FOR years this was where Southampton lazed on a sunny afternoon, as swimmers and sunbathers in their thousands flocked to the city’s Lido.
But in 1977 they took their last dip in the open air pool at Western Esplanade as the Southampton Lido fell victim to rising costs, development plans and crumbling facilities. Since the early 1970s the Lido had been living on borrowed time.
Each year workmen patched it up but there was always a fear that something serious would happen.
In 1976 it did.
The water in the deep areas of the pool became so murky that it had to close on occasions when the boiler and filtration plant was discovered to have collapsed.
In earlier times the Lido enjoyed huge popularity during the few months of the year that it was open.
Thousands poured through the turnstiles to lounge around on the terraces, enjoy a drink in the cafe and swim in the large pool.
In one heatwave during the 1970s more than 61,000 people dived into cooling waters in three months.
The first open air pool on the Lido site was built on the edge of Southampton Water in 1854 with the promise it would “surpass all bathing establishments in the country.”
Over the decades the Lido was redeveloped and improved and in 1930 a major reconstruction took place.
The pool was closed from 1940 to 1942 because of smoke and grit from the nearby electricity generating station but it reopened in 1943.
During the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s the Lido pulled in the crowds but when it closed it quickly became a sorry sight until it was finally cleared away in the early 1980s.
Southampton Lido in June 1977, Lisa Arnold (23) and Teresa Zammitt (19), enjoy the sun.
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