Letter: We Need a Can-do Attitude to Transform the Lido

Published on: 8 Oct, 2024
Updated on: 8 Oct, 2024

The Guildford Lido

From Dawn Bennett

R4GV borough councillor for Clandon & Horsley

“Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.” Nowhere is this more true than at the Guildford Lido.

Lead councillor for Commercial Services Catherine Houston (Lib Dem, Shalford) says that having visited the Lido one morning, and found only 12 swimmers in the pool, it is not viable to open the season for longer.

Based on current usage, that is undoubtedly true, but I was elected to do more than just be complicit in a managed decline of Guildford which is why I refuse to accept that longer opening is not possible.

Other open-air pools, even ones that open through the year, manage to operate at a profit. So how does Guildford manage to run at a loss, even in the summer season?

One of the trustees of Hampton Lido (who has offered to host a fact-finding team from Guildford) explained to me some of the initiatives that they have taken to ensure the popularity of the pool, such as: 365 day swimming with pool temperature maintained by pool covers, a wide range of activities including 200+ weekly participants in aquarobics throughout the winter, summer concerts which regularly generate a surplus of £100,000+, lessons for individuals, groups and schools which generate income and grants, etc.

Compared to this, the Guildford Lido, hidden away behind Stoke church with no marketing or advertising, does none of these things. We should not be so surprised that it is making a loss.

With the contract up for renewal, Cllr Houston has a choice. Do the same again and continue to manage the decline, or use imagination with a can-do attitude to transform the Lido into one of the jewels of Guildford. It is a hidden gem – let’s bring it to centre stage where it should be.