Jubilee Pool Cornwall Accessible Activities Programme

Jubilee Pool is an outdoor, sea water lido in Penzance, the largest of its kind in the UK. Described as one of the most unusual and pleasingly designed lidos of the era, the Jubilee Pool was designed in the early 1930s by Captain F Latham, the Borough Engineer. The pool was opened with great celebration in May 1935, the year of King George V’s Silver Jubilee. Cleverly designed to cope with the full ferocity of the Cornish seas, the pool is triangular in shape yet with gentle curves, and an art deco style.

In September 2020, Jubilee Pool became the first geothermally heated lido in the UK after ten years of hard graft and a £1.8m funding package, £540,000 of which came from a public share offer resulting in an organisation truly owned by the community. There are 1400 shareholders of which 970 are local people.

The new geothermal pool has made a huge difference to local people, in particular with health conditions or a disability who can benefit considerably – the pool is also fully accessible. The Cornwall Accessible Activities Programme, ‘CAAP’ families supports 800 families locally who have a disabled child and use the pool as part of their programme.

Image credit: Kitaen Photographic