The Tropicana in Weston-super-Mare was once a shimmering art deco lido, a premier coastal jewel where thousands flocked to bathe in the Somerset sun.
But as the decades passed since its 1937 opening and an era of cheap air fares and Mediterranean holidays arrived, the lido’s lustre dimmed and it was closed in 2000. For 15 years, it sat as a hollowed-out shell, a sad monument to a left-behind town.
