London may have a river running through it but it is not a city of outdoor swimmers. It wasn’t always so. In Downstream, Caitlin Davies documents the history of swimming in the Thames over 400 years – including numerous examples of famous swimmers (Charles Dickens, Stanley Spencer, actor Margaret Rutherford), as well as little-known Victorian women who broke taboos and records in the mid-1800s. By the 1930s, there were bathing houses, floating baths and beaches on the river, and numerous lidos across the capital. The Thames is now deemed too dangerous to swim in downstream of Putney, and there are just 17 lidos and outdoor pools in London. But the tide is turning. Publicity for the proposed Thames baths and this summer’s opening of Kings Cross Pond have rekindled an interest in open-air swimming in the heart of the city. These two ponds may well inspire other similar projects. In the meantime, there’s been a rise in the number of people using the capital’s lidos, and membership of the Outdoor Swimming Society has risen from 300 in 2008 to 25,000 at the time of writing. Perhaps it’s an exaggeration to say we are on the verge of a second golden era of swimming but there’s no doubt that more of us are taking to the water.
I’m one of them. This year I signed up for a 1.5 mile river swim in Topsham, south Devon. I’m lucky that I live close to Europe’s largest freshwater pool (Tooting Bec lido), but I was curious to visit some of London’s other outdoor pools. I hatched a plan: to see how many ponds and lidos I could swim in a weekend. Starting at Hampstead Heath, and travelling via pubic transport, I zigzagged across the capital from north to east, south to west, diving into 10 pools in two days. Along the way, I learned that while London may not have a culture of outdoor swimming in the way that Scandinavian or northern European cities do, it does have some fantastic swimming spots, each with its own fiercely loyal community of regulars. The other thing I realised was not to wait for the sunshine before heading into the water. When the sun comes out the queues at London’s lidos are huge, but go on a cloudy day and you’re likely to have these glorious stretches of water almost to yourself, give or take the odd duck.
Hampstead Mixed Pond
It was grey and wet when I arrived at Hampstead mixed pond, one of three bathing ponds on the heath. There were only two people in the water, neither of whom were wearing wetsuits, but this was my first swim of the day and I didn’t feel hardy enough to face the 18C without one. I soon realised this was a mistake. Wetsuits encourage you to plough through the water, head down; but this is a bathing pond and it demands a different pace. After half a lap of front crawl, I slowed down, looked up and took in my surroundings: tree branches dipped into the water, a coot glided past, and I started to appreciate what a special place this is. In the golden brown water my hands looked pale and ghostly beneath the surface. It’s rare to feel immersed in nature in London yet here I was, just four miles from the mayhem of Oxford Street, swimming among the greenery. If I hadn’t been on a mission to swim another five pools that day, I would happily have stayed in longer.
•Adult £2, membership costs £66 for summer, £125 all year (both day tickets and membership cover all three ponds: ladies, mens, mixed). Nearest stations: Hampstead Heath overground or Hampstead overground
Kenwood Ladies Pond, Hampstead Heath
If the mixed pond is a chance to step into a different environment, the ladies pond, on the northern side of the heath, removes you even further from every day London life – via a leafy, flower-lined path and into a bygone era. Women have swum here since the 1920s and, apart from an aerator added to the water to prevent the pond icing over in winter, very little has changed since. History ripples through these waters.
It’s beautiful, serene and secluded. “Where else in London can you swim with kingfishers?” says Jane Shallice, chair of the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond association, who has been swimming at the pond since the 1960s. “Swimming all year means you see a place changing with the seasons. You think what the hell am I doing? But it’s never the same – the light, the wind, birds. To swim in a place surrounded with trees, irises and honeysuckle, it’s very pleasing to all aspects of one’s being.”
Like the mixed pond, wetsuits are tolerated but not encouraged. Mine was now cold and damp from the previous swim, so I was happy to go native, and get into the water in just my costume. It was … bracing. At first my body was so shocked it couldn’t work out whether I was cold or not – a sure sign that I was freezing. I spotted one woman swimming in a woolly hat, and realised what else makes this pond so special: it is a place where women of all ages and all sizes can walk about freely without being scrutinised.
