Memorandum submitted by the Friends of
Marshall Street Baths, Soho
THE SPORT OF SWIMMING
Marshall Street is in Soho just behind Oxford
Circus. The first public baths were built on the site by the Vestry
of St James in 1850 and the present building, then known as The
Westminster Public Baths, was built in 1928. The beautiful ticket
hall opens straight onto the main pool which receives natural
light from a stunning barrel vaulted roof, the pool and surround
being lined with marble. There is also a smaller pool and several
floors of additional accommodation. The building is listed Grade
II. The Marshall Street Baths were built with public money for
the health and well being of local people, residents and workers.
This need still exists but the Baths were closed by Westminster
City Council in August 1997.
The Friends of Marshall Street formed to prevent
the closure of the Baths and we are submitting this proof of evidence
today on behalf of the nearly 5,000 people who signed a petition
in 1997 objecting to the closure. Our stated aim is for the pool
to be reopened for swimming as soon as possible to the public,
residents, schools, workers and visitors alike, at affordable
prices to local residents and open for at least the same times
as prior to closure. We wish to retain the architectural integrity
of the main pool and ticket hall.
Very few swimmers at Marshall Street would feel
qualified to discuss "The sport of swimming", rather
we enjoy the pleasure of swimming, the pleasure of exchanging
for a short while the exhaust laden air of central London for
the entirely different medium of clear blue water, the pleasure
of an energising break in the middle of a deskbound day or of
shedding the load in the evening and floating. Swimming can be
safely enjoyed by people of all ages, whatever their degree of
fitness. It can be contemplative or companionable, competitive
or therapeutic.
An additional pleasure at Marshall Street was
to swim in a lovely space, an open bright day-lit space in a district
of dark narrow streets. Months before the closure the Marshall
Street Baths were voted one of the 10 most beautiful public pools
in the country. I have seen people stop in their tracks walking
down that rather gloomy street past the reticent facade and through
the open doors glimpsing sunlight sparkling on a large expanse
of blue water. The Baths are now on the Buildings at Risk register.
The Baths were immensely popular right up to
their closure. Typical Marshall Street swimmers included the children
from the primary schools of St George's, Hanover Square, All Souls,
Foley Street, Soho Parish School and off-duty police from the
nearby section house, the water polo team and the Saturday morning
water babies with their parents and wings, the over 50's aqua
aerobics and the lunchtime and after work hordes thrashing up
and down, the Down's syndrome group on Sundays, laughing and splashing
and the gossiping friends in the medium lane, the lady with the
elaborate hairstyle and the swanlike neck and the man who used
to take off his leg before getting in the pool and leave it standing
rather surreally on the side.
People in Soho and Fitzrovia, like those in
many inner city neighbourhoods are severely lacking in public
open space. This is a particular deprivation in an area where
there are no school playing fields and people do not have their
own gardens. It is a densely populated area creating a huge local
need. The Marshall Street Baths provided probably the only opportunity
for healthy recreation for all sorts of people in this locality.
This part of central London is constantly congested
by traffic, despite the fact that fewer households here own cars
than in most parts of the country. This makes it difficult to
reach alternative facilities that, in terms of distance, are not
far away. If the government wishes to reduce reliance on the private
car, there need to be local amenities in inner cities so that
people who eschew private transport, cannot afford it or are too
old or too young to use it, are not excluded. Out of town sports
centres cannot replace the local pool. We have the example of
out of town supermarkets versus local shops to show us how moribund
the result can be. Enough people live within walking distance
of Marshall Street to keep the pool busy.
At a time when there is a debate about the health
problems of children who no longer walk to school, a local amenity
such as the Marshall Street Baths would seem more relevant than
ever. In inner cities children who can swim should be able to
walk to their local pool rather than rely on (sometimes absent)
parents to take them. Swimming is one of the healthiest forms
of all round exercise and it is probable that encouraging people
who swim regularly could prevent many serious medical problems.
Money spent on swimming could save money on medical bills.
Financial support to such a local amenity would
provide immeasurably greater benefit to the health of local people
and to the health of the local community than could be measured
on a balance sheet. If any local authority were in a position
to provide that support, we would imagine that Westminster City
Council is that authority. Yet, despite the fact that the Council
is wealthy, it has consistently insisted that the Marshall Street
Baths be self-funding—something that is rare for a public
swimming pool. Funds have not been forthcoming to carry out the
maintenance and repairs necessary to a building of this age. We
would like to point out that the VAT burden is onerous and means
that accountants will always prefer a new building to an old one
because of the exemption. We would like the government to consider
the way in which these old buildings are unnecessarily penalised
through VAT.
Despite a discouraging history, we would like
to work with the City Council to re-open the pool as soon as possible.
At the last count the bill for structural repairs and refurbishment
was £7.2 million. The City Council, who wished to go into
partnership with a leisure operator, have said the work must be
carried out at no cost to them? We have never objected to parts
of the building generating a profit. The last negotiations with
a leisure operator collapsed when there was a shortfall of £2
million. The building was mothballed. Recently the City Council
put notices outside the building to say it will reopen shortly.
When asked when and how there is a polite, placatory but deafening
silence.
3 December 2001
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