50 years after it shut, this British seaside lido could get a grand reopening – and it’s just 90 minutes from London

When it came to leisure time, Brits in the first half of the 20th century really knew what they were doing. The 1930s was a golden age for outdoor swimming in Britain and lidos were built all over the UK – something that today’s cold water swimmers could only dream of. Back then outdoor bathing was seen less as an eccentric hobby and more of a public right. 

But the good old days of yore could slowly be returning, because a community-led regeneration group has announced ambitions to bring back the Ramsgate Lido after 50 years of closure.

First opened in 1935, the outdoor pool by the sea shuttered in 1975. Non-profit organisation Heritage Lab Ramsgate has said it is in early discussions with a developer which has expressed interest in creating an outdoor swimming pool complex at the site of Ramsgate’s former Marina Bathing Pool. 

A spokesperson from Heritage Lab said: ‘Thanet has a thriving sea and open-water swimming culture, with people of all ages swimming year-round for wellbeing, connection and community. Outdoor swimming is no longer niche — it’s part of a wider shift in how people travel and spend time at the coast.

‘When combined with elements such as saunas, cafés and social spaces, an outdoor pool can become something more than a place to swim — it can be a year-round destination that locals and visitors return to again and again.

‘The former Marina Bathing Pool site offers a rare opportunity to reinstate a high-quality outdoor swimming facility in a location that has been associated with leisure and seaside holidays since the mid-1930s.’

Heritage Lab has approached Thanet District Council, which currently owns the site, with the proposal. At the moment the location is the Marina Esplanade Car Park and has been marked by the council as an area for disposal – in 2019 priority was given to exploring leisure use options for the site. 

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