London Pools Campaign: Seven Kings Baths

Seven Kings Baths

Swimmers and sauna users at Seven Kings Baths and Fulwell Cross Baths in Redbridge contacted London Pools Campaign for support when Redbridge Council suddenly announced that they planned to demolish Seven Kings Baths and put flats on the site, make major changes to Fulwell Cross centre and build a new pool in the centre of Ilford. The main complaint from users of both centres was the lack of consultation about the decision making.

The concerns swimmers and sauna users listed are:

that the new leisure centre will offer less pool space than the existing Seven Kings Baths

that the new leisure centre is intended to have a main competition pool and a learner pool in the same area, which compares unfavourably with the second separate pool at Seven Kings which allows for activities like women only sessions and use by schools and clubs - and generally will offer less flexibility

that Seven Kings will lose a much loved historic leisure facility

that traditional steam rooms will be lost from Fulwell Cross

that the competition pool at Fulwell Cross will lose its seating (and so not be able to function as a competition pool)

that recent surveyors report estimated Seven Kings Baths would cost £300,000 to renovate, so is the new plan the best value for the charge payer?

that the possibility of building flats and further leisure facilities above the car park adjacent to Seven Kings has not been addressed

that the potential of renovating Seven Kings Baths as a major facility has not been examined

that Seven Kings is always the poor relation from whom facilities are taken away and given to Ilford - the library was cited

that the site at Seven Kings is deemed to be in a less well off area and the council therefore views it as less suitable for a new leisure centre than the centre of Ilford

that the loss of car parking will threaten the activities at the Cricklefied Stadium and athletics track and youth centre adjacent to Seven Kings Baths

that local people understood that the car park land was part of a bequest to the people of Ilford along with the Cricklefield Playing Field

that the new pool in Ilford Town Centre will add to traffic problems there

that the new leisure centre at Ilford will have restricted parking, particularly for coaches - yet is intended to house the main competition pool for the borough

that train links are better for Seven Kings Baths than they would be at the proposed Ilford facility

that the council's unitary development plan identifies the land earmarked for the new leisure centre for a new park

Next meeting of the pool users group is 6:30pm April 20th at Seven Kings Baths

Ilford Recorder July 6th:

Valentines Park Lido - bulldozed in 1995 at a cost of £26,000 - may be gone, but it has not been forgotten by the campaigners who fought to save it.

The decision to return it to parkland was taken after Redbridge Council calculated it would cost around £250,000 to bring the 1930s structure in to line with stricter health and safety requirements.

The pool was the last lido in the area following the closure of Whipps Cross Lido, in Snaresbrook Road, Snaresbrook - once the largest in London - in 1982, followed by the open-air pool at the Grange Farm Centre, Chigwell, in 1984. ...more ---> ...