UK’s first geothermal lido with 35C temperatures to reopen next month following closure

THE first geothermal lido in the UK is set to reopen next month following a closure.

Jubilee Pool in Penzance, Cornwall, was forced to close over the winter because of an issue with the lido’s underground thermals.

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Despite a £1.8million upgrade taking place, so the lido could operate throughout the year, the historic lido closed to visitors in January.

Holes for the underground thermals, which are used to heat the seawater to a balmy 35C in a cheap and eco-friendly way, weren’t drilled deep enough to access the warm water.

Earlier this year, the lido bosses admitted that the system wasn’t as “efficient as we hoped it would be” – with electric heaters being used to heat the water at a great cost.

Even though the site has been closed since January, it is scheduled to reopen in May, according to its Facebook page, Jubilee Pool.

In a post dated April 17, 2024, they wrote: “It’s time to scrub the geothermal pool. We will be filling it up on the spring tides and turning it back on next week.”

Tickets for May and June are already on sale, with many potential visitors excited by the news.

One person wrote: “I can’t wait to swim there on a visit from New Zealand, it looks beautiful.”

Another person wrote: “Looking forward to my day out.”

Ticket prices start from £4 for an adult and £3.50 for children.

The Jubilee Pool Lido has also been praised on TripAdvisor, with a 4/5 star rating from more than 1,000 views.

One person wrote: “A beautiful pool, very nice hot showers and a good cafe. It’s very good value to use the big pool for a cold water swim.”

Someone else added: “If you are in Penzance this is a ‘must do’ experience – and it’s a lot less cold than you might expect.”

There are around 127 lidos in the UK, with plenty of places to visit when the weather starts heating up.

Other UK lidos

One of those places is Cleveland Pools, in Bath, Somerset, which reopened to the public last year.

The attraction, and Grade II listed building, was meant to reopen to the public in 2022 but was hit by delays.

The pools originally closed to the public in the 1980s, while the project to restore them began in 2004, with volunteers working to reopen them.

Cleveland Pools is heated and there’s also a child-friendly area too.

A stunning new lido has also been planned for London too, and it looks like it belongs in a flashy hotel.

Should it get approval, the brand-new pool would be in Valentines Park, Ilford, and would have six lanes and be 25 metres long, with plenty of external outdoor space for sunbathing and relaxing.

Locals are already excited about the plans, saying they hope it turns out exactly as it looks in the proposals.

Meanwhile, Ilkley Lido in Bradford could be forced to close this summer because of financial reasons.

Earlier this year, the Ilkley Pool and Lido Community Group confirmed the attraction runs at a £280,000 loss every year.

These are some of the best lidos in the UK.

And people can’t believe that there’s a real sandy beach in London – and you can even get there by tube.

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