A historic lido in a Welsh town which first opened back in the 1930s could be reopened within three years if a £1m project gets the go-ahead. Brynamman Lido has been closed since 2010 but efforts have been stepped up in recent years to bring it back to life.
Known historically as ‘the Baths’, the once-popular attraction opened in 1934 during the Great Depression. Now, there is hope that it can once again be something of a hub in the Brynamman area as communities continue to bounce back after the effects of Covid-19 and various lockdowns. You can keep up to date with the latest Carmarthenshire news by signing up to the local newsletter here.
In what is seen as a key step forward, the Brynamman Lido Committee has been awarded a Project Viability Grant of £10,000 from the Architectural Heritage Fund. This will now pay for an architect, a quantity surveyor and a consultant to work with the committee to produce a feasibility study regarding the lido’s future.
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In early 2020, Carmarthenshire Council approved an asset transfer request from the lido committee as part of a programme to transfer sites to community groups, with the aim of giving them the power and responsibility to manage local facilities. The committee was hoping to secure more funding in 2020 with plans for the attraction to open as early as summer 2021, with further developments in the pipeline including the opening of a cafe, a hot tub area and a shop.
However, in the weeks that followed the asset transfer Wales and the rest of the UK was plunged into a lockdown and a long period of financial uncertainty, which put paid to many projects across the country for various reasons. The hope now is that the project, which will cost around £1m in total, can move forward and that the attraction can open within two to three years, with the committee calling the support from the Architectural Heritage Fund as a “very important step on the journey”.
Adam Hitchings, Wales development manager at the heritage fund, said: “We are impressed by the society’s ambition to restore this much-loved lido and make it a focal point for the community. This grant has been made possible thanks to our funding partners at Cadw, the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Pilgrim Trust.”
Research for the project will be carried out by the Rural Office for Architecture, based in King Street in Carmarthen. A spokesman for the architecture practice said: “We are delighted to be supporting Brynamman Lido with proposals for its redevelopment of this historic community asset. Working in the region for the past 15 years, we are passionate about supporting local initiatives that sustain and improve the health and wellbeing of Valleys communities.”
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