Highbury Pool

A little out of the area, but does anyone know if/when Highbury pool is likely to open again?

Comments

  • Highbury? Isn't that somewhere in Saaf Lanndann?
  • Fish fork territory no?
  • Indeed, Fox: What with their fish forks, shooting sticks, and green wellies…it must be half way to Paris if it's a mile!
  • What's more, I've heard tell that they even have a special spoon for jam! A "jam spoon", if you please!
  • You can get jam spoons in ikea, should you wish to.
  • Ah that makes sense. I was googling to find a timetable the other day.
  • edited October 2018
    Not for some time. The roof burnt off a couple of weeks ago. Going to take ages to fix that.

    Our kids swimming lessons cancelled for the foreseeable future.

    This is the Gazette report http://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/highbury-leisure-centre-fire-caused-by-workers-1-5712704
  • Thanks @Papa L

    Wow, guess i'll be looking for a new pool for the foreseeable future. Is there one in Crouch end?
  • Theres one at Archway, I think
  • And Park Road, in Crouch End
  • @conformable_kate Kate, Kate, Kate! I'm not talking about those tacky, aesthetically impoverished, arriviste jam spoons with the kink in the handle to accomodate the rim of the jar (come on, you don't really think they have the jar on the table, do you. Think "jam dish", silly). I refer to the traditional s-shaped type where the axis of the bowl is parallel to the end of the handle, but not in line with it, believed to be designed by Edward I and never significantly improved upon. Seeing how class-divisive cutlery talk is on this site, I won't even mention artichoke shaves.
  • From the various pools I've visited in area with the little ones, I can say the following:

    Park Road - pretty decent lane swimming, and if you've got v young children, there's a nice separate small shallow pool that's still big enough to accommodate a fair few people comfortably. Also got a small-ish but reasonable soft play area, so a good spot if you've got kids up to 5 years old.
    Archway - The layout of the pool makes it great for family fun sessions (slide, wave machine, etc) but its not a great pool for lane swimming due to the odd layout. Changing facilities not great and water sometimes feels bit cold.

    Caledonian (Cally) pool: Its an ugly looking building from the outside but has a pretty decent 25 metre pool for lane swimming that normally doesn't get too crazy busy, though does appear to have more people there now that Highbury is closed. The family/kids pool is nothing special though - inferior to Archway in that respect.
    Bit further afield still - Kentish Town, several individual pools in different areas of beautifully restored building. Seems a good all rounder with good lane swimming provision plus couple of smaller pools including a small shallow one that's great for babies and toddlers. Only drawback I found in this place though is that although the water temperature is fine the temperature of the changing rooms and corridors is pretty chilly.

    Clissold would be another one not too far for Stroud-Greeners but never been to that one.
  • There is a pool near Saint Pancras in the same building as Camden Council. Never been but I am curious about it.
  • edited October 2018
    Oh @Scruffy, I am not so refined ... I meant teaspoons with pleasingly long handles, not kinky ones. You put them in the pots of jam that sit shamelessly on the breakfast table (or how would anyone know they were homemade? #humblebrag). But the Edward I detail is a great bit of nerdery. I will go and look it up.
  • Well, I hope it will reopen obviously but to be completely fair I also hope that they will take the chance to PROPERLY revamp the place, in all possible ways.
    Staff was always quite rude and the hygiene level was beyond shocking. Never ever in my life have I been in a dirtier pool. Sometimes the changing rooms would reek nasty and there was a lot of sand and stuff in the water...
    All this for not exactly the most competitive price.

    Anyway yes, there's another one in Archway, at the leisure center behind the tube station.
  • Clissold Park is my usual - nice light, airy and clean facility, with two 25m pools, so there's always adult lane-swimming to be had.

    Highbury Pool was always a very utilitarian bit of anti-architecture that was poorly looked after - but it had the benefit of being easy to get to and opening later at weekends - than all other pools.

    I guess the pile of maintenance issues with the pool will now have to get sorted out in the rebuild - particularly the continual silt at the bottom of the pool.
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