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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Park Road Lido

I've been a regular user of  Park Road lido for years. In the past there have been problems with the availability of staff causing its temporary closure. This year that was a problem earlier in the season, but now there are  more serious ones. Firstly an accumulation of algae has been allowed to gather on the bottom unhindered by staff intervention. They used to remove it with a long broom. Now they've got a machine which doesn't work. Secondly, for the second time this season the water has become murky which combined with the  algae obscures the bottom of the pool.  It's been closed once this year because of this & when I was there on Sunday the problem looked unmanagable again. There are very few lidos now in London & Park Road is very popular when it is being properly managed, but it is going rapidly downhill at the moment. The manager took redundancy apparently & many of the staff are agency hired. There appears to be little leadership on site or in the borough for this valuable local amenity. For local residents it is galling that a bunch of here today & gone tomorrow  administrators & councillors can be allowed to oversee the decline of an amenity that's been there since 1929.

Tags for Forum Posts: park road lido, swimming pools

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Hugh on August 1, 2011 at 21:58
Could there be some clues here?
Permalink Reply by matt on August 1, 2011 at 22:27
The council are looking to sell off their 2 pools to an outside provider. Suggest you go to the pool at Archway or Hackney, until our council works out what it's doing.
Permalink Reply by William Booth on August 2, 2011 at 11:57
I think it would be absolutely criminal for the council to get rid of one of its few useful health/fitness amenities. It's a classic tactic, though - run down the facility in order to justify its sale and then have people pay twice as much to a private provider for the same service.
james walshPermalink Reply by james walsh on August 1, 2011 at 23:35
I'm confused because the gym has just had a re-fit. New machines, Decor etc that must have cost gazzilions. So where did the money for that come from ?
Permalink Reply by Laura Kirsop on August 2, 2011 at 10:51
The algae looks pretty terrible, but I'm hoping it's harmless to me as a swimmer. What really worried me the other day were the millions of flies on the surface! I nearly got a mouthful of flies on a few occasions and was pretty covered in them when I got out. So gross!
Permalink Reply by stuart grieve on August 2, 2011 at 15:38
Since Sunday they have swept clean the algae & water quality is once again acceptable. Would pool users please complain to the staff when conditions are not acceptable. This morning there was a lot of litter around the changing cubicles. that sort of thing used to be addressed more promptly.
Permalink Reply by Paulie on August 4, 2011 at 11:17

I meant to post on this but my "smartphone" is kaput... :( Went there for my (probably annual) much-awaited trip to the Lido last Thursday (I think). Not many people around the centre but then it wasn't scorching and 5 pm isn't really peak time.

 

Paid my £4.50 - pricey, but you pay a premium to swim outdoors in north London. Then went "poolside".

 

I have never seen such a disgusting sight in a swimming pool before (not even in the Park Road changing rooms). Algae in the murky green water. Piles of sand on the bottom of the pool. And thousands of big, black, wriggling flies and flying ants floating on the surface. Meanwhile the solitary attendant sat, board, her net pole happily unemployed and lying on the ground some feet away, while a local character chatted colourfully away to her.

 

I walked around the pool - there were perhaps 3 or 4 swimmers, and a similar number of sunbathers - hoping one corner of the pool would be relatively clean - but in vain.

 

So I collected my things and went back inside where I spoke to a young chap on the counter and told him the lido was disgusting. I asked "Can I swim inside instead?" He waved me through.

 

Of course, what happened in consequence was that I got a swim in the dark for the same price as a swim outside, which is supposed to cost more (for those who don't know Park Road, for some reason the house style is to swim in near-pitch blackness, presumably to add some sort of ambience; it surely can't be a reluctance to use greater wattage bulbs).

 

I did a few perfunctory laps, avoiding the young dudes spilling over with their beach ball, then headed glumly for the changing "village", enjoying a cool dribble of water from the communal showers on the way.

 

If my trip has provided one benefit it is to show me that this is a "leisure" venue entirely free of pleasure and, as a result, I will be saving my money in future and visiting Highbury or Tottenham Green instead.

 

Happy swimming!

 

Permalink Reply by William Booth on August 4, 2011 at 11:30
I think there may be a more generalised problem with a lot of contemporary swimming pool attendants - they are (in my experience) resolutely non-interventionist. At Brockwell they huddle and chat while kids run riot, dive-bombing, running, shouting (yes, I realise I sound like Grandpa Simpson but I'm only 31 and I like a quiet swim when you've paid a bloody fortune to get in). Not sure what the root cause is - low motivation caused by low pay? Bad training? Generational discontent and malaise? Who knows.
Permalink Reply by Paulie on August 4, 2011 at 11:31

Well it's funny you say that because at Tottenham Green they regularly blow up to stop unruly or dangerous play and I am forever being told "you have to keep an eye on your kids".... which is good and bad...!

Permalink Reply by Paulie on August 4, 2011 at 11:32
PS my kids are not dangerous or unruly, I should point out (well at least not in the pool)... I was referring to other children ;)
Permalink Reply by William Booth on August 4, 2011 at 11:35
That's what I like to hear! A good sharp blast on the whistle now and then. I reckon the Crouch End kids probably need a bit of, er, encouragement or guidance even more than those at Tott. Green ;-)

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