• Ashby Lido re-opens after 20 month closure due to pandemic

• Ashby by the Sea theme is part of the first major development work since 1964

• Lido will be incorporated into the name when Leisure Centre is relaunched in July

• The Lido has been a feature of the town since 1929

• Operators say the reaction to the re-opening has been 'phenomenal'

• Our video above shows the pool in operation on Saturday morning

Ashby Lido re-opened its doors to swimmers again this morning (Saturday) after the pool's first major redevelopment in 57 years - and it was full from the start.

The art-deco style outdoor pool has been a feature of Ashby since it first opened in 1929 - and the public facility is the only one of its kind within a 60-mile radius.

But it has been out of action since closing at the end of summer in 2019.

Last year's lockdown prevented the pool opening during the summer months at the height of the pandemic.

But the time was well spent, with a major redevelopment of the pool taking place - its first since 1964 - and returning with an 'Ashby by the Sea' theme.

Pool operators Everyone Active - who run the adjoining Hood Park Leisure Centre with owners North West Leicestershire District Council - hope that they will be able to recreate that seaside feeling, even though the coast is a long way from Ashby.

The Lido will also be featured more prominently in a renaming of the facility at an official launch in July to co-incide with it being renamed Ashby Leisure Centre and Lido.

It is a move designed to make people in Ashby - and visitors - more aware of the pool.

Any doubts that the makeover was worth it - almost £20,000 has been spent on the work - were soon forgotten with swimmers taking to water as soon as it was open at 8am.

Hood Park Leisure Centre Manager, Adam Knight, says the re-launch has been a success with booking slots full and a busy summer ahead.

Adam said: "This is the first official day, and the reaction has been phenomenal.

"It's been brilliant, superb. Because it was shut last year, everyone's really keen to get back into the pool again.

"The take-up's been great."

The main pool has been redeveloped with added catering facilities but the former splashpool has now been turned into a children's play area.

Adam added: "We wanted to freshen it up a little bit. So we came up with the Ashby by the Sea idea, which incorporated the splashpool as it was, but as a kids' feature, a sandpit.

"The pool was last open in September, 2019. We were meant to open last May, but with the Covid situation, we obviously couldn't.

"It stood closed for the best part of 20 months.

"Our staff had been furloughed, there was absolutely no way of opening the pool.

"But we used that time to create this project and work started on that around February and March this year.

"The closure gave us the opportunity to freshen it up, which was something we had planned anyway. The last major work that happened on this pool was in 1964.

"Other than the odd lick of paint here and there, there's been no real development here. With the age of it, we have to look after it. It's been a bit of a building site for the past year, but it's the only outdoor lido pool of this style within a 60-mile radius, the demand for it is definitely there.

"But, at the moment, we are still open under Covid restrictions. All the sessions for this weekend and next weekend are full, and the public swimming sessions are filling up too."

Adam says the addition of the word 'Lido' to the renaming of the leisure centre is deliberate.

He added: "We want people to know the Lido is there.

"People here might not know it's here, along with visitors to the town. We're tucked away a little bit aren't we?

"Hopefully, when social distancing rules are relaxed, we will relaunch both the pool and the £1.2million refurbishment of the leisure centre which happened in 2019, before Covid. We haven't had chance to launch that yet, so it will happen on the first day of the summer holidays.

"It'll be a fun day, an extravaganza.

"The District Council own the facilities but Everyone Active runs it and the work done here at Hood Park has been phenomenal along with the money invested.

"The new Coalville Leisure Centre is due to open in August, and that's another link-up between the council and Everyone Active."