Inside an Abandoned Pyramid-Shaped Waterpark: Public Funds Wasted

[00:00:05]Once a beloved tropical water park, this unique pyramid-shaped leisure center sits expectant for signs of recovery.

[00:00:15][music] In today's abandoned episode, [music] we are exploring the abandoned Oasis beach pool in Bedford that has sat vacant since 2025. [music] Its controversial demise has left its citizens heartbroken and confused. Join us as [music] we venture inside to try and learn what went wrong.

[00:00:44]Heat. Heat.

[00:00:53][music] [music] Earlier this year, we caught wind that a struggling leisure center we [music] had been monitoring closely had sadly fallen vacant. Bedford's Oasis Beach Pool in the south of [music] England had been in peril for years. Despite only opening in the '90s as a public pool inspired by the Louver in Paris, its pyramid casing had housed [music] a unique tropical beach experience so popular when it opened that a 40minute per visitor strict time limit was introduced.

[00:01:53]But how had this collapsed so quickly?

[00:02:00]>> [music] >> Go on. You got it.

[00:02:07]Are stuck. [laughter] >> Oh, you've done it.

[00:02:11]>> You'd be putting this on [ __ ] YouTube.

[00:02:12]>> You've done it. You've done it.

[00:02:20]>> So, as Corbin predicted, we've entered via the lazy river.

[00:02:31]straight inside. It is pretty untouched in here. It's not really had time to decay yet, but very cool.

[00:02:39]And yeah, even a stranger for Corbin because he came here as a child.

[00:02:54]This was the wave.

[00:02:56]>> This was the wave pool. Yeah. You can see the big metal things down there.

[00:03:06][laughter] So you've been here Corbyn when it was active. That's a first, right?

[00:03:20]>> Well yeah whole child lives. So I mean I'm more now I came here probably about 13 about 10 years ago. It's a bit weird seeing it like this.

[00:03:30]>> Crazy.

[00:03:35]>> I always remember coming here as a kid.

[00:03:37]come down the stairs over there and the pool there was like no end to the pool as such. It just sort of just it was like a beach basically.

[00:03:44]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's definitely the idea.

[00:03:46]>> And then it Yeah. I walked out.

[00:03:48]>> Yeah. Wave pool came from here. It used to shoot up there and I remember it so well.

[00:03:52]>> It's quite a small wave pool. It must just been for young kids cuz I feel like >> it's not much room.

[00:03:58]>> I say it's more like a family center, isn't it? Is a >> limpic type thing, isn't it?

[00:04:02]>> You probably come drop your kids off here and then go to the Tesco next doors. That's probably what your parents did.

[00:04:08]>> Put the kids here. Yeah.

[00:04:10]>> Dumped you away.

[00:04:11]>> Forget about the kids. A few hours later, [ __ ] kids [laughter] in Bedford. I don't know.

[00:04:19]It slopes upwards over here to what looks like a little jacuzzi or two of them.

[00:04:26]It's very cool though with the pyramid design. And notice that all the walls are mirrors which makes it look a bit bigger than it is.

[00:04:34]As Corin said, it's just a family pool.

[00:04:42]Parents go sit in the jacuzzi and watch the kids on the slides.

[00:05:01]No armbands, no goggles, no jewelry.

[00:05:04]No chain riding, full closed.

[00:05:11]Same rules as usual. This is probably the most modern slides we've ever gone up.

[00:05:20]Mortal rules. They've clearly had a problem with kids running up the slides.

[00:05:25]It's posted everywhere.

[00:05:30]There's two, one red, one yellow. It looks like they raced and snaked around the staircase.

[00:05:37]It would have been really cool if they designed it related to pyramids of Egypt. Love the theming inside.

[00:05:44]The other oasis we've been to [music] in Swindon, the theming there was a lot better, but it was much bigger, too.

[00:05:53]Here we go.

[00:05:56]Got the lights to indicate when the riders reach the bottom.

[00:06:00]And both of them start off dark and then open up halfway down the slow slide and the fast slide. I'm not going to go down them today.

[00:06:14][music] >> [music] >> By the 2020s, the deteriorating baths had become a liability. The pool closing in 2023 for more than £300,000 worth of repairs, reopening in May 2024 to a gathering of excited locals.

[00:06:45]However, only months later, the council would announce the complex was fundamentally unsustainable, costing almost £1 million to [music] cover rising energy fees. An additional 2 to7 million was estimated to fix the pyramid roof. The Oasis beach pool would be permanently closed in November 2025, sold to David Lloyd, who proposed to axe the renowned pyramid in favor of a premium private club.

[00:07:11]I can't >> with the slides exposed and not wet or slippy. Might as well go up. Just gives you a unique perspective. You can almost see the marks where most people have come down. [snorts] Not many people have touched the side banks.

