Funding for £15m Leisure World rebuilding dries up

It might be past its best – but locals and visitors will have to put up with it for some time yet.

Bridlington’s Leisure World was destined for rebuilding on the same site, at the cost of around £15m, but funding for it has dried up.

Councillors will be given an update next week when they are shown round the building, which contains pools, tone zone and a now defunct theatre.

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A new report says much of its fabric and services infrastructure is “past the end of its economic life” and there have been short-notice closures because of equipment breaking down. It says the 3Bs Theatre, originally built in the 1930s as the Grand Pavilion, is “no longer sustainable” given the Spa’s revamp.

But while money has been found to maintain the building, chances of getting the millions required to transform the facility are remote, following the economic downturn and winding up of Yorkshire Forward, which would have provided match-funding.

Although the pool redevelopment is stagnant, the town centre’s regeneration is “viable and on course”, according to head of Bridlington Renaissance John Lister. Work should begin next month on the demolition of a block of five properties on Hilderthorpe Road, close to the coach park, which is earmarked for a larger version of the current Tesco store. The properties together with others in the area have been acquired by East Riding Council and some have been empty for up to four years. The final version of the area action plan, which will see a new “shopping street” created on Quay Road, will go before a planning inspector later this year.