Smoke billows out of Kings Hall leaving Hackney residents without a swimming pool and reliant on an aging lagoon pool in Shoreditch.

The 109-year old building with only one divided tank remaining of its original three 33-yard pools was closed yesterday when a fire in the health suite nearly destroyed it completely. We are told water and smoke damage has affected many areas but the pool areas, some of which have had gyms built over them, are unscathed. It is hoped that the building will be reopened soon as this is Hackney’s only swimming pool and serves nearly 200,000 people. Hackney’s leisure stock was recently the subject of a change of contractor with Leisure Connection leaving to make way for the ubiquitous GLL who, we are told, have made many noticeable improvements in a short space of time.

The pool is well overdue for an upgrade with an unpopular refurbishment in the early 90s and a tank closed and covered immediately prior to Leisure Connection being awarded the contract in 2002. This act made it a difficult building to run as swimming baths in some people’s eyes. It would be a pity now if work to remedy those errors was started in haste and without effective planning. London Fields Lido and Clissold Leisure Centre projects were both supposed to be completed with Clissold originally scheduled for reopening in February and the Lido still scheduled for a July opening but both projects are, reportedly, giving cause for local concern. “When pools close in Hackney they stay closed”, said one local swimming teacher today.