The Saltdean Lido faces a crucial month as fundraisers desperately aim to raise the £104,000 needed to unlock a £4 million lottery grant.
The pool may be open – and the summer season starts shortly – but the six-figure sum is needed to ensure the 1930s art deco building can also be restored.
Its use as a café and commercial venue is part of the financial plans that will underpin the future of the whole site.
The Saltdean Lido Community Interest Company – the CIC – has until the start of June to raise the funds.
A crowdfunding page has been set up with Spacehive, which hosted the successful Madeira Terraces crowdfunder.
And already more than £33,000 has been pledged by more than 500 backers, leaving a target of just over £70,000.
One of the volunteer directors of the CIC, Deryck Chester, said: “If we don’t reach this £104,000 target then the lottery money will go away forever and we won’t be able to proceed with phase two – the restoration of the building.
“The Lottery has set aside £4.19 million towards this. However, it has said that our community needs to contribute too.
“And so we have to raise £104,000 from local residents and businesses by Friday 1 June which is when the lottery committee next meets.”
Bridget Fishleigh, one of the CIC founders, said that it wasn’t enough to stop now that phase one has been completed with the restoration and reopening of the open-air pool.
She said: “The future of the pools will also be in doubt as they cannot survive without revenue from a heritage café, rooms for hire and events in a revamped building.
“Please help us restore the Lido building to its former glory.”
