Thames Lido is a 5 min walk across Kings Meadow Park. Luscinia View residents can take up membership without having to pay the one-off joining fee (at the time of writing in early 2019). Thames Lido is the result of a 3-year restoration project of the disused King’s Meadow swimming pool located by the river Thames on King’s Meadow in Reading.
The original pool was designed and built by John Bowen, Borough Engineer and Surveyor, at a cost of £4890. It first opened to the public in 1902 as the Ladies Swimming Bath and is believed to be the oldest surviving outdoor municipal pool of the early Edwardian era. With no windows giving onto the pool itself, it was built to allow Edwardian women to bathe in privacy and was originally fed from the Thames though it was converted to mains water supply in the 1950s. The pool was closed to the public in 1974.
In August 2004, as a result of a public campaign, the building was awarded Grade II listed building status. In September 2013 Reading Borough Council voted to give the Lido management team from Bristol Lido the opportunity to develop the site (working with the Bristol Lido architects, Marshall and Kendon).
In October 2017 the Lido was opened and is used by many Luscinia View residents. It has a fine restaurant and has saunas and massage rooms as well as a heated open-air pool. The directors of NRMC use a room at the Lido for our AGMs.
