August 2021: England Reviews Continue and a Request on Closed Pools
In August 2021 we kept reviewing England's listings, netted 28 new listings and asked swimmers to report facilities that have closed for good. Our Pool of the Month is an artificial open-water lake in Chesterton, England.
England's listings took most of our attention in August 2021, and the database returned to growth with a net gain of 28 pool listings. With this update we also ask for your help in finding facilities that have closed.
Site activity
During August we continued updating the listings in England. We are well into Surrey and have another 377 English listings to review. We are still putting off the mid-Atlantic states of the United States because of the uncertainty caused by the resurgence of COVID-19.
To those who took part in the user interviews we conducted a few months ago: the site update project is continuing. We have made decisions about expanding the site, and the new site is still a few months away.
A request: report closed facilities
It was relatively easy to remove the listings of facilities owned or operated by large commercial chains that went bankrupt during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no easy way for us to find the YMCAs and independently owned gyms that have closed permanently over the last 18 or so months.
If you know that a facility is permanently closed, please use any of the "Edit" buttons on its listing to tell us. We will remove the listing as quickly as we learn of the closure. It takes only a moment and it saves other swimmers time as they look for places to swim.
Swimmers helping other swimmers has always been at the core of the Places2Swim mission.
Pool of the Month
Our Pool of the Month for August 2021 is the Bicester Hotel Golf and Spa in Chesterton, England, where the swimming takes place in a man-made lake rather than a conventional pool. Read why it caught our attention.
Chesterton, EnglandFeatured pool
Chesterton, England, United Kingdom
- Drop-in
- Non-guests: £7.00. (Limited to the outdoor performance Lake.) [August, 2021]
- Pools
- 200m, rectangular, unstriped, outdoor
- 20m x 7m, rectangular, unstriped, 1.2m depth, indoor