@charltonlido pool and gym opening hours for Christmas and New Year. Huge thanks to all the wonderful staff who’ll be working over the festive period! pic.twitter.com/5rEkjLlF6x
For those thinking of trying the lido in the cold weather for the first time, this writer can’t recommend it highly enough. The water’s at a good temperature for swimming (around 24 degrees), and the poolside staff have been doing a great job of maintaining a friendly welcome on chilly days.
Following the recent Customer Forum meeting, and feedback from members over the summer, the Lido has now published the winter pool programme which will commence on Monday 9 October. The good news is that it follows the broadly the same pattern as last year but with the addition of three lunchtime sessions per week, two of which replace the 2-4pm slots on Monday and Tuesday which were the quietest times of the week. It’s hoped the new pattern will enable more people to swim regularly throughout the winter season. The early morning opening on Monday will also continue through the winter, in response to popular demand.
Winter Timetable
Monday 6.30am-2pm & 4pm-8pm
Tuesday 7am-2pm & 4pm-8pm
Wednesday & Thursday closed
Friday 7am-2pm
Weekends 9am-5pm
Swim Doctor Programme
The Swim Doctor programme will continue with three sessions per week through the winter, with the present Wednesday and Thursday morning sessions moving to Fridays from the week of October 9th. Sessions are free for members and £3 for non-members. Booking is advised.
Monday 7-8pm Swim Doctor Technique
Friday 7-8.30am Swim Doctor Fitness (30 minutes land-based + 1 hour in the pool)
Friends of Charlton Lido are organising introductory meetings this week at the White Swan pub, on Wednesday 8th February at 7pm and Friday 10th February at 12 noon. Find out more – and let the organisers know if you’re coming along – at the Friends of Charlton Lido website.
“Back in the autumn of 2013, a group of committed Lido swimmers held an initial meeting to discuss setting up a user group under the banner Friends of Charlton Lido; lots more expressed an interest but weren’t able to attend the meeting.
“The consensus, both of those who attended the meeting and of those responding via the Charlton Champion website, was that a group would be beneficial. However, at that time there weren’t enough people able to commit to getting it off the ground, and there was a hope that the full reopening of the Lido with the new gym and café would increase usage and address many of the concerns that were being expressed at the time.
“Three years on it is clear that many of the same issues still continue to surface on a regular basis, so perhaps the time is now right to return to the proposal of establishing a Friends group to try to find a constructive way of tackling these. Informal conversations in the pool and the changing rooms suggest that lots of regulars would support the idea – so let’s try and make it happen!”
To find out more or to get involved, visit friendsofcharltonlido.co.uk or email charlton.friends.lido [at] gmail.com.
Friday morning sessions have now been reinstated until the end of October. The pool will be open 7am-12 noon.
***UPDATE 28th SEPTEMBER 2016***
A note has appeared on Charlton Lido’s website announcing changes to the new winter pool opening hours: the pool will now open on Tuesdays and close on Fridays.
Presumably they’ll be emailing members with the update at some point….Many thanks to the commenters on this post for alerting us to the change. We’ve also been told that there will be a customer forum held on October 18th; email invites are due to be sent on the 3rd of October.
Charlton lido swimmers’ hopes that a late summer heatwave would lead to extended winter opening hours have been dashed, with news that the pool will be completely closed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays until March.
We hope you have enjoyed the summer and are planning to swim into the winter months. Unfortunately the colder months will be soon upon us. With this in mind we would like to introduce you to our winter programme which will operate from the 1st of October 2016 through until March 2017.
Monday 7am-12noon & 2pm-8pm
Tuesday – Thursday Closed
Friday 7am-12noon & 2pm-8pm
Weekends 9am-5pm
The programme has been carefully thought out taking into consideration last years trends in usage, customer feedback and facility feasibility.
If you are an annual or monthly member here at Charlton Lido & Lifestyle Club you will shortly recieve[sic] an email to confirm the programme changes. This email will also outline alternative options available to our members over the winter months.
It’s unclear why – after a presumably busier-than-usual summer, thanks to the good weather – it’s necessary to cut opening to this extent; GLL have held fewer customer forums this year than previously, and emails to members remain infrequent. Hopefully the email to members mentioned above will shed some more light.
In the meantime, enjoy midweek swimming while you can! Current pool hours are:
As an aside, we’d suggest that if Better are now describing the lido as ‘Charlton’s best kept secret’ it might be time for them to do a bit of proper advertising and promotion…
PS. Tried the cafe since it reopened? Tell us what you thought of it in the comments below.
Good news for swimmers: Charlton Lido’s summer season starts on Tuesday 31st of May, with extended opening hours for the pool.
The new timetable will be:
Monday: 6.30am-8pm
Tuesday – Friday: 7am-8pm
Weekends: 9am-5pm
The main changes from the current timetable are an earlier start on Mondays, and all-day opening on Thursdays and Fridays. This timetable will run to September when it will be ‘reviewed’.
The cafe (closed for refurbishment since October last year) is due to re-open next Tuesday, and will be open 9-5pm through the week. We assume this also means that the sun terraces will re-open.
Finally, there’s a Customer Forum for members taking place this Thursday evening (May 26th). We’ve heard of members who’ve not received the email that was sent out last week and – as with other events at the lido – there’s been no mention of it on Better’s website. It may be too later to register, but if you’re a member and want to apply (or get on the list for future customer meetings) we suggest dropping a line to charltonlido [@] gll.org.
The Charlton Champion 