Lead Councillor for the Environment, Cllr James Steel provides an update on Guildford Lido:

‘We are sorry to confirm that although the government now allows outdoor pools to open, we are unable to open Guildford Lido this summer. Please rest assured we haven’t taken this decision lightly. We completely understand how disappointing this news will be and have taken this decision jointly with Freedom Leisure. Working with Freedom Leisure, we have reviewed the possible programme within the government restrictions and Swim England’s safety guidelines and we all felt a programme of pre-bookable one hour lane swimming was not going to meet customer’s expectations for their Lido experience or be sufficient to make the set up and operation of the venue cost effective for the remaining six week season. However lane swimming will be on offer at Guildford Spectrum in the competition pool during August and September.

Swim England’s guidelines indicate that only lane swimming would be practical with visitors being granted a designated time slot. We know that the Lido is a much loved local attraction where families and groups of friends come to relax and socialise for the whole day using the pool whenever you wanted. Under the new Coronavirus (Covid 19) guidelines, Freedom Leisure would be unable to offer visitors that experience.

The anticipated additional cost to operate the Lido is estimated to be £38,000 for August and a similar amount for September. This is on top of the annual operating costs.

Again, I am incredibly sorry to bring you this news and thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.