Mitcham Baths Hall opened on Monday 28th November, 1932. It was built on the site of George Shepherd & Son, coach builders, on London Road. It was called the Baths Hall as it was open for swimming during the summer months and as a hall during the winter.

Baths Hall on London Road, photo taken mid 1980s.

Possibly 1970s

1932 Baths Hall

1932 swimming pool

From the 1932 Medical Officer of Health Report for Mitcham, from the Wellcome Trust

SWIMMING BATH.

The new Swimming Bath was opened by the Chairman of the Council on November 28th, 1932.

The Surveyor has kindly supplied the following data :—

Construction was commenced in June, 1931, and was carried out as an unemployment relief scheme.

The building is used as a public hall in the winter months, with movable stage and dance floor over the swimming pool.

The swimming pool, 100 ft. by 36 ft., has a depth of water varying from 3 ft. to 8 ft. 6 in., with a diving area 20 ft. long.

The floor of the pool is covered with terrazzo and the sides lined with white glazed interlocking bricks.

The dressing rooms are between the entrance hall and bath hall, with showers and foot baths adjacent, ensuring that bathers use the shower and foot baths before entering the pool.

The filtration plant comprising three vertical pressure filters, giving a maximum rate of 200 gallons per square foot per hour and capable of filtering the whole of the 126,000 gallons in four hours. Aeration is carried out both before and after filtration. Chlorination is by the automatic liquid gas type to Ministry of Health recommendations of 0.2 to 0.5 parts per 1,000,000.

Washing accommodation comprises :—

Eight slipper baths and one needle spray bath for men.
Six slipper baths and one needle spray bath for women.
Space has been allowed for future extensions.

The cost, exclusive of the land and furnishing, was £27,350.

1952

1952 OS Map

The electric lighting was supplied by Ward Electrical Co. Ltd. who submitted the lowest tender of £506 7s.

The terrazo paving was supplied by the Camden Tile and Mosaic Co. who submitted a tender of £1480 8s. 6d.

Source: 1931 Mitcham Urban District Council minutes, pages 414 and 445, volume 17.

The first superintendent of the Baths Hall was Mr. C. P. WALKER, according to the Mitcham News & Mercury on 3rd February, 1933. He is quoted as having been previously at Hull.

News Articles

Norwood News – Friday 27 November 1953

Baths are 21 years old

MITCHAM BATHS “come of age” tomorrow (Saturday).

Since they were opened on November 28, 1932, nearly one and a half million people have used the Baths for swimming alone.

The Baths Hall has had an eventful life since it was opened by Mr. W. Carlton. J.P., chairman of the Urban District Council.

The first swimming season lasted only a week, during which all swimming was free. During the first full season in 1933 there were over 102,000 bathers.

Swimmers came in their hundred thousands until 1939. In the first season of the war only 43,000 came to bathe.

“When the land mine at Fair Green shattered the glass in the hall skylights and the baths were closed, it seemed as if all the work done for swimming in Mitcham had been in vain.

REST CENTRE

In 1941 there was a further blow when part of the hall was destroyed by bombs.

But the Baths took on a new lease of life during the war. They became a rest centre for people who had lost their homes in bombing.

Old people from the Garden Village were among those who moved in, bringing their cats, dogs and canaries, while an unexploded bomb at the village was put out of action.

The swimming pool reopened in May, 1946. Numbers in that first season were only half the pre-war average.

Now things are back to normal. Attendances are once more on the 100,000 mark. More and more schools are using the Baths, and the number of swimming galas held there is well up on pre-war figures.

Children can still swim for 2d. a time, as they could 21 years ago. Only this season were the charges for adults increased sightly.

List of Newspaper Articles

From the Mitcham News & Mercury, 3rd February, 1950:

The outside of Mitcham Baths is to be painted at a cost of £349 8s. 2d. The tender of Messrs. Cannon and Roaf was the lowest. The job will take six weeks.

Maps are reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.