“Every now and then people have a pop about the fact that it’s women only, but it’s so important, when we live in a world where we are judged, to be in a place where style and fashion are irrelevant,” says Shallice. “I also know there are women who’ve gone through really difficult periods in their lives and feel like swimming here is a life saver. You feel incredibly secure, there’s no feeling of intrusion, and if you go at the same time there’s repartee and storytelling. It’s just really, really exhilarating.”
It’s little wonder there was such outrage when the City of London threatened to close the pond 10 years ago. It’s safe, for now, and any other threat to its survival would be met with the same opposition. The association is currently monitoring plans to rebuild the changing room. The regulars like the existing facility – a shed with a hot tap – and are deeply opposed to anything architecturally fang-dangled or high-tech that might alter the spirit of the pond. “None of us want a super-duper new building,” says Shallice. “We just wanted it to be as plain and low-key as possible.”
Highgate Men’s Bathing Pond is a few hundred yards south of the ladies pond.
•Membership of Kenwood Ladies Association is £5 a year. The pond will be closed from Jan-May 2016 while work is completed. Nearest stations: Hampstead Heath and Gospel Oak overground, Highgate undergroud
Parliament Hill Lido, Hampstead Heath
From Kenwood, I headed east to Parliament Hill Lido – also on Hampstead Heath – via the cafe for a much needed cup of tea. Built in 1938 and Grade II-listed, this is the only stainless steel lined outdoor pool in the country. Diving into it is like entering a giant shiny metal bowl. The grey, chilly weather was turning out to be a bonus. London’s lidos were packed to the gills during the recent heatwave but when I visited there were no crowds – and no sign of regular swimmer Charles Dance. I had the glorious expanse of shimmering water almost to myself.
• Early morning and evenings: adults £2.50, concessions £1.50. Summer day tickets adults £6, families £15; adult and child £8. Nearest stations: Gospel Oak overground, Tufnell Park undergroud
Kings Cross Pond
To much fanfare, Kings Cross Pond opened in May this year. The name’s important – this is a pond, not a pool. A kidney-bowl-shaped body of reed-filtered water, bordered by flower-covered grassy banks in the middle of Europe’s largest urban redevelopment, it’s an art installation rather than a leisure facility. Snazzy red and white changing rooms, and lifeguards in red T-shirts add to the Instagram-friendly vibe. This is one to come to with friends. If it’s a warm day you can catch up while sitting on the submerged wooden wall that separates the swimming area from the reeds. The day I visited people got in, squealed, swore, bobbed about for 10 minutes then got out. One young girl summed up the general reaction: “It’s so cold I feel warm. I love it.” Though her mum was less convinced: “I’d rather be in a nice lake somewhere pretty.” But the gritty surroundings are the point. There’s an odd, dreamlike quality to taking a dip surrounded by cranes, half-built apartment blocks and piles of rubble. The pond looks great, precisely because it’s in the middle of a building site. I hope it inspires more developers of luxury flats to spare space for open, swimmable water.
• Tickets for a morning or afternoon session must be booked in advance, 6.30am-8.30am £3.50; 9am-4.30pm £6.50. Nearest station: King’s Cross overland and tube
Charlton Lido, south-east London
It was a trek over to Charlton – I took a tube to London Bridge, a train and then a bus. A teenage girl gave me directions from the bus stop. Her verdict on the pool was “s’all right”. But it’s more than all right. Opened in 2013, Charlton is London’s newest (refurbished) lido, a sparkling facility in an otherwise unremarkable part of London. After Hamsptead’s ponds and lido it was a relief to get into heated water (it’s 25C year-round) and stay in long enough for a decent swim. For the first time that day the sun came out, forming a kaleidoscope of blues on the bottom on the pool. The cafe offered an unappetising selection of panini (from £3.25), muffins (£1.50), and coffee (£2.15) so I grabbed a tea (£1.80) for the hour-long journey back to north London.
• Adult £6 (online £5). Open 6.30am (Monday), 7am-8pm, Sunday 9-5pm. Nearest station: Charlton overland
London Fields Lido, Hackney
London Fields is one of London’s swimming success stories. After years of local campaigning, the lido reopened in 2006 on the site of the original 1930s pool. Not surprisingly, given its location in the heart of densely populated Hackney, it can get packed on warm, sunny days, but it’s heated and open all year until 9pm, so you don’t need the hot weather to enjoy it. In fact, Madeleine Waller’s photos of swimmers in winter show there’s something magical about this place in mid-winter, when steam rises from the water and the pool is framed by bare trees. Hackney may be hipster central, where an artisan flat white can set you back £3, but prices are reasonable at the lido cafe (tea £1, coffee from £2.30, toasties from £3). Sadly, it was closed by the time I’d swum my lengths, but there’s a vending machine selling healthy drinks and snacks, so I celebrated the end of day one of my swim marathon with a ginger beer.
