The answer is Tooting Bec Lido...
Where is London’s best outdoor swim? London has lost 58 lidos and has just 12 places left to swim outdoors. London Pools Campaign sent out 100 swimming detectives to check out the state of the city’s lidos and ponds…
Last night Alastair Campbell and Fiona Millar presented the 2006 Golden Goggles Award to Tooting Bec Lido and the special commendation to the Serpentine.
The award ceremony took place at the newly refurbished Parliament Hill lido, on Hampstead Heath , hosted by the City of London who run the lido - with many of the swimming detectives present - as well as a live Brazilian Band.
Our special guest was Eileen Hobbs who has swum at Parliament Hill all her life. Eileen was at the opening ceremony of the lido in 1938 and remembers as an 11 year old watching from the high diving board the planes fighting over London during the second world war.
THE DETECTIVES - AND THEIR COMMENTS Present at the ceremony were many of the swimming detectives who went round to the lidos and ponds and filled in a questionnaire detailing the cleanliness, quality of the water, friendliness of the staff, state of the buildings and whether there is a cafe. The Golden Goggles award was determined by the swimmers findings - the detectives were encouraged to add their comments and a selection of these can be read here.
TOOTING BEC LIDO
Tooting Bec Lido is an absolutely stunning place - a model for lidos anywhere - which was kept open through difficult times by the South London Swimming Club - who are this year running the centenary celebrations for the lido. It is set on the common, surrounded by trees and grass, has kept many of the traditional architectural features of the classic lidos - like the cubicle changing rooms along the poolside, has a great children's area - and most importantly is a fantastic swimming place as the lido is 100 yards long - nearly twice the length of an olymic pool. Tooting Bec Lido is run by DCL Leisure on behalf of Wandsworth Borough Council
THE SERPENTINE The special commendation for the Serpentine is given because of the enthusiasm of the swimmers there in recommending their lido - the regular swimmers described it as "a piece of heaven in the city" - and rave about the setting, the children's area and the friendly staff - and our detectives agreed. Its a little known oasis, right in the heart of London.
THE OTHER LIDOS, OUTDOOR POOLS AND PONDS This is NOT to say the other lidos are not fabulous as you will see from the swimmers comments attached.
London has LOST 58 lidos and has just these precious 12 lidos and ponds left - for 8 million people - and when the weather is like this if you visit a lido it feels like everyone in London is there...
Two years ago Charlton Lido closed for lack of funds to do repairs. It managed to re-open again - but its future is not completely secure - showing that even the Lidos and ponds that are left are not valued highly. They are often kept open and running by groups of dedicated volunteers - as in the case of Charlton with the Charlton Swimming Club.
LIDOS WHICH COULD BE RE-OPENED - from Andy Hoines author of the London section of www.lidos.org.uk
London Fields Lido (Hackney Council have refurbished this Lido which has been closed since 1988 - and it is due to open in October)
Uxbridge - plans are underway for its re-opening
Eltham - still there - overgrown and derelict - but still there
Harrow - occasional ideas to get this open again
Barking - filled in and covered with grass
Kennington Park - lido covered by astroturf
Contact for Photographers
Ruth Corney ruth_corney@yahoo.com 07958 589 229
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Copyright 2008 London Pools Campaign