Broomhill Pool

Grade II listed Broomhill Lido

2006 Broomhill Lido terraces

Broomhill Pool is a Grade II listed lido on Sherrington Road in Ipswich, England.

Status

Broomhill Pool opened on April 30th 1938 and closed in the autumn of 2002. The last season when people could actually swim in the lido was the summer of 2002.

Broomhill Pool achieved Listed status in August 2001, but Ipswich Borough Council continued to proceed with their plans for closure and duly informed the Department of Culture Media and Sport that same year; in January 2002 the DCMS produced a comprehensive list of closed Listed swimming pools and Broomhill Pool was included in that report.

However, this certainly wasn't generally known to local residents and it wasn't until February 2003, when the Ipswich Evening Star carried a front page headline asking if Broomhill was now "Doomhill", that people realized the lido might never open again.

Broomhill Pool is one of just twelve Grade II listed lidos in Great Britain. It is East Anglia’s last 50+ metre outdoor pool (165 ft x 60ft complying with all 1938 A.S.A & A.D.A requirements), the only Grade II listed lido, has the last outdoor diving boards (believed to be the last surviving set of Wicksteed diving boards in the world) and Ipswich’s last “moderne” style building.

Originally heated to 70F (21C) until the boilers were requisitioned for WW2.

Heritage Site

Broomhill Pool is located on Sherrington Road, and within Broomhill Park, N.W Ipswich.

The original birth place of Ipswich Town F.C. who played their first matches 1878-1888 before moving to Portman Road. The land was owned by the Sherrington family who were instrumental in the formation of Ipswich Town Football Club. The land was sold to the Borough of Ipswich for park land in 1925. The pool is built within Broomhill Park.

Sherrington Road is named after Ipswich schoolboy Sir Charles Scott Sherrington who won the 1932 Nobel Prize for medicine; and became OM (Order of Merit, one of Britain’s highest honours). He lived nearby at Valley Road.

A gem from the art deco period, Broomhill Open Air Swimming Pool was built at a cost of £17,000 and opened in April 1938. Originally heated, its boilers were requisitioned for the war effort in 1941. Over 50 metres long and 8 lanes wide, the pool was 4.5 metres deep at the deep end, accommodated 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 metre diving boards, a grandstand for 700 spectators, and underwater flood lighting.

Broomhill Pool was included as one of the case studies in the book "Liquid Assets". The Twentieth Century Society featured Broomhill Pool as their Building of the Month in February 2006. English Heritage have also recognised the importance of lidos and included them in the NMR - National Monuments Record - see the entry on the Pastscape website .

For the last few years the pool site has been open to the public on the Heritage Open Days and it was open again this year: 12 and 13 September 2009 from 10am-5pm.

The October 2009 issue of the Swimming Times carries a three-page article on the progress of the campaign so far, written by Sally Wainman. The very latest development, since the publication of that article, is that Ipswich Borough Council have advertised the lido on the Leisure Opportunities website and asked for "Expressions of Interest."

The Council have also been proceeding with their plans to cover the pool over with metal sheeting, citing health and safety concerns as their reason for doing this. This action follows on from a vote taken by the Executive of Ipswich Borough Council back in December 2008.

At that time the sum of £113,000 was voted through with the intention of filling the lido with sand and granular infill. Concerned members of the Trust and the public attended that meeting because the "sand and granular infill" plan had not received Listed Building Consent and would therefore have been illegal. The Council reconsidered and Listed Building Consent was duly sought for the metal sheeting proposal.

The Broomhill Pool Trust

The Trust has fought for seven years to keep Broomhill pool in the public eye. This has included political lobbying, raising funds and achieving a £1,000,000 guarantee from Ipswich Borough Council. The Trust has secured manifesto pledges; raised funds to conduct a £67,000 feasibility study (see outcome below); and is now working with IBC in a joint project team to review "All Options" for the future of the facility. The future of the pool relies on gaining further lottery and government funds and securing a suitable pool operator.

The Trust’s objective is to restore Broomhill Pool, the last remaining Olympic length, Grade II listed lido in Suffolk & Norfolk, for full public use.

The Trust's activities are to lobby, explore and liaise with Ipswich Borough Council and all interested parties to preserve Broomhill Pool for future generations.

2006 Feasibility Findings:

1. Public and user groups would like the facility re-opened (18,500 petition signatures (2008), 88% of IBC’s own (2003) survey
2. The pool does not suffer from major structural defects
3. There is suitable funding available for re-development costs for the pool
4. The pool can operate without making an operational loss
5. Operators are willing to take over, manage and operate the pool
6. The re-development of the pool is a cost effective solution for all

References

• "Building of the Month: Broomhill Open Air Pool, Ipswich, Suffolk 1938". The Twentieth Century Society. February 2006. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
• "Crumbling lido wins architecture award". East Anglian Daily Times. 6 March 2006. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
• "Broomhill team marks anniversary". Evening Star. 9 January 2008. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
• Amateur Swimming Association; Institute of Swimming (Great Britain) (2001), Swimming times, Swimming Times, ISSN 1750581, OCLC 61854255 {{citation}}: Check |issn= value (help)

External links

• The Broomhill Pool Trust
• Oliver Merrington's website www.lidos.org.uk