Tooting Bec Lido

Tooting Bec Lido is the largest open-air swimming pool in London - being 100 yards (90 m) long and 33 yards (30 m) wide. It is also widely claimed to be the largest remaining open-air pool in Europe [http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/Home/LeisureandTourism/Leisurecentres/TootingBecLido.htm] .

The Lido pool is on Tooting Bec Common between Tooting and Streatham in south London. An original condition of construction was that it should be concealed from views across the common by a surrounding earth ramp. This ramp is now largely covered with bird-filled trees, except where it is breached by the new entrance.

The alternating bright red, yellow, and green doors of the changing cubicles seen above the turquoise water make the Lido a popular location for advertisement "shoots" and other filming. Brad Pitt's boxing "pool" scene in Snatch was filmed at the Lido.

The Lido is operated and maintained by the London Borough of Wandsworth.

Access

The Lido is open to the general public from late May to the end of September each year. Tooting Bec Lido is home to the South London Swimming Club who have exclusive use of the Lido during the winter months, and members of the club can still swim all year around between 7am and 2pm. Yearly membership is currently (2008) priced around £130.

History

, as a project to provide work for unemployed local men. It holds one million gallons of water. Strict segregation of the sexes was originally enforced, with women and girls confined to one morning a week. Mixed bathing was not introduced until 1931, and then only at specified times. At the same time an "aerator", or fountain, was added to help pump the water round the pool and keep it clean. The main reason given for this act of modernisation was because more women would be swimming there and higher standards of hygiene were apparently needed.

Five years later, in 1936, a cafe was built along with cubicles with proper doors. It was around this time that Tooting Bec's pool became a 'lido' when the term became widely used in England.

Tooting Bec Lido was nearly closed as a result of Wandsworth council's financial cutbacks in the early 1990s which resulted in the closure of the borough's other lido at King George's Park.

Since 1999, Wandsworth have invested in making improvements to the Lido. The most controversial was the move of the public entrance to the northern "shallow end". The original "deep end" entrance remains in use during the winter. The new entrance is visible from across the Common, and has reduced the lido's sense of seclusion, although plantings of willow are starting to soften the visual impact.

The pool was drained and repainted in 2005. More fundamental works to reline the pool and relay paving, requiring a prolonged closure period, took place over the winter of 2006–07. The Lido reopened to members of the South London Swimming Club in March 2007, when they hosted the Cold Water Championships.

Links

* [http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/Home/LeisureandTourism/Sports/Facilities/tootinglido.htm Wandsworth Council Leisure Services]
* [http://www.dcleisurecentres.co.uk/sites/tootingbec/home.html D C Leisure Centres]
* [http://www.slsc.org.uk/ South London Swimming Club]
* [http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=529475&y=171919&z=1&sv=SW16%201RU&st=PostCode&lu=N&tl=~&ar=y&bi=~&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf Location (from StreetMap)]