The Elephant, Coventry in 1977

Originally written for Swimming Pool zine, December 2020. Get your copy here!

Post-war Britain saw a proliferation of public swimming pools. In the egalitarian spirit of the Welfare State, 200 public baths were built between 1960 and 1970. Modern materials and methods meant that leisure centres could be built as cavernous, chlorinated cathedrals to the health and wellbeing of the people. Most of us have formative memories of scampering around their inner chambers, between changing rooms and pre-showers, on blue plastic pathways laid over bleached tiles, before bursting into the echoing cacophony of churning water and sleek bodies that was the main pool.

Sadly, since the Thatcher years and the country’s neo-liberal soaking, public services have taken a massive hit. Years of neglect have left some swimming halls with their concrete vaults crumbling and their grouting a little grotty. This has played into an austerity script, well rehearsed by councils across the country, of ‘managed decline’. In order to generate lump sums of much needed cash, councils let their public assets deteriorate until the only ‘viable option’ is to demolish them and sell the land to private developers, who tend to favour building luxury flats for the mysterious market.

Halifax swimming pool, Pond Life mural by Kenneth Barden, Halifax

Two remarkable post-war pools facing an uncertain future are Halifax and the Elephant. Halifax swimming pool was built in 1960s West Yorkshire. It features two gargantuan ceramic murals by artist Kenneth Barden, depicting British pond life. After a failed attempt to get the murals listed, they, along with the pool, have been slated for demolition - to be replaced with a carpark. 

The Elephant is a leisure and sports complex in Coventry, West Midlands, designed by the city’s architects department. The 1966 swimming pool complex housed three pools, seating for over 1000 spectators, and three-storey-high glass walls overlooking sunbathing terraces and gardens. The iconic, figurative Elephant extension was added in 1977. The centre has now been closed and with a new sports centre being developed on the outskirts of town the building’s fate is yet to be determined.

People still deserve free access to places that allow them to shed their outer layers, move their bodies, meet with their friends, teach their children, and lie with the sun on their skin. Now perhaps more than ever we realise how important our health is, and see how cruel the impacts of health inequality are. These buildings, and the activities they house, matter. Save Our Swimming pools.

The Elephant swimming pool, Coventry

You can find out more about the campaign to list the Halifax mural from the Twentieth Century Society.