The class would travel by coach (a Bedford Duple, if I recall) down the Uxbridge Road, and we'd troop off to the changing rooms. The swimming pool was to the right of the baths, a row of cubicles, a white enamelled bath in each. It was here that the working classes could sit and soak in warm, soapy water, and get clean for sixpence.
Those were the baths (which, having a bathroom at home, we didn't have to use). Then there was the pool.
Now... was there such as thing as First Class and Second Class pool? I can vaguely remember... or was this at Acton? One with a balcony? No trace on the Net...
The adjacent pool was white tiled, Victorian, smelling strongly of chlorine (if I close my eyes I can imagine the smell), with changing cubicles on either side (male to the left, female to the right). There was a pile of wooden (later expanded polystyrene) floats for learners to grasp as they propelled themselves with their legs, a lifebelt or two, some nets on sticks to remove debris. All was well-run, but showing signs of age. This swimming pool was a far cry from the modern, Olympic-length pools that the council would build in Northolt and Perivale. But at the time, in the early 1960s, pools like this were the norm (I also swam at the Brentford and Acton pools, both of similar vintage and style).
As well as the chlorine smell, the other characteristic of pools of this age were the pool attendants - chaps called Reg or Vic, wearing white slacks, white vests, white plimsolls - trim of physique, in their forties or fifties (probably ex-Army PT instructors). Their chief attribute was their tuneful whistling. They would use the unique acoustic properties of the swimming pool to optimal use whistling popular melodies from the 1930s and '40s.
Apart from school trips to the Ealing Baths, I'd also go from time to time with my father and brother, especially in summer. I'd be dressed in shorts (over my swimming trunks), sandals and t-shirt, so I'd be into the nearest empty cubicle to get undressed, and in the water in seconds.
Note: This was an age of social trust. No one nicked things from cubicles. You'd just find an empty one, leave your clothes (and watch,wallet and keys if you were grown up), go for a swim, and, having remembered your cubicle number, you'd return to find it all there where you left it.
Things obviously got worse by the time Northolt and Perivale swimming pools were opened; these had lockers, with keys, that you safety-pinned to your trunks.
Below: Ealing Town Hall, 1900. The baths were directly behind, entrance from Longfield Avenue, the road to the left of the Town Hall.
32 comments:
You are right about more than one pool. One was 3d, where all the kids went and then there was one for either 8d or 1s I can't quite remember, because that's where the adults went and it wasn't as much fun as the 3d Longfields as we used to call it!! Wonderful memories. You are also right about your stuff not being nicked even if it was busy and you had to share a cubicle with someone!!
I used to swim there regularly as a child in the 1960's, and I recall at least 3 pools, possibly 4.
On the extreme left on entry turnstile was the five pennies (5d entrance fee) pool, which was not particularly deep at the 'deep end'. The story was that there had originally been some diving boards, before my time, but they had been removed after an accident in the not-deep-enough end when a diver had broken their neck. (Of course this may have been just a story by parents or teachers to frighten young children.... But it is certainly true that there were no diving boards, and the deep end was only about 5 feet.
Next to it was main pool, with diving boards (up to 5m I think) and a spring board. It did indeed have changing cubicals down each side, male on the left, female on the right. There was a high roof and a balcony, with more changing cubicals down each side, and some 'open plan' area with some early lockers at one end of the balcony. There were toilets just off of the other end, on the ground floor, which were not heated, at all. This pool was termed the nine pennies, being 9d entrance fee, which changed to one shilling either before or after a certain time in the evenings!
The next pool was the three pennies (3d entrance, and as another user commented this was a quite shallow pool that was good for learners. I have a feeling there was another pool next to that one, the 'Longfield pool', which was even shallower, and lower cost, maybe 2 1/2 pence? But I never used these pool(s), so my recollection of them isn't nearly as clear as the other two.
I lived in Ludlow Road on the Bentham Garden Suburb and Ealing Broadway was an important part of my extended home turf in the 1960s. My mother was manageress of a dry cleaning shop in Springbridge Road, which meant that pre-teens and as a teenager I spent a lot of time in and around EB. The ABC Cinema, particularly the ABC Minors Club on Saturday mornings kept me occupied whilst my mother was working in the dry cleaning shop and the swimming baths were another attraction that I very often used likewise and most often with my mates.
