Calls for restoration
The ‘Save Saltdean Lido Campaign’ is fighting for the 1930s lido to be restored, and have begun a petition calling on Brighton council to take urgent action. The group have already won a battle for the listed building status of Saltdean Lido to be upgraded, and now it wants the site returned to its former glory.
Plans to build apartment block
Last year the leaseholder of the lido announced plans to build an apartment block on the site. But the campaign organisers have called on Brighton and Hove Council to save Saltdean Lido, which is one of only three remaining seaside lidos left in the country. They are urging the council to begin proceedings to ensure the leaseholder maintains the building and complies with the terms of the lease this summer.
Level of public feeling
Rebecca Crook, chairwoman of the Save Saltdean Lido Campaign, said the group wanted to show the level of public feeling about restoration of the site. She said “Saltdean Lido is the only one that’s Grade II* listed in the whole country, so it’s a real honour to have it in the city. It really deserves recognition and to be restored and preserved for future generations.”
How you can help
If you want to find out more about the Save Saltdean Lido Campaign and get details of how you can sign the online petition to Brighton and Hove Council, started by the organisers, visit their website here.
Comments about this page
As an architect I regularly travelled to my office in Peacehaven and passed the Lido every day. I always admired the splendour of the design and its open aspect from the South Coast Road. This building must be preserved, and most important the open aspect of its surroundings.
Surely it’s not that many years since the Lido was last restored? As a nostalgiac I’d love to see this Art Deco architectural gem saved for ever. The problem is that preserved tourist attractions are only viable if the tourists can be persuaded to come, and it’s a lot harder to get bums on seats – or into an unheated outdoor pool in a distant suburb of Brighton – in a Lido than on, say, a preserved steam railway. I recall the Lido from my own childhood days in the sixties, and very few folk used it even then. I wish the preservation group 110% good luck in saving the Lido (again), but they’ll need a genuinely persuasive and innovative business plan to make it pay its way.
I know this will be controversial, but I dont see how it can be saved? I think it was prevoiusly restored to its former glory about 20 years ago, when the original single pool was split into the current two pools. People have short memories! The problem is, things have changed so much since the 1930’s, even since the early 1960’s when I used it quite a lot. They now want “warm med waters” sun and sangria, they are not contented as our parents were. I did take my children there soon after the previous restoration, but even then it was not “rammed full” like in the 60’s. I drive past every day, and rarely see anyone in it, even when the sun shines. Weekends could be different, but I cant see a few “good weekends” paying the up-keep. So unless I am wrong, I cant see it surviving as a working pool, because the public don’t support it enough. I agree that historically its important, but a non-working museum? Look what happened to Butlins, just behind it. I don’t doubt that this will generate some comments.
I used to live in Peacehaven but now live in Sydney Australia. I remember well as a kid in the late 50s sitting on the bus to Brighton, going past this derelict building and wondering just what it was. Then in the early 60s it was refurbished and I actually got to swim in it during two summer seasons. The only other pool I had swam in was King Alfred, this was fantastic. December 1965 we emigrated to Australia. I would have thought this building’s safety would have been assured long ago. I signed the petition, hope it helps.
Reading Michael’s comments, it looks like the lido gets money for refurbishment every 20 years!
I must hang my head as I confess that I have simply watched and waited these past few years. It is with some pleasure that I see the redoubtable campaign group has the money and support to achieve their aim of refurbishing the building, and hopefully turning it into a successful business. But Peter Groves, if it does require financial support every twenty years, isn’t that a price worth paying?
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