Parliament Hill Fields Lido — Local services in London

One member of staff on till was rude to me when i was asking her if i could rent a towel like I have always done at the King's Cross st. Pancras Leisure run by better gyms Islington and Camden Council because that's what kind of service I'm used to, however I asked a staff at lido Parliament Hill if they had any to rent to me, i was then replied back to and told that I should look in the Lost and Property found box to see if there is a spare one i could use, so I told her im not that sort of person who would use a second-hand dirty towel and I wasn't joking even if she was and she seemed to me to be very immature or unprofessional at best description an old fat with brunette hair petite built with a bad attitude and outside of the building I chained up my brand new racer bike outside the swimming pool up on the wall on the same day the staff was rude and I came back out after my cold water 💦 swim and someome had stolen my bicycle stand so I will not be coming back to this place as it was my first and last ever visit,, lucky I had my bike with two D locks they had not been able to take the whole bike as I left my bike right outside on the slate leading up to the doors where you pay I expected the staff would have seen the thief as it was in clear view of the paying window because I did not trust to leave it outside on the grass but the security here is so rubbish that nobody saw it happen and once again the staff was also rude don't trust this place to leave your bike outside and definitely don't leave it on the grass because I didn't trust the look of the surrounding area outside so instead I left it on the slope of metal frame that goes right round to the front doors where you go to pay and it was in front of the staff they could see my bike clearly from the glass window I had to pick my bike up at least 3 ft in the air to chain it up against the metal hand railing and it was still tampered with and had to lose out on my bicycle stand and they even tried to take my drinks bottle holder but I put the d-lock through it and then onto the frame and through the wheel spokes so they had no chance but thy took out one of the screws connected to the drinks bottle holder making the effort to take that as well but was a wasted effort they left it with only one screw left to go and instead settled for just the bike stand, I bet it was a drug addict who lived on on Universal Credit overall a very bad experience for a first-time visit and funny enough it was Friday the 13th of September 2019 when all this happened and as for the rude member of staff who said I should take the dirty towel to use, well maybe you could use something like that but I certainly have higher...

Frustrating and Unfair Experience – Poor Treatment of Waiting Families

We visited the swimming pool today and had a very disappointing experience. I arrived at 10:00am with my small child, as the website stated that any leftover or no-show tickets would be allocated to people waiting outside. We waited patiently for over an hour, as the kind security guards reassured us that we should return at 11:30am for a chance to be let in.

However, when we finally entered the building at the suggested time, we were turned away by a young woman selling tickets. She justified this by saying we had shown her the wrong ticket earlier—which was simply a misunderstanding, not a reason to refuse us access, especially after waiting outside so patiently.

What made the experience worse was witnessing a older female staff member with short hair say “Finally, some normal people” and allow others who had just shown up—without waiting at all—to purchase tickets and enter. That comment was not only inappropriate and unprofessional, but it felt like an intentional disregard for those of us who had followed the rules and waited in good faith, especially families with children.

Additionally, the ticketing system is only available through a third-party site, with a very small booking window on specific days, and sessions are limited. This makes spontaneous visits nearly impossible and adds to the frustration when you try to follow the process and are still turned away.

We left feeling disappointed, embarrassed, and unfairly treated—especially after doing everything right and being as patient and polite as possible. I sincerely hope the staff is reminded to treat all visitors—especially families—with kindness and fairness, and that the booking and allocation system becomes more transparent...

Parliament Hill Fields Lido is one of London’s great treasures. My wife and I love coming here — the setting, the sheer size of the pool, the atmosphere. It has a timeless quality that transports you to another era and we always look forward to our swims.

That is why our recent experience has been so disappointing. When booking online through Eventbrite, my wife accidentally selected a toddler ticket instead of a concession ticket for me (I’m over 60). We realised immediately — the swim was booked for the following Sunday and this mistake was noticed on the Monday. With nearly a week’s notice, it seemed obvious this could be put right.

But there was no clear way of doing so. The phone number listed diverts to a voicemail about mobility scooters, emails went unanswered, and when we finally received a reply it simply stated that bookings cannot be amended. The suggestion was that we could try turning up speculatively, pay for parking, and hope to be admitted if there happened to be a no-show. In other words, despite having already paid, we would be gambling on entry.

This strikes me as completely unreasonable. The Lido is not a private leisure business but part of Hampstead Heath, managed by the City of London Corporation in trust for the public. That role carries responsibilities — to ensure fair access, to treat the public with respect, and to operate with a degree of flexibility and care. Refusing to correct an obvious human error spotted immediately, and leaving visitors stranded without help, falls far short of that responsibility.

We will continue to love the pool itself, but the organisation behind it needs to do...