Blackpool-South Shore Swimming Coliseum 1923
Above Scene is in 1937. Original picture. Blackpool District Central Library N .1559 1994
Blackpools South Shore Lido was heavily patronised come wind rain and golden sun. A beautiful art deco lido with high diving stage. The famous Miss World Competitions were an annual event. Will expand
WOW ! Magnificent! THIS WONDERFUL STADIUM built at the Blackpool – South Shore Blackpool. Hosted many notable events.
The Gracie Fields film “Sing As We Go” 1934. was filmed here. Other visiting stars included Sir Harry Lauder in 1932; Jayne Mansfield in 1959, and all through times interspersed with many International visitors. “The most beautiful pool I’ve ever seen” remarked one visitor from New York.
The Lancashire “Cotton Queen” Contest. Click picture. It’ll load in few seconds.
The Coliseum was the venue for many famous beauty contests including the Cotton Queen contests before the war.
1924 saw 94,403 bathers and by 1929 nearly 94,000,000 people […]
…The other end of the promenade were the famous Derby Baths…
…had visited these beautiful baths. Said to be the largest pool in the world. It was set amongst the large promenades, nestling on the edge of golden sands within the bracing air. The stadium received the World’s press, TV and Cinema, as a result of being the venue for the Miss Blackpool and Miss World Contests.
“The most beautiful pool I’ve ever seen” to quote one distinguished visitor.
It was an unusually shaped oval perimeter, the pool being “D” shaped. It was concaved specially for a pageant Platform. There was a “cut out” for the diving boards at one end, the water depth being 15 feet. The diving stage was the order of the day, having 3 metre springboards, 7.5 m firm boards and a 10 metre board. Personal experience told me on a windy day the 10 metre swayed. However, they were built in the necessary regulations for holding Diving Events, but more popularly the Diving Shows. Standing on top of the highest board one overlooked the whole of the Blackpool South Shore Pleasure Park adjacent to the pool.
The pool was in huge scale, approximately 376 ft by 170ft wide (wider than a regular pool long!) The shape necessitated a swimming events area, which was partitioned when necessary. There were of course refreshment areas and restaurants.
It was absolutely beautiful when the sun glistened on the ripples of water, and was spectacular at night under the night illuminations. All this amidst the Roman pillars around the pool one expected Gods and Goddess’s to emerge from the crystal clear water. It was a paradise. Moonlighlight/floodlight bathing was something else!
10 M Diving Stage. Swimming Coliseum Blackpool
Sunbathing on the lido beach. District Central Library 1994 enlarge+
OUTCOME: Demolished after 60 years. Very expensive to run not helped by bathers escaping to the sun abroad. High maintenance was required and the swimming pool became unprofitable. The Sandcastle Leisure Complex was built on its site
Blackpool District Central Library. 1994 E.G 25/02/83 enlarge +
The new Leisure Centre on Blackpool South Shore “The Sandcastle Waterpark” now occupies the site. It has recently been refurbished.
