I’ve got a confession to make: I love the Lido. I love how a crumbling and virtually derelict location has been transformed into what is now my place of choice if I want to show visitors to Bristol one of the most special and unique places in the city. I love the glistening water, just yards away as I read the weekend papers with a coffee in the bar and café area downstairs, or when catching up with a friend in the restaurant upstairs. The food in the restaurant has always been amazing whenever I have eaten there – the crackling on the roast pork that I had one Sunday lunch last year has lived long in the memory. Their vegetables also now come from a half-acre smallholding on a farm in Pill.
So, the relaxing vibe downstairs; the magnificent food, both upstairs – in the old Victorian viewing gallery with an Italian wood-fired oven – and downstairs in the poolside bar where breakfast and tapas are available; not to mention the beautiful pool and outdoor jacuzzi. It is not surprising that the Lido was transformed by a Scandinavean (Arne Ringner, he of the Glassboat and Spyglass), who has employed bold lines, primary colours and simplicity to make the Lido what it is today.
I have not even mentioned the spa, which for many people is the highlight of the Lido, but for me still a mystery, housed in a side of the building I have never ventured into. From the bar and restaurant, however, you can glimpse people in the glass-fronted sauna, and watch them shivering as they leave for the heated outdoor pool again, which on a cold day has steam rising from it, a beautiful site in the moonlight.
After it opened in late 2008, it became a bit of a joke among my friends that I was at the Lido more than my house. It was quite true, although I have still to swim in the pool. On my last visit, however, I did notice a new promotion: swim and dine. Book a table before 7pm and swim for free from 5pm, or book a table after 9pm and swim for free from 7pm. This offer is available from Monday to Friday, and I think that the next time I eat at the Lido I shall bring my swimming costume.
I know two people who regularly pack their swimming costumes when visiting, as they are swimming members. Membership does not come cheap, but their theory is that if you use it enough, the price soon works out comparable to gyms or leisure centre pools. Full annual membership (access during all opening hours, seven days a week) costs £450. Off peak annual membership (from 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday) costs £300. The price of a one-off swim for non-members, with use of the sauna, steam room and spa pool, is £15.
The Lido is many different things to many different people, and it is no shock anymore to see different worlds colliding, such as a group of young women wrapped in pristine white dressing gowns having just enjoyed a spa session walking past a family group there for breakfast, or an older couple who have come for lunch upstairs, all the while as a middle-aged man with diving goggles gets in some triathlon swimming training in the pool.
I’ll say it again. I love the Lido.
Price of a latte: £2
The Lido, Oakfield Place, Clifton. 0117 933 9530.
