The collapse of major leisure operator Fusion Lifestyle could speed up plans to repair and reopen Bath’s flood-damaged Cleveland Pools.
The Cleveland Pools in Bath | Photo © Anthony Brown / Cleveland Pools Trust
Registered charity Fusion Lifestyle, which has its headquarters in Dartford in Kent, recently entered administration. It ran a significant number of leisure facilities, including swimming pools, across the country.
Administrators are aiming to find new operators to take over Fusion’s leisure facilities, which include several in the east of Somerset.
Cleveland Pools, the UK’s oldest lido, is owned by Bath & North East Somerset Council and held on a long-term lease by the Cleveland Pools Trust.
The Grade II* listed riverside baths were brought back from decades of dereliction after more than £9.5 million was raised from a wide range of funders. Before reopening to swimmers in September 2023, the trust sublet the site to Fusion Lifestyle on a long-term, full repairing and insuring sub-lease.
But the Georgian lido was only open for a short time. It has been closed since January 2024, when floodwater entered and caused considerable damage to the operating plant and machinery.
In February, we reported that the trust had confirmed the full extent of the flood damage but warned that finding the money to repair and reopen the site remained a major challenge.
Now in a statement posted on the Cleveland Pools website, Peter Askew, chair of the Cleveland Pools Trust, said: “Cleveland Pools Trust notes the appointment of administrators to Fusion Lifestyle.
“In 2023, following completion of the restoration, the trust sublet the site to Fusion Lifestyle, a charity experienced in operating lidos and leisure facilities.
“As the pools have remained closed following the January 2024 flood, this development does not have any immediate operational impact on the site.
“However, it may mark an important step forward, as until now the trust has been constrained in its ability to act while the site remained subject to an exclusive sublease.
“We are now working closely with our legal advisers and Bath & North East Somerset Council to understand the implications and to seek to secure full control of the site as quickly as possible.
“This may create a clearer pathway for the trust to take forward the next phase, including progressing plans for repair and reopening. We will provide further updates as next steps are confirmed.”
