido, Cambs.
Peterhead Lido is a beach
Petersfield Open Air Pool, Hampshire
Pittenweem Tidal Swimming Pool, Fife, Scotland
Plymouth: Mount Wise Swimming Pool, Devon
Plymouth: Tinside Lido, see also
the tidal seawater pools on the Hoe
Portishead Open Air Pool, nr Bristol, Avon
Portsoy Open Air Pool, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
St. Albans: Cottonmill Swimming Pool, Herts. [not open to the public]
Scilly Isles, St Mary's, Normandy Community Swimming Pool
Shaftesbury Community Swimming Pool, Dorset [now roofed over]
Shap Swimming Pool, Cumbria
Shepton Mallet Outdoor Pool, Somerset
Skegness: Embassy Swimming Pool, Lincolnshire
Stanhope: Weardale Open Air Swimming Pool
Stonehaven Open Air Swimming Pool, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Stenhousemuir: The Lido, Falkirk, Scotland [is not a lido]
Street: Greenbank Swimming Pool, Somerset
Stroud: Stratford Park Leisure Centre,
Gloucestershire
Swansea: Blackpill Lido is now just a paddling pool
Teignmouth: Outdoor Swimming Pool, Devon
Theale Green Recreation Centre, Berks. [closed 2005]
Tollesbury: Woodup Pool, near Maldon, Essex
Tonbridge Swimming Pool, Kent
Topsham Pool, near Exeter, Devon
Wallingford: Riverside Pool, Oxfordshire
Walsall: Treasure Island Lido in the Arboretum, is just a paddling pool
Ware: The Lido, Hertfordshire
Waterbeach: Barracks Outdoor Pool, Cambridgeshire [local residents only]
Whorlton Lido, Barnard Castle, was a swimming place on the River Tees [closed in May 2005]
Wick: The Trinkie Outdoor Swimming Pool, Caithness, Scotland
Wiveliscombe Open Air Pool, Somerset
Woburn: Open Air Swimming Pool, Bedfordshire
Wolverton Pool, Buckinghamshire [?final season 2008]
Woodhall Spa Swimming Pool, Lincolnshire
Woodstock Open Air Pool, Oxfordshire
Worthing: The Lido [is not a swimming pool]
Wotton Outdoor Swimming Pool, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucs.
Here are a number of recently closed pools:
Banbury,
Carterton,
Ipswich: Broomhill,
Marsden Park,
Royston.
Demolished:
Scarborough: Atlantis Water Park [demolished, 2007]
Daventry [demolished, January 2007]
Malmesbury
Many thanks to Ros Taylor of The Guardian, for awarding this
site Best of the net on Saturday 22 June 2002.
The following national newspapers have featured this website:
The Sunday Times: Community web, local internet gems, 30 March 2008
Great Outdoors Guide to Wild Swimming, with The Guardian on 25 August 2007
10 Seawater Pools, in The Travel Guardian, 14 July 2007
Lidos for cool kids, in The Times, 18 June 2007
Leading article in The Guardian, 4 July 2006
The Sunday Times on 24 July 2005
The Times on 16 July 2005
The Times on 5 August 2003 (now archived on this website)
The Guardian on 26 July 2003.
Thanks to BBC London for quoting me on the
BBC News website,
on 9 August 2002;
and to the following for providing a link to this website
The following blogs have kindly quoted my website
Daniels Counter, London (in 2006)
London Geezer, a.k.a. Diamond Geezer, London E3 (in 2005)
Odette, Italiani a Londra Network
SwimSallySwim, Sydney, Australia (in 2008)
Things Magazine
Sorry if you were looking for
LIDOS: the Literature Information and Documentation
System
Oliver Merrington, updated July 2008.
See also the webpage for media enquiries and requests from commercial organisations.