Grab yer swimmers Uncle Albert – looks like Peckham lido might be brought back from the dead. When I lived in Peckham I was always fascinated by the little blue podium thingy that was hidden under the bushes at the top end of the Rye. Being a relentless nerd detective, I saw that it corresponded to a little blue square on my A-Z marked Lido. Yes, if I was ever late for a meeting with you (ahem) blame it on my 1960s A-Z. Once I noticed this I realised the blue thingy was exactly the same as the fountain at Tooting Lido and my lazer-sharp brain put it all together.

Now that Peckham is having a moment, there is a campaign afoot to reinstate the lido. Opened in 1923, it was closed in the 1980s and filled in with earth. Now Studio Octopi have launched a funding appeal for the pool to be reinstated – check out the details, and pledge a donation, here. Good news for the slow of circulation – they ideally hope to make it a heated lido, usable all year round. I love lidos, of course. My home town of Penzance has a gorgeous Art Deco lido, which the council didn’t quite manage to fill in for a car park during the 1980s, and today is once again an asset to the town. My new home Margate has a lido that wasn’t so lucky. But the idea of a new lido coming to London must surely be cause for celebration. No more queuing for 2 hours to get into the one in Brockwell Park on a sunny day, south Londoners!

I really hope it comes to pass – years ago the building of Stirling Prize-winning Peckham Library was the very start of perceptions about the area changing, and this lido could complete that journey. If it gets built you never know, I might even make a trip back to my old manor with a rubber ring in hand.

Check out the funding page too for a great video of local people’s thoughts on the lido. A video which, unlike the architect’s visualisation above, is not creepily white.