Ilkley Lido
Local highlightA listed 1930s pool shaped like a mushroom, set on lawns in Ilkley with the moor rising beyond
Open to visitorsopen May to September, hours vary with the weather — check Bradford Council's lido page before you go
Built for George V’s Silver Jubilee, the lido in Ilkley opened in May 1935 to a design by the surveyor Archibald Skinner. The main pool is an unusual shape, a big circular deep section 46 metres across with a shallow area and a slide attached, which together look like a mushroom from above. The pool keeps a rare fountain from its original filtration system, and the pool, café and changing rooms are listed Grade II together. The outdoor pool is unheated, so a swim is bracing unless the weather has been warm; there’s a heated 25-metre indoor pool on the same site, added in 1974. Bradford Council runs the lido from May to September, with hours that change with the weather, and you pay on arrival. There’s a big grassy area for sunbathing with views up to Ilkley Moor. Ilkley station is under a kilometre south, and the River Wharfe at Cromwheel, England’s first river stretch designated as bathing water, is just east.
