Historical information

W.D. Vaughan in 'Kew's Civic Century' (1960) has a chapter (XXII, pp.103-105) on the Kew Swimming Pool (aka Kew Baths). In the chapter he recounts debate in Council from 1912 about the need for a swimming pool. The first concrete step toward achieving this occurred in 1914 when Council purchased the Tramways Sheds on the corner of High and Disraeli Streets in 1914. Further adjoining land in High Street was compulsorily acquired in 1923. The final plans were accepted in 1925 and following public tender, Messrs. Weavill and Keast were appointed to construct the pool at a cost of 5,418/9/-. The baths were formally opened on 18 November 1925 by George Ramsay, Mayor of Kew. (The Kew Swimming Club was founded in the same year.) Vaughan notes that "mixed bathing was not permitted at the Kew Baths until January, 1928, when it was allowed every evening (except Sundays) and Friday afternoons. A few years later these restrictions were removed altogether".

Physical description

Small B&W photograph of a crowd of onlookers watching swimming events in the old Kew Swimming Pool in High Street. The photograph can be dated to the years 1929-33, as the wooden grandstand was not erected until 1929 and it was before a new high swimming platform was erected in 1933.

Inscriptions & markings

"Old Swimming Pool. D1. 92"