• Adult £4.80, £3.34 with membership (£37.40 a year); children £2.85. Open 6.30am-9pm. Nearest stations: London Fields or Hackney Central overground
The Serpentine, Hyde Park
My second day of swimming started at the Serpentine in Hyde Park, on another dingy day. At 100 metres in length, this is a popular triatholon spot, but with the sky threatening rain there were more swans than people when I got to the water’s edge. The Serpentine Swimming Club is the oldest in the UK – the first recorded Christmas Day race was in 1864. But racing isn’t just for Christmas for these hardy swimmers – members race every Saturday morning throughout the year, in their costumes. Their website says the use of wetsuits “is considered by many not to be within the true spirit of an all-the-year-round open-air swimming club”. Still, I was glad I had mine as it meant I couldn’t feel the reeds brushing against my legs (my squeamishness about swimming among vegetation no doubt makes me doubly wimpy in the eyes of the Serpentine regulars). Despite the plant life (or perhaps because of it), the water is clean and clear and it was great to swim in the middle of a lake, as families on pedaloes glided past, and swans kept a watchful eye on me. The only downside was the lack of showers.
• Adult £4.80, child £1.80 (under 16s must be accompanied by an adult). Open 10am-6pm June, July and August. In May weekends only. Nearest station: Knightsbridge tube
Tooting Bec Lido, south London
From the Serpentine I headed south of the river to Europe’s biggest outdoor pool. I’m biased, I live in Tooting, but this lido is fantastic. Looking across 90 metres of water, lined by primary-coloured changing cubicles, always gives me a thrill. It is over 100 years old, the base for the South London Swimming Club and the home of cold-water swimming in the UK. I once made the mistake of trying to swim here in winter when it was 2C. After just a couple of minutes in the water, it took me 45 minutes to stop shivering.
This time, the water was 18C and I was in the wetsuit so I managed to plough up and down for a good few lengths. Again I had the pool almost to myself. But this is such a vast pool that even when the sun’s shining and the concrete poolside is packed with sunbathers, there is room to swim without getting jostled.
• Adult £7.80, child (5-15) £5.20. Nearest stations: Streatham oveland, Tooting Bec tube
Brockwell Lido, south London
My penultimate swim was at Brockwell park - another much-loved south London gem. Brockwell’s cafe, set in a Grade II-listed art deco building with its own entrance, is by far the best of this bunch (sorry, Tooting). The sky looked ominous by the time I got in and was darker still when I’d finished my lengths. The heavens opened just as I ran to the shower – also the best showers, by the way, of all 10 pools.
• Adult £5.95, child (5-16) £3.40. Nearest stations: Brixton tube and overland, Herne Hill overland
Hampton pool, south-west London
Way out west, on the edge of Bushy park and near Hampton Court, is Hampton pool. It started to rain while I was in the water but with the water a balmy 28C, people barely noticed. With an even warmer paddling pool, water slides and a large grassy area, it’s massively popular with families. And it’s more than just a pool: it’s made a name for itself as a concert venue, hosting gigs and theatre productions (this summer’s already sold-out shows include the Stranglers, Kid Creole and The Coconuts and Joan Armatrading).
After this, my final swim, I sat on the terrace watching the people hurtle down the slide into the pool, thinking about my swimathon. What I loved most about this journey across London was how different each pond and pool is, not just in appearance, but in spirit too. From Kenwood’s soulful escape to the Instagram-friendly Kings Cross pond, from the art-deco buildings of the original lidos to the municipal feel of Chartlon, each place has its own character, and its own loyal following for whom swimming outside is about much more than just exercise. It’s a chance to escape traffic, commuting and all the other stresses of urban life and to reconnect with nature and people. These aren’t just pools, they are waterside community centres. Perhaps London is a city of swimmers after all.
• Adult off peak £5, peak £6, child (4- 15 £3.10-£3.40). Nearest station: Hampton overland
