'The City of Santa Monica took over operations in the 1990s, and invited the public to reimagine its future after the 1994 Northridge earthquake damaged all its structures. 'The State of California bought the property in 1959,' says Jan Dyer, principal of Studio-MLA, the practice that refurbished it. Incorporating a heated pool that flanks Santa Monica Beach, it was restored and opened to the public in 2009. In Los Angeles, there's the ocean-facing Annenberg Community Beach House, built in the 1920s for actress Marion Davies by her lover, William Randolph Hearst. By the 1960s, outdoor pools received less funding and were falling into disrepair.'Īccelerating their decline, says Wood, was the increase in foreign travel.'UK lidos compared less well to countries with warmer climates that people were starting to holiday in.' But unpredictable British weather can't really be blamed for precipitating the lido's demise: 'Countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Finland, Sweden and Iceland – with similar weather – have maintained outdoor pools and their vibrant cultures,' says Wood. A 1968 Sports Council report, Planning for Sport, stressed the seasonal nature of lidos, deeming them poor value for money. 'But, from the 1960s, fewer people flocked to lidos, due partly to the 1960 Wolfenden report on sport and community, which recommended that public pools be housed indoors. 'Their designs were grand, and developed a strong sense of place for the communities,' says Wood. The golden age of lidos in the UK was in the 1930s, when outdoor swimming became popular, and 169 were built across the country as recreational facilities. 'Over the years, I started to dig deeper to understand why we had so few pools in the UK when they were so loved by the public.' 'A lot of work advocating the return of the lido was done in the noughties,' says Michael Wood, assistant professor in sport management at the department of health and life sciences, Northumbria University. What the Nordics can teach us about fun With a growing number of community groups and councils recognising the value of lidos (outdoor swimming pools) and pools to local communities, many are being restored and modernised to meet 21st-Century requirements.

In the UK, many public pools and outdoor lidos have long lain neglected yet they are now experiencing a revival, as people increasingly rediscover the invigorating pleasures of swimming, especially outdoors. In countries as far afield as Iceland, Denmark and the UK, and in cities such as Los Angeles, Sydney, Berlin and Beijing, public swimming pools have historically been democratic palaces of leisure.

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