Community rallies in bid to save lido

Jul 10 2007 Steffan Rhys, Western Mail

‘Poor return’ from lidos
A LIDO is an outdoor pool with extra facilities like a cafe and sunbathing terrace.

Author Janet Smith said there were many reasons for lidos closing across the UK over recent years.

“The main reason is the perceived cost of running them when they are only open for three or four months of the year,” said Ms Smith.

“It is the council that has to fund them and they see it as a poor return on their money.

“A lot of them opened in the 1920s and 1930s and are now in great need of repairs but many councils are not prepared to foot the bill and would rather close the pool.”

Lidos became fashionable in the years following World War I when many people sought healthy outdoor exercise to combat years of malnutrition and poor living conditions.

About 170 were built in the 1930s, an amount unparalleled before or since.

After World War II, few lidos were built as funds went on housing and repairing the damage caused by the conflict.

And the advent of cheap package holidays to Spain in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the rise of indoor leisure centres were their death knell.

Several Welsh outdoor pools have closed in recent years, including the Knap lido in Barry, the Llandaff Fields lido in Cardiff and others at Milford Haven, Prestatyn and Rhyl.