Poplar Baths on the

East India Dock Road East India Dock Road is a major arterial route from Limehouse to Canning Town in London. The road takes its name from the former East India Docks in the Port of London, and partly serves as the high street of Poplar. To the west it becomes Co ...

Poplar, London Poplar is a district in East London, England, the administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, borough of Tower Hamlets. Five miles (8 km) east of Charing Cross, it is part of the East End of London, East End. It is identi ...

is a former public bath house and Grade II listed building that was constructed in 1933 and closed to the public in 1988. The Baths are adjacent to

All Saints DLR station All Saints is a Docklands Light Railway (DLR) station in Poplar in East London. The station is named after nearby All Saints, a Church of England parish church dating from 1821 to 1823. The station entrance is on the East India Dock Road, th ...

. A campaign to restore the baths won the support of

Tower Hamlets Council Tower Hamlets London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in Greater London, England. The council is unusual in that its executive function is controlled by a directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets, curr ...

in 2010 and the construction company Guildmore was appointed to complete the works to create a new leisure centre incorporating a swimming pool, gymnasium and affordable housing on adjacent land. The site reopened in July 2016.

History

The original Poplar Baths opened in 1852, costing £10,000. It was built to provide public wash facilities for the East End's poor as a result of the

Baths and Washhouses Act 1846 Baths and wash houses available for public use in Britain were first established in Liverpool. St. George's Pier Head salt-water baths were opened in 1828 by the Corporation of Liverpool, with the first known warm fresh-water public wash house be ...

. The baths incorporated slipper and vapour baths. The slipper baths section contained 12 baths in the men's first-class division, 24 in the men's second-class and six in both women's divisions. Steam and shower baths were located behind the slipper baths. A comprehensive public laundry was located at the rear of the building, on Arthur Street. It contained 48 wooden washing tubs, drying equipment and ironing rooms. An uncovered water tank supplied the baths and was erected above the boiler house with a capacity of 24,000 gallons. The Baths were rebuilt in 1933 to a design by Harley Heckford and the larger pool was covered over to convert the building into a theatre. Designated the East India Hall, it had seating capacity for 1,400 people and incorporated a dance hall, cinema, exhibition room and sports hall for boxing and wrestling programmes. This dual purpose sustained interest over the winter months, with the smaller pool remaining in use. Between 1938 and 1941 an office in the Baths was used by the Borough's electricity office and then later used by the

Transport and General Workers' Union The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland – where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) to differentiate its ...

and the Poplar Labour Party. The main bath hall sustained bomb damage during the Second World War and was forced to close with the hall left unglazed for several years. Poplar Baths, East London (frontage)

Poplar Baths reopened in 1947 and continued to be used as a swimming facility, attracting on average 225,700 bathers every year between 1954 and 1959, before the facility's eventual closure and conversion to an industrial training centre in 1988.

Restoration

The Baths eventually became derelict and a bid to reopen the baths was put together by

The Environment Trust The Environment Trust was a registered charity and development trust which, from 1979 until its closure in 2008, was based in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It aimed to achieve sustainable development by improving the social, economic and ...

, Swan Housing Group and the 'Poplar Baths Steering Group' receiving strong local support. It has been a listed building (Grade II) since 2001 and was listed on the English Heritage Register of 'Heritage at Risk'. A statue of the local shipowner and philanthropist, Richard Green stands outside the Baths on the A13

. In 2010, the East London Advertiser confirmed that campaigners had won the battle to get it back into use. Redevelopment of the Baths began in January 2014 and works were expected to complete by the end of 2015. The construction of the leisure centre and 100 new homes cost an estimated £36 million. The Baths re-opened on 25 July 2016 and were removed from the Buildings at Risk register.

References

{{coord, 51.5109, -0.0141, type:landmark_region:GB-TWH, display=title Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Swimming_venues_in_England Baths