These awards have taken place since 2004, making 2024 the 20th anniversary. This year there were 23 award categories with each having a worthy winner. Here at the Reading Civic Society we are very pleased to see the Thames Lido receive the ‘Putting Reading on the Map’ award at a ceremony in the Madejski Stadium in October. The sponsors of the award were Jacobs the Jewellers and The Purple Turtle.
Alison Bennett, Membership Sec of Reading Civic Society Committee, submitted the Lido’s nomination for the award. The citation highlighted that it is a ‘stunning addition’ to Reading, also see PRIDE OF READING AWARDS: Thames Lido is a ‘stunning addition’ to Reading – Reading Today Online Our Chair, Richard Bennett, was delighted to attend the awards event to see the the announcement of the Lido’s success. The POR award is on display in a cabinet by the entrance to the restaurant area.
The owners have worked hard to turn the almost derelict open-air swimming pool in to a viable and thriving enterprise comprising an outdoor pool, leisure facilities and a restaurant and poolside bar. A year before the project was completed the owner, Arne Ringner, took 3 separate groups of Reading Civic Society members and our friends around the site. Arne later explained the restoration / re-imagination took 3 years and cost £3M and that it needed a diversity of businesses to make it successful. As it is.
In 2018 Reading Civic Society successfully nominated the restoration project for the Civic Voice Design Awards, it received Highly Commended in the category “Best Rescue of an Historic Building or Place”, and the Historic England Angels Awards it was Commended. The project came after the restoration of the Turner house in Twickenham both times.
