A town's lido is facing a "triple whammy" as Friday's heatwave exacerbated nationwide chlorine woes.

Shaun Crowley, managing director of Beccles Lido, said chlorine prices had doubled recently, having already doubled earlier this year.

With temperatures in the town hitting 31C on Friday, June 17, the outdoor pool's need has increased, although they have now secured an emergency supply for the week ahead - at another inflated price.

Mr Crowley said: "We are getting by at the moment. We've got an emergency supply which is due to arrive next week, but the weather has been a bit of bad news for us.

"It's a triple whammy, because just the extreme heat on the water means we need to use more chlorine because it burns away.

"Having a lot of people in the pool also means it's dirtier, so we need more chlorine to keep it clean.

"Then if people lather themselves in sun cream before they go in, which we've asked them not to, then that makes it worse too, so it's important people shower before they get in.

"When we have a full pool on a sunny day we can use three or four times more chlorine than on a normal day."

The lido has, however, benefitted from a number of improvements made during a major refurbishment project in recent years.

He said: "We are keeping on top of the chlorine situation for now.

"Our emergency supply has cost twice as much and won't last as long, but providing our supply arrives next week we should be good for a week or more.

"Some good news is when we did our refurbishments, we installed a UV water treatment system, which was expensive but means our scarce resources go a little further.

"We also put solar panels on our reception when that was refurbished, which generates the same amount of energy that the UV system uses, which is great."

With temperatures soaring on Friday, the pool was able to open more slots for visitors after securing their delivery.

Mr Crowley said: "Because we knew we had it coming, we could double the number of bookings and open more slots.

"We aren't alone in this. There are other lidos having to keep their numbers down because they are running short.

"There also aren't many staff as there used to be, but that seems to be the reality for all the hospitality industry at the minute.

"I think a lot of people in the industry struggled during the pandemic, found work elsewhere and haven't come back.

"For us, it's a tricky time while we wait for the usual university students to return home for the summer, so it should improve soon."