London Fields Lido

This is a wonderful pool. There are lockers indoors, not only on deck. You'll need a £1 coin, which is returned. There is a small gender-inclusive changing room, as well as men’s and women’s. There are good quality, hand-held hair dryers in the women’s locker room. The pool also has a cafe and a falafel stand, which are accessed from the outside of the building and have seating on picnic benches.

A delightful all year round heated lido that, despite its makeover some ten years ago, is still redolent of the 1930s. A short walk across the park from London Fields Overground train station (TfL Fare Zone 2), the facility is easily reached from Central London (Liverpool Street Station). Lap swimming in three speed-differentiated, wide lanes. The changing rooms are gender-segregated. Somewhat irritatingly, the lockers (non-returnable20p piece) are poolside, not in the changing rooms, so you will have to lug your day clothes out with you in order to store them away.

Check the facility website before going because maintenance and improvement works necessitating closure are planned. The lido had been planned to close in November, 2016, but (a) consultation with regular users has seen off the plans to replace the gender-segregated facilities with a ‘changing village’ and (b) there were issues with securing compliant tenders for general maintenance. Let’s hope that, when the works do eventually proceed, they are quickly completed, unlike last time around when the lido was closed for eighteen years (1988 to 2006)!

A wonderful pool that can get very busy on hot days and early mornings. Opening times vary week to week, depending on daylight, so check the schedule on their website ("website" link, above). There's a women's only session late on Tuesdays. The pool is cleared in the event of extremely heavy rain and/or risk of lightning. The changing room floors can get muddy, so remember your flip-flops. There are lockers around the pool (20p coin-operated, non-returnable).

Far and away the best outdoor pool in the UK.