There were three swimming baths behind Ealing Town Hall, "Longfield" which had a 3d entrance fee and was incredibly shallow with a maximum depth of 3ft - As Tony mentioned this bath was good for learners and is where I learnt to swim properly (as opposed to doggy paddle at the seaside) at 7 years of age during school swimming lessons when attending Montpelier School; The next bath up "Juniors" or "Second Class", either term was commonly used, had, as Tony remembers, a 5d entrance fee (big old pennies) via a turnstile. This bath was certainly around 5ft at the deep end and devoid of any diving boards; The final bath was the "First Class" occasionally called "Adults" and had a two tier payment system 9d and 1shilling depending on time of day and day of week. This bath was used by the more serious swimmers and was sometimes closed in the evening to the general public when the local swimming club had exclusive access. This bath had two diving boards, one a spring board and the other a high board structure with platforms at different heights. I can also concur that innocence abounded regarding theft of personal belongings that we left in dressing cubicles, we just never gave it a thought.
Great memories. Me and my brother learned to swim here with the cubs and then at Saturday morning lessons with Swimming teacher Mr Dunville. We also lived on the Brentham Estate (Fowlers Walk) and went to Montpellier School. Happy days
Happy days indeed! I had a good school friend from Montpelier days who lived at 97 Fowlers Walk, name of John Boyce. His father was the manager of Barclays Bank in Ealing Broadway and a very serious bowls player at Brentham Club winning a number of trophies. John lived at the same address all his life and sadly passed away in 2011.
Keith Littlejohns
I remember the hot drink vending machine that sold everything form hot oxtail or tomatoe soup to hot chocolate, coffee or tea. If the machine was working all of the drinks tasted the same
I was always scared of the end pool as my mum had told me the baths were closed during WW2 because of a Polio outbreak and that they used the baths as a morgue!
I also remember that after swimming on a Saturday we would stop in Woolworths opposite the townhall to buy broken biscuits (less money)
As I remember it, there were actually FOUR pools in the complex - three in the main building, designated 1st, 2nd and 3rd class - and the Longfield Bath in an adjacent building. The 1st class was largest, with the 2nd class to its left, and 3rd class to its right in the main part of the building.
I attended Montpelier School from 1959-63. Small world!
3x pools, 1st / 2nd / 3rd class. And the Slipper baths. School lessons were in the 1st / 2nd class pools but I preferred the 3rd class pool which as I recall was not so deep but a squarer shape. That was furthest from the turnstile.
John Norris
I remember well the very strong smell of chlorine in the shallow pool, most probably caused by it reacting to the amount of urine in the water. Wasn't there an attendant at that pool who used to duck you under using a long pole?
My family lived in Ealing (Cavendish Road) until 1957, when we emigrated to Canada following my father's death the previous year. Going to the Baths was an exciting event. I was desperate to use the diving board, and my father taught me how to swim in the 8d pool. I had to be able to swim the length (added insurance?) before I was allowed in the deep end. Yes the chlorine smell is easily congured-up, even 65 years later.
I was recently in Ealing looking-up old haunts, and searched for the Baths which sadly has long been demolished. However, I went to the archives in the West Ealing Library and found pictures and info about the Baths.
I was a Southall Grammar School pupil from 1965 to 1968 & on Wednesday afternoons we were brought here to swim in the Town Hall swimming pools. I still live round the corner on Gordon Road but for life me cannot recall the exact location of the pools.
I was born in London but moved away in 1968 when I was 2.I spent every holiday staying with my nan in Ealing in the early and mid 70s. She would take me swimming here and then to the public bath. Lovely memories.
I remember going on a coach from Northolt to what I believe was Ealing baths it was very old from what I remember but I thought it was attached to a school so could that be the council offices or was there another baths somewhere? This would have been in the 1950s.
There were 4 pools at the old Baths behind the Town Hall in Ealing. I swam there with Ealing Swimming Club until 1980, when we moved to the new pool built in Greenford. The 4 pools were (working left to right) 2nd class (23yds I think), 1st class (30yds) - which was closed well before the others as the roof caved in, the smaller pool on the right was nicknamed 'the pudding basin' and to get to the 4th pool you went outside and to the extreme right end of the building where the Longfield Hall was situated and which was covered over in the winter to use for tennis. There was a wire across the pool for use when teaching learners, attached to it was a leather belt on a chain which the teacher held. When he/she stopped to talk to some one the chain tightened and you were above the water. Miss Green taught me, and our favourite lifeguard was Sid Postings. I think the second female teacher was Dorothy Weston - and she continued to compete as a top class masters swimmer until her mid 90s. I remember the cold shower in the 1st class pool, the freezing terracotta tiling in the Longfield Hall & the metal scum channel which as a backstroker I hit on turning from time to time. AND the female changing room in the first class pool, the entrance to which was at the deeper end of the first class pool and it ran behind the 'pudding basin'. If the last person out turned off the light there was a scuttling sound when the first person went back in as all the cockroaches scuttled away. You never put your shoes on without first checking them!
