By Harpreet Bhal
LONDON, Oct 24, (Docklands Wire)- Poplar residents, whose once-luxurious swimming pool has lain derelict for two decades, are hopeful it will reopen before the Olympics.
The Poplar Baths building, on East India Dock Road, October 24, 2008. Photo by Harpreet Bhal
The baths opened in the 1930s amid public fanfare but closed to swimmers in 1988 as the ceiling began to crumble. Once a focal point for Poplar, the building is now disfigured by broken windows and graffiti.
Lilian Collins, chairwoman of the Poplar Baths Steering Group, has campaigned for five years to reopen the baths. She said if the council approves a planned redevelopment they could be ready within three years, in time for the 2012 London Olympic games.
She said the area’s lack of amenities contrasted sharply with the wealth of nearby Canary Wharf.
“Across the road you have Canary Wharf and we are quite left behind. There is nothing here for the children of the community,” Collins said. “When it opened in 1934 it was the most luxurious baths. People were shocked such a working-class area would have a luxurious pool.”
Poplar’s plight is reflected nationwide: in February Olympic gold medallist Duncan Goodhew told the Daily Telegraph that Britain’s lack of pools was a “national scandal”. The paper said 21 pools had been lost in the capital alone since 1987, meaning there is now less than one pool per 100,000 people in London.
Collins’s group, the Tower Hamlets Environment Trust and Swan Housing Association together submitted a plan to Tower Hamlets council to take over the running of the baths. They propose to knock down part of the baths to make way for flats and a commercial space, while the council will keep the lease for the land.
Kate Swade, the environment trust’s senior project officer, said the plan envisages a 25-metre swimming pool and gym, at a cost of £6 million. The housing association plans to build 70 to 100 flats and will fund the capital costs.
Swade said £1.8 million more needs to be raised to build the commercial and retail space, whose rental will fund the baths’ ongoing costs.
In a statement, Tower Hamlets council said it was doing a survey on how many pools were available to Poplar residents. “The outcome of this survey will determine the demand for a pool in Poplar, and a report on the decision will go to the cabinet, possibly in December,” it said.
The closest swimming pool is at Mile End Leisure Centre, about 1.3 miles away.
Poplar resident Bill Colverson, 58, fondly remembers going to the baths as a young boy and said it was ironic that Poplar does not have a swimming pool. “We’re more exposed to water now with all the docks here, but we have less space for swimming,” he said.
