Manchester is ‘excited’ about the new lido which will be built in an unexpected location

Excitement is building about what will be Manchester’s first lido to open in decades after preliminary plans were approved.

The open-air swimming pool will be a key feature of Holt Town’s redevelopment. The 30-hectare area between Ancoats and SportCity is home to fewer than 100 people, and ‘does not have too much going on’, according to council leader Bev Craig.

That will change in the coming years, however, as 4,500 homes are planned for the area in a massive redevelopment that will also create 1,500 jobs. The ‘new town’ will have 15 acres of green space, including a 1 km-long ‘play spine’ running through the neighbourhood’s heart.

But the element of the plans which has caught most people’s attention is the inclusion of a lido in an unexpected location.

The pool will be the first to open in Manchester since the 1980s when The Galleon in East Didsbury and Alexandra Park’s lido closed.

It will be built on Cyrus Street, a barrier-off overgrown back road which connects Cavalier Street to Cambrian Street, which top councillor Gavin White believes is ‘one of the most fly-tipped hotspots in east Manchester.’

Cyrus Street’s transformation from ugly dump to beautiful swimming has ‘got people excited’, Bev Craig added at a council executive meeting on Wednesday (January 22).

“There’s apparently a National Association of Lidos which is excited about it,” she added.

The town hall meeting saw councillors approve a ‘Neighbourhood Development Framework’, which is a blueprint for the project. The framework said it ‘will take many years to complete’, meaning it’s unlikely anyone will be taking a dip on Cyrus Street anytime soon.