A historic lido in Bath which is believed to be the oldest in Britain will remain closed while work to repair flood damage is carried out. Cleveland Pools reopened in 2023 after a £9.3m restoration, but was forced to shut in January last year after heavy rain caused ‘serious damage’.
The charity behind the lido has now said it is continuing to investigate the issues caused by the flooding. Paul Simons, chair of the Cleveland Pools Trust, said he was grateful to the public and volunteers who are supporting the project.
“The Cleveland Pools trustees regret the prolonged closure of the pools,” he said. “In the period since the flood extensive investigations have been conducted into the flooding incident, which caused serious damage to the pools’ operating plant and machinery in its plant room.
“There has also been some damage to the surrounding areas of the main pool and the focus of the ongoing technical investigations is on the nature and extent of damage to the pool structure itself and connecting pipework.”
Mr Simons said the charity was looking at options for recovering the cost of fixing the damage to allow the pools to reopen. But he admitted he was “unable to put a timescale” on when that would be.
“The trust shares the frustration of the public that the pools remain closed but wishes to reassure them that as a registered charity run and managed by volunteers, it continues to use its best endeavours to find a solution to allow the pools to be brought back into use as soon as is practically and viably possible,” he said.
Cleveland Pools is a grade-II listed site that opened as a river-fed pool in 1815 and was used for public swimming. The venue closed in 1984 and was used for a while as a trout farm before facing the threat of demolition in 2003.
The Cleveland Pools Trust was formed in 2004 and thousands of local people campaigned to save the lido. In 2006, the site was granted listed status and and work to restore the pools started in 2021 before reopening again in 2023.