Newbury Lido, Still going strong! Options

[On the edge]

What a fantastic facility and still going strong. Life saver over this weekend - surprised that admission prices low side of affordable! Sure, it could do with a spruce up - but a bit of chipped paintwork doesn't detract that much. Nice to know we still have something to be proud of.

[Exhausted]

What a fantastic facility and still going strong. Life saver over this weekend - surprised that admission prices low side of affordable! Sure, it could do with a spruce up - but a bit of chipped paintwork doesn't detract that much. Nice to know we still have something to be proud of.

Before all the health clubs opened with their heated indoor pools, it was the place to go even when the water was a bit on the chilly side.

[On the edge]

Before all the health clubs opened with their heated indoor pools, it was the place to go even when the water was a bit on the chilly side.

Must admit, bracing came to mind when I tried just one foot. Then, fed up with taunts from the younger element in our party - jumped in...brilliant!

[Strafin]

Excellent stuff! I see to enjoy going there and have a lot of good memories.mit is good to know others do too!

[Darren]

I initially read that as "Newbury Libido".

I blame too much cheese.

[part time]

Such a shame the diving boards were taken down :-(

[Simon Kirby]

Get in there quick though - it closes for the season after next week's Newbury Triathlon.

[blackdog]

When did it become a 'lido'?

When I was a kid (a long time ago) and living nearby we would often go to Newbury 'swimming pool' - and for a real treat we would go to Aldershot Lido. There was no comparision, Aldershot was so much better - and still is judging from the satellite view.

[Strafin]

So what defines a Lido?

[Newbelly]

So what defines a Lido?

I always thought that a Lido includes an outdoor swimming pool, but can also refer to a constructed swimming area in the sea or a lake.

It has overtones of "art-deco" for me, although originates from long before that.

[On the edge]

When did it become a 'lido'?

When I was a kid (a long time ago) and living nearby we would often go to Newbury 'swimming pool' - and for a real treat we would go to Aldershot Lido. There was no comparision, Aldershot was so much better - and still is judging from the satellite view.

Just a term really. Difficult to define - like what makes a city? Aldershot is as you say, so much better, so much more expensive and...so much further away. Just nice that we have a decent facility on our doorstep and very close by. Anyway, trip to Aldershot, not good enough for Guildford then?

[On the edge]

Get in there quick though - it closes for the season after next week's Newbury Triathlon.

They do seem to have a strictly enforced and rather strict season! My son apparently tried the hot weekend before and with the two couples before him in the queue was turned away with a cheery 'We open next week - could have made a mint with the numbers trying to get in today'.

[dannyboy]

A lido is just an open air swimming pool.

[Newbelly]

A lido is just an open air swimming pool.

The term lido can include an open air swimming pool, but not every open air swimming pool could be called a lido, perhaps. There is a design element to it?

[dannyboy]

The term lido can include an open air swimming pool, but not every open air swimming pool could be called a lido. There is a design element to it.

London councils built the first in the 1930s. As such they had a 1930s Art Deco look to them. The term Lido was used to make the facility sound more exotic.

There is no actual specific meaning to the term other than outdoor pool, but today it tends to get used in conjunction with large, publicly funded 1930s pools with a heavy 'nautical / passenger liner' design element.

[Newbelly]

There is no actual specific meaning to the term other than outdoor pool, but today it tends to get used in conjunction with large, publicly funded 1930s pools with a heavy 'nautical / passenger liner' design element.

There is, "lido" means beach or shore.

[On the edge]

All goes to make English such a wonderful and rich language. Lido has Italian roots of course, no wonder then it was used in the 1930's the era of health and fitness to suggest swimming pools were like Italian beaches. The wags who labelled the roped off bit of the serpentine Lansbury's Lido were just being ironic!

[JeffG]

I assume we're talking about the outdoor pool at the leisure centre in Northcroft. Never heard it called a lido before.

[dannyboy]

There is, "lido" means beach or shore.

In Italian. 1930s councils used the term to give a bit of glamour to their new pool.

Obscure enough & with a bit of foreign 'mistique'. Freibad doesn't quite do it....

[dannyboy]

I assume we're talking about the outdoor pool at the leisure centre in Northcroft. Never heard it called a lido before.

Newbury Lido

Northcroft Leisure Centre, Northcroft Lane, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 1RS
Tel: 01635 31199

This heated lido has unusual dimensions, 216 ft x 39 ft and dates back to 1870. The architect was B. Sargeant and builder D. Weston, it cost £450. The local library has a photocopy of the opening plaque dated August 1870. It started off with two shallow ends and a deep end in the middle. It also used to be segregated by sex, males on one side and females on the other, and was at that time unheated. It was enlarged in 1914 and completely rebuilt in 1937 possibly using the same tank. At that time it was said to be the largest pool in the south of England at 240ft x 40ft, but by 1963 it was the current 73m x 12m.

There is also a 10m heated outdoor baby pool. There is a conservatory overlooking the outdoor pool. Indoor pools and sports complex are adjoining. Now run by Parkwood Leisure.

2005: The pool is struggling somewhat, with year on year 'patch ups', but has recently undergone a £31,000 improvement to install new boilers, heating it to a pleasant 26C. "Enough to see the steam rising off the top on a cool May morning. Its unusually long design it provides me with a daily headache trying to safely lifeguard a pool built long before health and safety of bathers was ever considered to be important!"