Twenty Years of Restoration Washed Away in Four Months
After two decades of campaigning and £9.3 million in funding, Britain's oldest lido faces the prospect of never reopening following a catastrophic flood that exposed fundamental flaws in its controversial restoration. Bath's Cleveland Pools, which first opened in 1815, enjoyed a brief four-month renaissance in 2023 before storm damage forced its closure, leaving locals furious and questioning how such an expensive project could fail so spectacularly.
The Flood That Exposed Everything
The crisis began in January 2024 when the supposedly 'waterproof' and 'floodproof' plant room housing the pool's machinery flooded during a storm, causing structural damage to the historic pool. Nearly two years later, the Georgian lido sits in a state of filthy disrepair, filled with stagnant water and leaves, with trustees admitting it 'might not be possible' to ever reopen the facility.
Local residents who fought against the restoration say they predicted this exact scenario. 'We warned you this would happen,' has become the bitter refrain from those who spent years opposing what they describe as a 'vanity project' pushed through despite their concerns about the site's vulnerability to flooding.
Tom Foulstone, who has lived in a house backing onto the pools since 2007, told the Daily Mail: 'It was always middle class Disneyland. We all said it was a ridiculous idea.' He and other neighbours formed an action group that repeatedly warned about the flood risk, lack of parking, and questioned whether the small lido could ever attract enough visitors to justify the massive investment.
Questions Over Accountability and Funding
The financial scale of the failure is staggering. The restoration budget more than doubled from £4.2 million to £9.3 million, with the majority of funding - £6.7 million - coming from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Additional investment came from Bath and North East Somerset Council (£765,000), the public sector decarbonisation scheme (£557,230), and Historic England (£536,007), with public donations and grants contributing £438,448.
Questions now swirl around accountability, with five directors resigning from the Cleveland Pools Trust since the closure. Many point fingers at chairman Paul Simons, who previously led the botched Thermae Bath Spa restoration that opened five years late and up to £30 million over budget in 2006.
David Ferris, who swam in the pools as a child, expressed the community's frustration: 'How can you possibly build a swimming pool that fails when it fills with water? That defies belief.'
Residents describe being 'shouted down' and 'treated like NIMBYs' when they raised concerns during planning meetings. They presented alternatives including using the site as an unheated wild swimming lido, converting it to a park, or building a new lido in a less risky location, but say these suggestions were dismissed.
The Trust is now exploring 'all potential avenues' for repairs, including legal action and additional funding, but acknowledges the repair costs may be 'substantial and beyond the resources available.' The National Lottery Heritage Fund has provided an additional £250,000 for the investigation and says it understands the 'frustration and disappointment' of local people.
As Bath's historic pools remain closed indefinitely, the community is left wondering how twenty years of effort and millions in public money could result in a swimming pool that can't withstand water.
