I've been exploring now for over eleven years, and in that time I've shot pretty much every sort of building and facility you can imagine. However I, somewhat amazingly, have never shot a swimming baths until now. I've photographed swimming pools in schools and houses, sure, but up until this point I have never had the chance to shoot in a purpose-built swimming baths facility.

That's not to say this one came easy, I'd checked it out a few times and it was always very well secured and very well alarmed. I'd seen a small handful of photos from it a couple of years back and that was it, after someone either got very lucky or chose to 'aid' their access with the help of tools to remove a shutter that was swiftly sealed again. As luck would have it, a good friend of mine happened to know the right people and managed much to my surprise to arrange a permission visit in order to document it before work begins to redevelop the site. Naturally I seized the opportunity to go along as well as I'd wanted to see it for ages.

The baths were built in 1911 and are the oldest sports/recreational facility in the city, and closed in 2016 after the local council decided the cost of constantly repairing the ageing building was proving too much. As far as pools go it's not a huge one, but it had enough age behind it to make it interesting. The only downside was the lack of working lights as all the mains power had been switched off.

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Thanks for looking

Now that is cool. I love #17, very unique among all of the “centered view of a large room” shots that proliferate in this community.

Very cool, congratulations on the infiltration, these are some great shots! How long is the pool...looks like it's bigger than an Olympic sized.
Thanks for sharing another great explore!

Cool place!

Posted by Cfourexplore Very cool, congratulations on the infiltration, these are some great shots! How long is the pool...looks like it's bigger than an Olympic sized. Thanks for sharing another great explore!

It's actually pretty small - it's 90ft long so roughly 27 metres, by 30ft wide, roughly 9 metres. The wide angle lens just makes it look bigger!

Nice spot, most of the building still seems to be in fairly good shape! Love those skeleton keys on the table in #9 and #10. Considering the place was built in 1911, they might just be the original keys to some of those doorways.