Latest opening hours, water conditions & booking issues

Latest opening hours, water conditions & booking issues

Thursday 31 October 2024

We met on site with the council late last week, raising maintenance and cleaning issues during a walk-around as well as other key topics. 

New opening hours

On weekdays, the lido is now open from 07:30 until 11:30 and from 12:00 until 16:00 — the lido remains closed for 30 minutes between 11:30 and 12:00.

At weekends, opening hours remain very limited, from 08:00 to 11:00 only. Capacity is also currently constrained for some weekend slots to just 25 an hour.

Limited availability, especially at weekends, is currently our members’ biggest concern. The council confirmed that the problem is a short-term shortage of staff only and is temporary. They outlined a new lifeguard recruitment drive.

The centre’s General Manager said:

“Fusion failed to onboard 3 lifeguards and this means we are relying on people doing overtime. I am hopeful that we will be able to open up Saturday more but Sunday is really difficult. We may in the short term add the additional slots on Saturday on a weekly basis.

“Haringey has approved for the equivalent of 12 full time lifeguard positions between us and Tottenham — so over 400 hours which will completely solve our issues. We have people waiting to sign up that I have previously offered posts to and many others that have shown interest in recent weeks.  Please bear with us whilst we recruit and onboard, there is an end in sight!”

Haringey committed to year-round opening

Haringey acknowledged that opening hours and capacity restrictions during October have led to people being turned away from the lido or not being able to attend at all, with some cancelling their memberships. The council is fully committed to keeping the lido heated and open all year round during daylight hours.

Water conditions — pool vac on the way

The water temperature has stabilized and was within the normal 22–24ºC range for most of the past week. It’s currently a little warmer at 25.0ºC. 

Lifeguards were busy brushing up the still rapidly growing algae from the floor on Tuesday, which has left the pool looking much cleaner.

Haringey said a new pool vacuum — specifically designed for lidos — would be ordered imminently and should be operational within three weeks. We can’t wait!

Barriers to booking resolved or workarounds available

Thank you to everyone who emailed us with their struggles trying to use the new website and apps. The centre believes all issues are now resolved — or can be by visiting the centre — and the turnstile is working.

Note that all concessionary “Pay & Play” members must re-register at the centre: a full list of affected membership types and what to do is available on the Haringey website.

Many non-concessionary pay-as-you-go members have also been struggling to get onto the new system to book anything. A full fix is in the works, but in the meantime a workaround is available: go to the New River Leisure Centre website and select Book activity, then from the booking system select the Park Road lido session you want, and create a new account as part of the checkout process.

Pay monthly members having login problems should try resetting their password via the New River Leisure Centre website, by selecting Book activity and then Login. You may need to request a password reset twice, and manually copy and paste the password reset link into a web browser.

If you continue to have issues, please visit the centre.

Note that Junior swims in the lido are now available to book via the website. We’ve asked for lido sessions to be separated out from indoor swims on the app, and will also request that the booking window is extended at least until the session starts.

No joining fee

According to the General Manager: “Currently there is no joining fee, so if anyone wants to join, now is the time to do it as there is a saving of £30 on single memberships and £50 on joint and families.”