Scary swimming pools
June 20th, 2006 Posted in Place Mapping, Urban ExplorationWell, I’ve added some pictures of the closed outdoor swimming pool on the sea front at Grange over Sands. Not amazingly good photos it has to be said, but it is a little difficult to get good shots of and it deserved to be somewhere on here. 
I have some other photos I shall have to dig out to go alongside, but these I took today. It was a very popular tourist attraction through the years but the council closed it in 1992 because they said it leaked. I have to ask, if it leaked so badly in 1992, why in 2006 is it sat there still with a full pool of water… I wouldn’t like to go swimming in that though.
I remember it being open, as I have said in the gallery infact. My memory is of sitting just to the left of the entrance (as we’re looking at it in these pictures) with my feet in a smaller pool made for sailing toy boats. 
I was fascinated by the turnstyles on the door, the old metal kind that fairgrounds used to have (and Chester Zoo if my memory serves me) and I really wanted to go inside and swim. I must have been about 7 years old. Its a very dim recollection. If only as a child I’d had the forethought to photograph everything. Or infact owned a camera.. Ah well. Here’s one of the only pictures of the Lido in its former glory I can find. I don’t know when, but it looks like a good day out.
I may try writing to the council to ask about going inside to make a proper record of what it was like, but I have a feeling they would say no. They are a sneaky council and would be suspicious of me. At least if I had tried to ask permission it might look less bad if they caught me having scaled the wall.
4 Responses to “Scary swimming pools”
By james on Jul 17, 2006
hi, my god i remembered this place from when i was a kid, and just typed it in on the search engines to see if it was still open and found you! i remember it as you do all fun & laughs and no cares in the world and taking 10 minutes to jump off the diving board! cant believe it is now closed! i noticed when searching lots of people have tried over the years to get this place reopened it is also listed on a website as a potentially re-openable lido! they dont have much information on it though and i think they would be greatful of your pictures to display as they have pictures for others. if you type in on a search engine – potentially re-openable lidos in the united kingdom – you should be able to see for yourself and they require information especially on the grange lido! please let me know how you get on, and let me know if i can play some part in getting this place reopened as it is a real shame! i have many happy memorys of this place as will lots of others and i would love people to experience that same magical feeling we had as kids! your right about the leaking scam from the council and the turnstyle fascination.
By Nicola on Jan 16, 2008
Me and my boyfriend went to visit Grange over sands, we came across the opened air swimming pool. It brought back memories for my boyfriend. I’m absolutely thrilled by it. I want to learn more about the history behind it and why it really got closed down. It would be great if we had some more photo’s! It would be good to have it re-opened!
By sara on Jan 16, 2008
I completely agree. I haven’t been to Grange in quite a while, but whenever I do I always have to visit the baths. What amused me was I seem to recall that one of the reasons they gave for closing it, was “it leaks”. Well it quite obviously doesn’t given the sheer amount of standing water it’s holding!
They built the new swimming pool complex up the hill to replace it I thought, and then very soon afterwards it closed down due to problems with the cheap construction. Seems stupid they can’t even build an indoor baths to last 3 years when that one has been standing for probably 50 or more
By Youth on Mar 23, 2008
As a skater kid we often go in there so skateboard and stay out the way from the general public. It’s pretty safe to be honest. It’s all boarded up. But We’ve often taken them down to explore and stuff. I recommend going in for a look, not hard to get into, but be careful of anti-climbing paint, it’s a bitch to get off.