Tarlair Swimming Pool

Tarlair Swimming Pool is an outdoor lido beside the Moray Firth, built into the base of a sea cliff just outside Macduff in Aberdeenshire. The main building stands against the cliffs in Art Deco style, with changing rooms to its left. Historic Environment Scotland recognises it as one of only three surviving outdoor seaside pools in Scotland. The other two are at Stonehaven and Gourock. The complex once included a large main pool, a boating pool, and two smaller paddling pools. The pool was filled and flushed by pumped sea water, with the main pool flooded at high tide to renew the water. It had a diving board at the deep end and a child’s chute at the shallow end, though both are now gone. Between 1985 and 1994 the site hosted open-air concerts featuring bands like Jethro Tull, Runrig and Wet Wet Wet. The pool also appears in Stuart MacBride’s novel *The Missing and the Dead*. Since 2007 it has been protected as a category A listed building. Visitors today find the complex under careful repair, with work focused on the boating pool and terraces. The main building and kiosks are also being restored. The boating pool currently lies empty, waiting for the main pool’s wave system to return. The changing rooms and tea pavilion remain part of the site. The Friends of Tarlair group leads efforts to bring the pool back to life.