Saltdean Lido at Saltdean Park Road,

Saltdean Saltdean is a coastal village in the city of Brighton and Hove, with part (known as East Saltdean) outside the city boundary in Lewes district. Saltdean is approximately east of central Brighton, west of Newhaven, and south of Lewes. It is ...

, in the

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...

district, in the ceremonial county of

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

, England, is an

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

lido Lido may refer to: Geography Africa * Lido, a district in the city of Fez, Morocco Asia * Lido, an area in Chaoyang District, Beijing * Lido, a cinema theater in Siam Square shopping area in Bangkok * Lido City, a resort in West Java owned by MN ...

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

at Grade II by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

for its architectural and historical importance, its status was upgraded further to "Grade II*" on 18 March 2011. The Art Deco design has been described by ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' as "particularly glorious, with its elegant, curved lines – rather like a stately ocean liner."

Description

The pool measures and can accommodate 500 bathers.

History

The lido was built in 1937–38 to designs by the architect Richard Jones, and was hailed as the most innovative design of its type in Britain. With its tea terrace, sun deck, and café perched on the flat roof and distinctive curved wings at either end, it became the only lido to be featured in the Design Museum in London. In 1958,

Butlins Butlin's is a chain of large seaside resorts in the United Kingdom. Butlin's was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families. Between 1936 and 1966, ten camps were built, including one in Ireland and o ...

attempted to buy the derelict lido for development. The application was opposed by residents and eventually rejected by the Ministry of Housing. In 1998, the lido was reopened by Sports Minister Tony Banks. The restoration was achieved through a public and private sector partnership costing £2 million. Banks revealed he had a personal link to the Grade II listed building through his mother, who used to visit it during the Second World War. He said: "Open air sites are not able to attract National Lottery funding, so the money for this had to come through private investors having the vision to bring a piece of our heritage back into use." The reopening ceremony came two days after the lido let in its first visitors for three years. On 18 March 2011,

John Penrose John David Penrose (born 22 June 1964) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Weston-super-Mare since 2005. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the United Kingdom Anti-Corruption Champion at the Home Office fr ...

, the Minister for Tourism and Heritage in the

Department for Culture, Media and Sport , type = Department , logo = Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport logo.svg , logo_width = , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = Gove ...

, approved the upgrade of Saltdean Lido's listed status from Grade II to the second highest grade, Grade II*. Such buildings are defined as being "particularly important ... ndof more than special interest". On 30 May 2012, it was announced that the ownership of the Lido would be handed back by leaseholder Dennis Audley to

Brighton and Hove City Council Brighton and Hove City Council is the local authority of the city of Brighton and Hove. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services ...

after legal discussions. In November 2014, the Lido was given £49,500 from the

Big Lottery Fund The National Lottery Community Fund, legally named the Big Lottery Fund, is a non-departmental public body responsible for distributing funds raised by the National Lottery for "good causes". Since 2004 it has awarded over £9 billion to ...

after it won a public vote on the television programme ''The People's Millions'', a collaboration between the Big Lottery Fund and the broadcaster

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

. It was stated that the money would be spent on refurbishing the children's paddling pool, which had been disused since 1997. After an extensive campaign by local residents, the Save Saltdean Lido Campaign successfully lobbied the freeholders of the site (Brighton & Hove City Council) to stop housing development and take back the lease on the site. Following a 9-month procurement process the Saltdean Lido Community Interest Company (set up by the campaign group) took ownership of a 60-year lease in 2014. The lido reopened in 2017.

References

Bibliography

* * Pages 146-151 *

External links

Saltdean Lido CIC
{{Brighton and Hove buildings Buildings and structures completed in 1938 Art Deco architecture in England Grade II* listed buildings in Brighton and Hove Lidos Sports venues in Brighton and Hove Swimming venues in England Sports venues completed in 1938 Streamline Moderne architecture in the United Kingdom Grade II listed sports and recreation buildings Listed sports venues in England

Description

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links