AN HISTORIC former open air swimming baths is finally being knocked down – a year after permission was granted to carry out the work.

Longbridge open swimming baths and pavilion has been in Risca since the 1930s and was a popular place to visit by locals for decades.

The building became unused when Risca Leisure Centre opened in 1978 and the Longbridge Baths were made redundant with the addition of an indoor swimming pool in the new leisure centre.

The building has been left to run into a dilapidated condition – with the changing rooms being the only part still being used by the teams who play on the adjacent Baths Field.

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Surveys of the building have found that the building has a number of structural issues which mean that work cannot be done to restore the building, and in August 2020, plans were approved by Caerphilly County Borough Council to knock the building down and to rebuild new changing facilities for the teams to use.

The report said the existing changing rooms are “not currently fit for purpose as a result of structural and functional problems that cannot be addressed by further reasonable investment in the building”.

The new changing rooms will benefit from accessible ramps and stairs and improved car parking.

Work has now begun on the demolition of the building to make way for the new facilities.

Do you have any fond memories of the Longbridge Baths? Let us know by emailing elizabeth.birt@newsquest.co.uk