Municipal Swimming Pools in Bromley
Written by Pam Preedy.
I loved swimming when I was young in the 1950s. I readily took the train from West Wickham to Clock House alone or with a friend to Beckenham Baths. Regular coach trips from Hawes Down Junior School to Beckenham Baths in the summer term sports sessions. A towel and costume would win a spare seat left on a coach. On one memorable day I went swimming three times; two with the school and in the evening with the Beckenham Ladies Swimming Club.
I was a real water baby. I was not an outstanding or talented swimmer. I just enjoyed being in the water. I did qualify for an annual free pass at the trails.
In the mid-eighteenth century medical science established the connection between clean water, cleanliness and transmittable diseases. In 1846 the Public Baths and Wash-houses Act was passed. It empowered British local governments to fund the building of public baths and wash-houses. From the 1850s onwards hundreds of municipal swimming pools and bath-houses were constructed across the country mostly to serve working-class areas of cities where houses lacked bathrooms.
In 1889 the Grand Hall and Country Club opened in Bromley High Street. It was built on a site behind two shops (now Lidl’s), over a former duck pond. The auditorium contained a large swimming pool, intended to be boarded over for dances or theatricals, and above the stage was a tank capable of holding 1,000+ gallons of water. At first the pool was used by school children in 1891 for 1 1/2d. a week, but in 1891 it developed a leak and was permanently closed. (Take a look at my previous article “To Be or Not to Be” for more on this)
Beckenham Baths (1902) was the first to be built by Bromley Council. By the 1950s it incorporated three pools; Pool 1 was for the public, Pool 2 was mostly for teaching and Swimming Club usage and Pool 3 was the teaching pool which had the deep end in the middle, flanked by two shallow ends. I believe there were bathtubs. Apparently, some mothers sent their children to use these baths because the water was very hot and it was less expensive than having a bath at home.
During World War One, men coming home on leave were desperate for baths after all the mud, blood and lice at the Front. while the Council discussed the possibility of providing slipper baths in 1916, Councillors Gibb and Haywood accomplished what the Could could not do; within nine days a suite of ten baths had been fitted up in one of the large meeting rooms of the Central Hall; each curtained off. They charged 3d (inclusive of towels and soap). By 1919, 39,000 soldiers had made use of these baths.
Some local people allowed soldiers into their homes for baths. As war continued the cost of coal became too great but baths were not denied to them provided they brought the coal. One lady provided 800 baths.
The 1920s and 1930s saw bathing become increasingly popular. In those years two Lidos were built; Southlands Lido (1925) and the Blue Lagoon Open Air (1933) in Cray Avenue.
The Blue Lagoon was severely damaged by enemy action (1939) and was forced to close, and never reopened. The Southlands Lido continued until it closed for a while in the 1980s when many lidos were under threat nationwide. It is now part of Holme’s Place private health club.
The West Wickham and Walnuts leisure centres opened in 1987 and 1970 respectively. They are now closed for refurbishments and are due to be reopened in 2026. Finally, the last of the Bromley municipal pools, Biggin Hill Pool, sharing the site with a new library, opened in May 2010. Sadly I am no longer the water baby I was and swim no more.
Originally published in Life in Bromley magazine (Issue 31, September 2024)