Thanet residents and business owners Jonathan Hussey and Elliott Simmons, with help from one of Jon’s staff, have cleaned the Lido Sands mosaic in Cliftonville after it was covered in a layer of paint.
The duo decided to take action after the mosaic was covered in plain blue paint sometime between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning (September 2-3).
Tree surgeon Elliott, of East Coast Arborists, lives across the road from the Lido sign and says he was keen to see it brought back to its former condition and contacted pal Jonathan of Hill Professional Cleaning to find out what solutions he should use.
The 31-year-old said: “I asked Jon what products I should use to clean it and he was inspired to come and help me.
“It’s an iconic part of the area and things like this are a part of history although sadly the Lido has been left to get run down.
“There is so much there that needs to be worked on and it is essential to preserve these things.”
Jon and Elliot spent all morning cleaning up the sign – apart from a break when there was a downpour of rain- and have managed to remove the layer of blue paint and the pro-Palestine graffiti that was beneath it.
Elliott says he hopes Thanet council could consider buying the site which is currently up for sale with a pre-application proposal for a 100-room spa hotel, 90 new apartments, and a sculpture park.
He said: “I would like to see the council do something to preserve and look after it, maybe purchasing the site and making it into something for the community.”
The freehold is being offered for two plots at the Lido, with an option also available for the Lido Bar and Pool Hall, via Knight Frank with asking price on application.
Last year the company which had owned the two parcels of the Cliftonville Lido that are being sold, moved from administration to creditors’ voluntary liquidation – with a deal mooted to buy the Lido sites for £700,000.
Company Stour Side Developments bought property including the Lido plots 1 and 2 in 2014. Administrators Duff & Phelps were brought in during July 2017 after concerns over business irregularities were highlighted.
Stour Side Developments was owned by Russian businessman Alexander Andreev who acquired 100% of the share capital in the company in 2010 and was appointed its sole director. In 2014, Paul Eley was appointed as its second director.
In 2014, the company (Stour Side Developments and Stour Side Investments) acquired two plots at the Lido, including the car park, for £699,999. The purpose of the buy was to develop residential apartments or re-sell after having secured planning permission but no progress was ever made.
The third Lido site, of the snooker club, was bought by Lido Streetview Limited – run by long-time Lido manager Neville Borck and Martyn Buckley – for £100,000 in February 2017. Mr Borck is also a director of Lido Views.
Andreev and Eley mooted a sealife proposal for the site but this never came to fruition. An attempt to sell at auction also fell flat with the property being withdrawn.
It has now been confirmed that Thanet council painted over the mural.
A Thanet council spokesperson said: “Thanet District Council has a graffiti removal team which in the months since April 2025 has cleared 32 instances of graffiti in the Lido area. Where graffiti is offensive the council’s approach is to clear it within one working day.
“Where is it not possible to clean graffiti off, the cleansing team does sometimes paint over an area.
“The Clifton Baths below the Lido complex is grade 2 listed, however the adjacent former Lido swimming pool is not listed.
“The Lido pool area cannot be safely accessed with the council’s graffiti removal machinery. The decision to cover the tiles with blue paint was undertaken with the best of intentions; however, we acknowledge the depth of affection for the tiled area and are committed to minimal intervention should future offensive graffiti appear.
“The Lido site is a well-loved local landmark and while the council recognises this, there are currently no plans to acquire or purchase it.”
Seaside heritage
The Lido site, originally developed as the Clifton Baths, is steeped in over 200 years of British seaside and architectural heritage.
First constructed between 1824 and 1828 by entrepreneur John Boys, the Clifton Baths were carved directly into the chalk cliffs and housed on one of the earliest seawater bathing facilities in the country. The complex featured subterranean tunnels, vaulted chambers, and a plunge bath, forming part of Margate’s pioneering role in the development of English sea bathing.
By the mid-19th century, the site was expanded with the addition of new public facilities, including terraces, dressing rooms, and a tunnel network connecting bathers to the beach via horse-drawn ‘bathing machines’. These structures reflected Margate’s rise as a fashionable health and leisure destination.
In 1926, the site was transformed into a bold Art Deco leisure complex under the ownership of John Henry Iles. The new Lido was layered above the original Clifton Baths, making it one of Margate’s defining coastal landmarks.
Despite popularity through the mid-20th century, the site began to decline due to storm damage and shifting tourism patterns. The complex was largely closed by 1978.
Today, the site is recognised as a Grade II listed heritage asset of national importance.
Someone paints something. Someone else cleans the paint off. This is edge of your seat stuff. I can’t wait for the next exciting episode.
Someone paints something. Someone else cleans it off. This is edge of your seat stuff. I can’t wait for the next exciting episode.
Unfortunately, a sign of the times.
Well done guys.
I would have said well done if they got out there and done it when the original spray paint was put up there, but that was obviously acceptable
Well done those guys that area is vulnerable to any kind of vandalism hopefully it won\’t happen again unfortunately there is a brigade of our past history attempting to wipe our local history that\’s part of Margate and Cliftonville
So, were or were not TDC staff responsible for painting over it in the first place?
👏👏👏
Great, jetwashed paint washed in to the sea. Fabulous for the planet!
A couple of points.
The pool is owned by TDC and was leased to the Lido operators, so did the clean up team ask permission to do that work?
The ‘mosaic’ is not original and is nothing to do with the Lido in its heyday. It was added after 1979, when the pool was filled in with chalk and sand. The ‘mosaic’ was poorly done – but maybe it should be preserved as a monument to the failure of the Lido in the 1970s?
Someone on FB reckons the mosaic is only about 20 years old, but I think its older than that (I did a photoshoot there around 2007, and it looked old even then).
It’s after 1979, when the pool was infilled with chalk and sand. It’s hardly ‘iconic’ and nothing to do with the Lido when it was thriving.
I’m not denying that, but I’m trying to find a date a bit more specific.
Well done all. Hope somebody does something positive with the site. Thanet Council sure as hell will not
Why the same old names on here always moaning to high heavens about the world, new things, old things, people taking the initiative, people not taking the initiative?! What sad lives you lead.
Very happy to see these blokes bringing a little bit of (not so distant history) back again. Whatever the age of the sign it’s been around decades and is a welcome sight to those of us who enjoy walking along the coast in Margate.
And to those epic and chronic moaners, go outside and touch some grass.
I’d like to know the age of the mosaic because I’m interested in local history, even if it does bore you.
You bore everyone, you total idiot.
Classy. You’re obviously from Ramsgate.
If I remember correctly. The old pool was filled in and made into a paddling pool and sandy area for sunbathing in about 1985/6. The mosaic was created then as The Lido sands was the name given to the short-lived project which was abandoned and left to the elements a couple of years later.
Thank you. Makes sense.
This seems to be a version of that property game played all over Thanet where people buy plots of land and hang onto them until the value of the land goes up enough for them to sell on at a huge profit.
This stymies any reasonable development for years and leaves parts of Thanet in limbo.