[00:07:30]Yeah, I probably should have just done this rather than going up the stairs.

[00:07:41]>> [music] >> Okay, there we go. I'm not going to go further than that.

[00:07:50]Pretty cool.

[00:07:52]The unique look at the Oasis Leisure Center.

[00:08:10]Everything's got this yellow and black tape around it.

[00:08:15]This is a second pool with a big bench where you could kind of lie down. You've got a few bits here, some deck chairs and a small slide that probably would have just been put into the pool.

[00:08:33]up here. Can imagine there would have been seating.

[00:08:37]It's like a little restaurant area.

[00:08:41]Ice cream machine.

[00:08:44]Signage is still up. It's very, very clean though. It's obviously going to become a David Lloyd's private gym, which is really interesting when it was originally built for the public. all the childlike familyfriendly stuff is going to go.

[00:08:59]Very interested to see what they keep, if anything.

[00:09:04]Here's all the lockers.

[00:09:07]Goes through into the changing rooms there.

[00:09:12]Every single one of them still has the key in.

[00:09:15]You can see they've all been ransacked clear of any swimming trunks or caps.

[00:09:31]That goes through to the entrance, which is probably alarm.

[00:09:37]I imagine these rooms are cafes and restaurants.

[00:09:45]Going to head up here first for the overview.

[00:09:50]Spectators area for the parents.

[00:09:59]This is the shot though. Shows how much space there is in here.

[00:10:06]It's awesome.

[00:10:22]That clock is currently frozen in time.

[00:10:26]Just like the building.

[00:10:29]This is probably about as far as my lin goes for modern buildings.

[00:10:36]I reckon this would have been a little gym and potentially through there.

[00:10:43]I mean, yeah, I can see mirrors. Let's see if the lights work actually.

[00:10:50]No, that's surprising.

[00:10:55]Maybe here.

[00:11:02]That is really weird. Maybe the whole power's been cut, but you can hear the little fire alarms going off.

[00:11:10]And there's exit lights on, so I'm not too sure.

[00:11:24]The stairs going down, which is interesting, although it's just to a fire exit there.

[00:11:32]It's weird that the power doesn't work.

[00:11:35]having only been closed since or well for about 5 months.

[00:11:44]This is the kitchen.

[00:11:51]Yeah, it's actually been stripped mostly. No more chips after a swim.

[00:12:01]Unless they've probably got caviar on when David Lloyd take over. The fridge and freezer.

[00:12:09]If my parents are right, this will take us through into the entrance.

[00:12:16]That's why you can hear that alarm.

[00:12:25]Yeah, there's the box.

[00:12:32]Corbin thinks it's faulty with the type of beeping it's making say the word fault.

[00:12:48]Looped around into the changing rooms which are being used to store bins.

[00:12:59]But yeah, not the most interesting. Just modern swimming pool changing rooms, but maybe more familiar for those watching. The excitement as you got ready to go swim.

[00:13:16]No longer is that happening here unless you've got a membership.

[00:13:32]think this place must have some tunnels.

[00:13:35]It's got to be a boiler somewhere for the pool.

[00:13:39]And we found them.

[00:13:45]This gets into the realm of unauthorized access that no one would have seen besides workers now, which is always interesting.

[00:13:58]>> No, [laughter] when you came when you were 13.

[00:14:05]>> I'm surprised that it's not um very low.

[00:14:10]>> Yeah.

[00:14:13]Wow.

[00:14:19]>> Now it looks a bit worse for wear.

[00:14:23]>> Yeah, it definitely needed a refresh, didn't it?

[00:14:25]>> Look at that though. Lazy river and the >> geyser labeled.

[00:14:34]>> We've lost F22.

[00:14:55]Okay, we're the crouching level now, which I was expecting.

[00:15:05]>> Ah, okay. Follow your coronation tank main.

[00:15:12]>> Okay, there you go. All of this is still on. I wonder if this will be refurbished when the new owners take over. Doesn't look too outdated, but that other plant room did.

[00:15:32]That's chlorine there in the tankers.

[00:15:40]>> Ready?

[00:15:40]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:15:53]>> Do the CVT and see what's come out.

[00:16:00]>> There we go.

[00:16:05]Cool. Always easier like that.

[00:16:10][music] Currently, the vacant water park awaits redevelopment into a membersonly club only 30 years after it was opened as a public pool. Its pyramid had once made the complex unique, but ultimately had caused its downfall.

[00:16:37]Here are some of our photographs captured at the abandoned water park. If you like the look of them, check out our Instagram page below to see explorations months before they are seen on YouTube.

[00:16:52]Thanks for watching. We were glad to share a full exploration from [music] 2026. More on the way soon. See you next time.