I also remember the wooden spring board with its strip of coconut matting down the
centre, which it was easly to catch your toes in.
Ted Dumville, mentioned by a previous writer, also worked with the swimming club. He was a gentle soul and was learning to swim himself whilst he taught us. He was one page ahead on the book as it were! Fond memmories as I am now in my 63rd year of teaching with Ealing Swimming Club. Who knows what is ahead now that Covid-19 has struck!!!
I went to st.johns and they used to take us there and my mum would take me for weekly bath then use the same water to wash our clothes
In the 1950s I attended Ealing College Lower School in Ealing Common and enjoyed school swimming lessons at the Town Hall baths. School friends and I used to catch the bus back to school. Happy days....
I'm Roger Peel if anyone remembers me
I attended Montpelier Primary School and learned to swim at Ealing baths. It must have been the 2nd class pool that I was swimming in as I can recall there being a deep end but no diving boards. Unfortunately, it was the first time I had something stolen from me: my Timex watch was nicked from one of the cubicles during a swimming lesson.
I've just discovered this blog, and I think it's great. I grew up in Elthorne Park Road, just a few streets away from Croft Gardens. I attended Oaklands Juniors in the early/mid 70s and I remember being take to the Swimming baths by the Town Hall for lessons with the school. I hadn't learned to swim by the time the school stopped taking us - it would have been about the time of the oil crisis and the three day week - and I'm sorry to say that I still haven't. I do remember the balcony, and my mates winding me up saying that when you got in the second year they would make you dive in from the balcony!
Keith. We lived next door to John and his parents at number 99 until 1978. I remember his lively dark green Cortina. I washed it once for Bob a Job week ! My Dad mad the hedge archway to the front gate at 99 and planted the silver birch which on street view now looks enormous 😊
Mr Dunville was a lovely man and swimming teacher.
In the mid fifties I used to travel to the swimming baths by bus from Northfields Avenue. I seem to remember that there were 3 pools,2d,3d and 6d. I always went to the 3d. I clearly remember what I called the stable like changing cubicles. I didn't mind cold water in those days, no so keen now.!!
We were taken to 'Longfields' by coach from Selborne Primary School for our weekly swimming lessons. Mrs Mack was the swimming instructor - a gruff woman with white hair. After a verse of Ring-a-ring-o-roses, she brought out the long pole with a hook on the end and ducked anyone who wouldn't put their head under. On one occasion for me, this was followed by a deluge of pool water being tipped over my head from a giant ladle as I surfaced. The petrified 8/9 year old me was convinced she was trying to kill me. Just a whiff of chlorine brings it all back.
Does anyone have any photos, both external and internal please.?
I remember these baths from the 60’s. My mum used to give us a shilling each. For that, we caught a 97 bus for 2d, entry to the pool was 3d, a hot chocolate afterwards and 2d back on the bus. One of our favourite outings during the school holidays. And yes, there were 1st and 2nd class pools - there may even have been 3 pools. I never experienced the slipper baths but Mum explained they were for people who didn’t have a bath at home. We also used to go here for lessons with the school (Montpelier Primary School). We were taken by coach and it was all free. Those were the days!
Ooh, I remember Mrs Mack - definitely scary!
Lots of photos of old Ealing baths on the Ealing History Facebook page.
Ian S. John Boyce passed away after a long illness with type 1 diabetes in 2011. His father died first, then several years later his mother passed away. Can't remember the exact dates, but we are talking 1980s/1990s. John owned a number of sporty cars. Late 60s he owned a green Triumph Spitfire (I think this was his first car), during the 1990s he had sporty versions of Mazda cars. All hedges in the Brentham Garden Suburb have grown exponentially since when I lived in Ludlow Road from birth in 1949 until marriage in 1972. The hedge arch your father cultivated always looked impressive, nice job!
I belonged to Southall Swimming Club in the 1960's and regularly used to train at Ealing Swimming Baths. And yes, I remember pushing round the turnstile to get in, the smell of chlorine in the air, the resonating acoustics in the pool, and belongings that didn't disappear from the cubicles. It became tradition to have a cup of hot chocolate from the vending machine after the session - something I still do after a swimming session, and my family now do too.
(Incidentally, Francis Frith, I remember you! We both went to Lady Margaret Grammar School, though we were not in the same year)!
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