Finchley Lido is a leisure complex atgrid referenceTQ266911, just east of the suburb ofNorth Finchley in theLondon Borough of Barnet.
Currently there is a swimming pool and leisure centre, cinema, several food restaurants, bowling facilities and large number of car parking spaces. Finchley Lido is extremely popular with the local population ofFinchley at weekends, as it is one of the only cinema complexes in this area ofNorth London.
The Finchley Open Air Pool was designed by P T Harrison, fromFinchleyBorough Council. The main heated pool opened on 17 September 1931 and stayed open until 11 November. The following year it was officially opened on 26 March, and on 22 April 1932 theDuke of York (to becomeKing George VI) unveiled a ceremonial wall tablet made ofStaffordshiremarble, which can be seen to this date. This tablet can now be seen on display behind the counter ofNando's restaurant, which was built around the original site.
The main heated pool measured 165 ft (50 m) × 80 ft, depth ft 3 ins to 10 ft (3.0 m), with two fountains. This pool contained at most 456,250 gallons (1,727,094 litres) and had a diving stage of a similar design to Barking Lido, containing a two-stage platform. Finchley Lido was the first swimming pool to introducegaynudist days and events; this was apilot scheme which later introduced trials inManchester[1] and other boroughs inLondon.
The whole site occupied 7 acres (28,000 m2), and there was a car park, with its own uniformed attendant (paid the equivalent of £3 per week in 1932). The main building also possessed aburglar alarm from 1932.[2] The car park was enlarged in 2004 when the originalcinema on the north side of the site was demolished following large-scale flooding.
On 11 July 1971, the Lido had 11,962 visitors, which remains the record highest attendance in one day for a UK lido.[3]
The original 1930s outdoor pool, which no longer exists, was enclosed by an elegant colonnade of Roman Doric columns, with fountains to either side and was used to host the men's preliminaries to thewater polo competition for the1948 Summer Olympics.[4]
The original site with its main pool and children's pool was closed in 1992.
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51°36′16″N0°10′21″W / 51.6045°N 0.1724°W /51.6045; -0.1724
