FOR YEARS Southampton's Lido was a mecca for swimmers and sunbathers who flocked in their thousands to spend lazy afternoons in the great British summertime.

Sadly, summer never came again after 1977 when the Lido, situated at the railway end of Western Esplanade, became too expensive to run and maintenance costs continued to escalate.

Plans were put forward to the city council to re-develop the site as either a skateboard park or an inner city angling centre but, as these ideas all faded, the decision was made in the early 1980s to demolish the site.

Closure of the Lido came as no surprise to the council or local swimmers, as it had been living on borrowed time since 1973.

Each year workmen patched it up, but there was always the fear that something serious would happen. In August 1976, it did.

The water in the deep areas of the pool became so murky that the Lido had to be closed on occasions. A full investigation later revealed a complete collapse of the Lido's boiler and filtration plant.

The first open-air pool on the edge of the Lido site was built in 1854 by the Southampton Public Baths and Wash Houses Company.

The directors of the company, in their propectus, promised a baths complex "which would surpass all bathing establishments in the country" for a total capital of £5,000.

However, the ambitious plan hit financial problems and only the gentleman's open air pool and the ladies' covered pool were completed.

In spite of two major alterations the last Lido was almost identical in shape to the original gentleman's pool, which took water direct from the River Test.

Over the decades, the Lido was redeveloped and improved and in 1930 a major reconstruction took place.

The pool was closed from 1940 to 1942 because of smoke and grit from nearby electricity generating station but it reopened in 1943 after repairs and a clean-up.

There were also a number of unfortunate incidents at the Lido that could have so nearly spelt the end for the swimmers' retreat. It survived two fires in 1968 and 1969, and there was panic in 1930 when a 10-ton Southampton Corporation steam roller raced across Western Esplanade and crashed into the walls of the slipper baths. It was a miracle that no one was killed as there were 15 men in the baths at the time.

Throughout its existence, the Lido enjoyed huge popularity. Thousands poured through the turnstiles to lounge around on the terraces, enjoy a drink in the cafe and swim in the large pool.

In the heatwave of 1976 more than 61,000 sunseekers passed through the gates to enjoy the great British summer. During the 1950s, 60s and early 70s the Lido pulled in massive summertime crowds, but when it closed it quickly became a sorry sight until it was cleared away in the early 1980s.