The Leeds International Pool often referred to as the Leeds International Baths, was a swimming facility in

Leeds city centre Leeds city centre is the central business district of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is roughly bounded by the Leeds Inner Ring Road, Inner Ring Road to the north and the River Aire to the south and can be divided into several quarters. A ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The pool was situated at the lower end of Westgate and was notable for its

brutalist architecture Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...

. The pool was constructed in the 1960s and designed by architect

John Poulson John Garlick Llewellyn Poulson (14 April 1910 – 31 January 1993) was a British architectural designer and businessman who caused a major political scandal when his use of bribery was disclosed in 1972. The highest-ranking figure to be forced ...

. The facility closed in October 2007 and was jointly replaced by the Aquatics Centre at the

John Charles Centre for Sport The John Charles Centre for Sport is a multi-purpose sports facility in South Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It consists of the South Leeds Stadium (a rugby league, football, and athletics stadium), an aquatics centre, indoor athletics centre, ...

(former South Leeds Stadium) in the south of the city and partly by 'The Edge' sports centre at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

which has periods open to non-university members. The building stood unused until late 2009, when demolition commenced. In the interim it was subject to vandalism.

Controversy

The building was controversial from its opening in 1967. Although in the first six months of opening, the facilities were used by over 220,000 people (then, nearly half the population of Leeds), the building spent many of its early days closed for repairs and alterations. The architect

was convicted in 1974 of fraud in connection with the awarding of building contracts. Other buildings designed by Poulson include the now redeveloped

Cannon Street Station Cannon Street station, also known as London Cannon Street, is a London station group, central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in List of stations in London fare zone 1, Travelcard zone 1 located on Cannon Stre ...

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 ...

Future

After the closure of the building, its demolition at one stage seemed unlikely after plans to build the

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

''The Spiracle'' were cancelled. The building would have been difficult to convert for other uses, and the likelihood of a private company wanting to run the outdated swimming pool was unlikely, especially as Leeds by then had facilities at the

. However the building itself was popular, particularly with admirers of brutalism and twentieth century architecture such as the

20th Century Society The Twentieth Century Society (abbreviated to C20), founded in 1979 as The Thirties Society, is a British charity that campaigns for the preservation of architectural heritage from 1914 onwards. It is formally recognised as one of the Amenity s ...

Replacement facilities

The replacement facilities at the

offer a larger diving pool with a movable floor for adjusting the depth, an olympic sized pool with three booms for easy division and larger spectator areas. The new facilities adjoin an athletics and rugby league stadium, used by Hunslet Hawks, as well as indoor bowling facilities and tennis courts. The new facilities also offer ample free parking. They are however less accessible for people living in the North of Leeds and other towns within the

City of Leeds Leeds, also known as the City of Leeds, is a metropolitan borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in West Yorkshire, England. The metropolitan borough includes the administrative centre of Leeds and the towns of Farsley, Gar ...

such as

Otley Otley is a market town and civil parish at a bridging point on the River Wharfe, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the population was 13,668 at the 2011 c ...

and

Wetherby Wetherby ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is close to West Yorkshire county's border with North Yorkshire and lies approximately from Leeds city centre, from ...

. The John Charles Centre for Sport, is bordered by Beeston,

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the Leeds city centre, city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside (ward), Hunslet and Riverside ward of Lee ...

and Middleton and is accessible from the M1, M62 and M621.

Demolition

Demolition began in the autumn of 2009. The walls to the western face of the centre were removed first, followed by the walls to the eastern side, leaving only the roof standing upon its support columns, and internal structure. These remains were subsequently demolished. Following demolition the site has not been redeveloped and since 2010 has been operated as two surface car parks by Leeds City Council.

References

{{Coord, 53.798283, -1.555577, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Buildings and structures completed in 1967 Sports venues in Leeds Swimming venues in England Buildings and structures demolished in 2009 Brutalist architecture in Leeds John Poulson buildings Demolished buildings and structures in West Yorkshire Demolished sports venues in the United Kingdom Defunct sports venues in West Yorkshire

Controversy

Future

Replacement facilities

Demolition

See also

References