Portobello Open Air Pool

Portobello Open Air Pool
General information
Opened 30 May 1936
Demolished 11 April 1988

Portobello Open Air Pool was opened in Portobello, Edinburgh on Saturday 30 May 1936 at a cost of £90,000.[1]

Origins

Plans for an open air pool had previously been mooted by Edinburgh Town Council in 1928, 1930 and 1933, but were discounted - the main obstacles being seen as the Scottish weather and cost.

The objections on the grounds of cost were silenced when it became clear that hot water could be provided for the pool by the coal-fired Portobello Power Station nearby. It was claimed that the water would be maintained at an average temperature of 68oF (20oC) but at times it could be freezing.[2]

Pre-World War Two popularity

The pool could accommodate 1,300 bathers and 6,000 spectators. One of its main attractions was the wave-making machine which, at a cost of £7,000, was the first to be installed in an outdoor pool in the UK and could generate waves up to three feet high.[3]

In its first season, 290,000 bathers and almost 500,000 spectators used the pool, bringing in receipts of £15,000.[2]

The pool was open from May until September every year until the outbreak of World War 2 in 1939.

During the war, the pool was camouflaged to look like a field to prevent it being used as a marker for enemy bombers to target the nearby power station.

Post war period and closure

It reopened on 1 June 1946. As well as being popular with swimmers and bathers, it was also regarded as one of the places to be seen, posing on the terrace. Sean Connery was a lifeguard there in the 1950s.[3]

By the late 1970s the pool's popularity was on the slide. The advent of cheap package holidays abroad played a pivotal role in its decline and its fortunes worsened in 1978 with the closure of Portobello power station. What little heat the water had harvested before had now disappeared altogether. The 1979 season turned out to be the last and demolition was approved in 1988.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Margeorie., Mekie, (1999). Old Portobello. Ochiltree: Stenlake. ISBN 1840330880. OCLC 43459961.
  2. 1 2 Janet., Smith, (2005). Liquid assets : the lidos and open air swimming pools of Britain. Inglis, Simon. London: English Heritage. ISBN 0954744500. OCLC 62361879.
  3. 1 2 Foley, Lancaster, Souter (2004). Memories of Portobello. Edinburgh: Portobello History Society. p. 7.
  4. ↑ "Lost Edinburgh: Portobello Bathing Pool". Retrieved 2018-04-14.
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