For generations of Harrow residents, the outdoor swimming pool at Harrow Leisure Centre was a memorable part of growing up in the borough. It was cold, surrounded by trees and often filled with the odd leaf or dead insect, but during the warmer months it really came to life.
Although it later became associated with Harrow Leisure Centre, the pool’s history stretches back much further than the centre itself.
From Wealdstone baths to Harrow Leisure Centre
The pool originally opened in 1934 as the Wealdstone Open Air Swimming Bath on Christchurch Avenue, where the leisure centre sits today.
Historic council records show that the baths were already being discussed extensively during the 1930s, including their opening hours, admission prices and use by local schoolchildren.
An aerial photograph taken in 1934 shows the newly built pool surrounded by open land, long before the present-day leisure complex took shape.
By the early 1960s, Harrow Council was considering how to expand swimming facilities on the site.
Council papers from 1963 referred to plans for a covered swimming bath “adjoining the existing open-air swimming bath” in Christchurch Avenue. This eventually formed part of the development of the wider leisure facilities at the site.
Harrow Leisure Centre opened in 1975, but the outdoor pool remained part of the main complex and continued to be used by residents.
Many people who grew up in Harrow during the 1980s and 1990s remember swimming outside during school holidays and weekend visits. It sat close to the centre’s well-known water slides, another feature fondly remembered by local families.
One previous Harrow Online article recalled the water being freezing, with leaves and the occasional dead bee floating on the surface, but said children still jumped in and enjoyed it.
What happened to the outdoor pool?
The outdoor pool closed in 1997, around the time Harrow Leisure Centre underwent major refurbishment work.
However, there does not appear to be one easily accessible council document that gives a complete explanation for the decision or confirms exactly why the pool was permanently abandoned.
A historical archive of Britain’s lost outdoor pools records that the Wealdstone bath closed in 1997 and was left derelict before the site was built over sometime between 2006 and 2010.
Earlier problems had also been reported. A newspaper report from 1980 said the outdoor pool would not open that year because of structural faults, suggesting the facility had already faced maintenance issues long before its final closure.
Harrow Online has previously reported that increasing running costs were among the reasons the outdoor pool and water slides did not return following refurbishment work in the 1990s.
Council papers from 2004 later considered plans for an indoor tennis centre that would replace the former outdoor swimming pool. What is less clear from the available records is the precise sequence of development across the site and whether every part of that proposal was constructed exactly as originally planned.
As it is today, Harrow Leisure Centre has two indoor swimming pools, including its 33-metre main pool, alongside sports halls, a gym, climbing facilities, soft play and other amenities. The outdoor pool is no longer listed among the centre’s facilities.
Its disappearance may not have been marked by one dramatic moment. Instead, the evidence suggests a gradual story of closures, maintenance difficulties, refurbishment and changing priorities for the wider leisure-centre site.
But for residents who remember swimming there, the nostalgia remains. Do you remember it? Let us know in the comments on our socials.
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Chris Mitchell is the founder and editor of Harrow Online, Harrow’s leading local news platform.
He launched Harrow Online in 2010 as a Facebook page sharing local news and information. Since then, it has grown into a trusted source for breaking news, crime, council decisions, planning, transport, business and community stories across the borough.
Harrow Online reaches hundreds of thousands of readers each month and has a social media audience of more than 200,000 followers.
For news tips, press releases or enquiries, contact Chris at info@harrowonline.org.
