Forest Hill Pools is a

leisure centre A leisure centre, sports centre, or recreation centre is a purpose-built building or site, usually owned and provided by the local government authority, where people can engage in a variety of sports and exercise, and keep fit. Typical facilit ...

in Forest Hill,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. After being closed in 2006, it was rebuilt including two pools and a health and fitness suite and reopened in September 2012. It is located close to

Forest Hill railway station Forest Hill is an interchange station between the Windrush line of the London Overground and National Rail services operated by Southern, located in Forest Hill in the London Borough of Lewisham. It is down the line from , between and , in ...

, Forest Hill Library and

Sydenham School Sydenham School is a comprehensive girls' school located on Dartmouth Road ( A2216) in Sydenham, London Sydenham () is a district of south-east London, England, which is shared between the London boroughs of London Borough of Lewisham, Lewi ...

Facilities

Forest Hill Pools has two pools, the 25 m length main swimming pool and the 16.7 m length learner pool. In addition, two exercise studios and a gym can be used for classes or a work-out. Also, a café area opened after the rebuild and a community room is available for hire.

Location

Forest Hill Pools are located on Dartmouth Road in Forest Hill, London (SE23 3HZ), in the centre of the town. Bus stop 'Dartmouth Road / Thorpewood Avenue' is right outside the building, served by buses

122 122 may refer to: * 122 (number), a natural number * AD 122, a year in the 2nd century AD * 122 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC * ''122'' (film), a 2019 Egyptian psychological horror film *" One Twenty Two", a 2022 single by the American rock band ...

, 24-Hour Route

176 Year 176 ( CLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Proculus and Aper (or, less frequently, year 929 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 176 for this year ha ...

and 197. The nearest train station is

which has frequent

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, it now serves a large part of Greate ...

services with East London as well as with

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

and West Croydon. In addition, Southern trains go to

London Bridge The name "London Bridge" refers to several historic crossings that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark in central London since Roman Britain, Roman times. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 197 ...

Caterham Caterham () is a town in the Tandridge (district), Tandridge district of Surrey, England. The town is administratively divided into two: Caterham on the Hill, and Caterham Valley, which includes the main town centre in the middle of a dry valle ...

and

London Victoria Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a London station group, central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, London, Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named afte ...

History

The original Forest Hill Pools are a Victorian building. As the still existing foundation stone tells (3 May 1884), construction started in 1884. It was completed about a year later, providing an Upper and a Working Class swimming pool throughout the summer—in winter the First Class pool was boarded up and the space used for social events and political gatherings. In 2006, the original Victorian building was closed down following health and safety advice. After some debate, the pools were rebuilt in a new building using the original Victorian structure as the entrance. Now also included are a gym, a café and two group exercise studios. The new leisure centre was run by Fusion Corporation in the name of

Lewisham Council Lewisham London Borough Council, also known as Lewisham Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Lewisham in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour major ...

. In 2021, after closing for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the centre re-opened under the management of Better (formerly GLL).

Redevelopment timeline

This is a short summary of the Lewisham Council rebuilding timeline with some extra information, referenced where added: *March 2006: Forest Hill Pools are closed following health and safety advice and detailed investigations of the building were undertaken, e.g. problems with the roof were further examined. *August 2006: English Heritage recommends the Forest Hill Pools not to be listed. Lewisham council commissions an intrusive survey of the condition of the building and its infrastructure. *December 2006: The intrusive survey concludes that the building has retained its structural integrity making a refurbishment of the existing pools a possible but prospectively expensive option. *February 2008: Recommendations to demolish Forest Hill Pools and replace the building with a new leisure facility have been accepted by the

Mayor of Lewisham The mayor of Lewisham is a directly elected mayor responsible for the executive function of Lewisham London Borough Council in London. The role was established in 2002 following a referendum the previous year. Damien Egan resigned the post ...

Sir Steve Bullock Sir Steve Bullock (born 1953) is a British politician who served as the first Elected mayors in the United Kingdom, directly elected mayor of the London Borough of Lewisham from 2002 to 2018. Early life Born in Redcar, North Riding of Yorksh ...

. Some local residents oppose the demolition plans. *August 2008: Louise House, a building situated right next to the Forest Hill Pools, is listed by the English Heritage. A couple of days later a previously planned public discussion takes place with great attendancy. In the following, the development is re-evaluated and the process delayed due to these considerations. *February 2009: The Mayor and Cabinet meet on 25 February 2009 and decide on the further steps to be taken, based on a report with three possible rework options. *May 2009: Lewisham Council ran a public consultation on two of the proposed options from 27 April 2009 to 29 May 2009 to help determine where and when the new centre will be built. *July 2009: The consultation report is discussed at a Mayor and Cabinet meeting on 15 July 2009, leading to the decision to start work on the preferred option immediately, with extra funding from Lewisham Council's building programme having become available. Local residents who campaigned to preserve the swimming pools at the site are content with this decision *November 2009: Detailed plans for the new pools are developed. *April 2010: Following public consultation on the design, the programme management team submitted a full planning application for a leisure centre with two pools, health and fitness suite, two studios, community room, café and landscaped outdoor area. Forest Hill Pools demolition

*July 2010: Planning permission for the new pools is granted on 22 July and the old pools are demolished. *November 2010: A contractor for the construction of the new pools is appointed. *February 2011: Construction works begin. *September 2012: Forest Hill Pools reopen to the public. Even though the official opening was only on 22 September, the facilities were open to the public as of 15 September. *April 2021: Reopens under management of Better on behalf of Lewisham Council
Blog Post on Forest Hill Pools reopening
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References

External links