Londoners Magazine

While Londoners would never endorse such a thing as frolicking in the fountain outside Centre Point on Tottenham Court Road, Sarah Riches encourages you to get creative this spring finding places to swim you may not be familiar with.

For example, you could try west London’s only roof top pool, on the seventh floor of the Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge. It’s open to the public, so anyone can splash out in style.

The modest-sized pool is just one metre 20cm deep, but wins points for its roof, which slides open in warm weather. When the roof is covered visitors can still see the city skyline from windows which overlook the gothic roof of the nearby Mandarin Oriental hotel and Harrod’s dome. You can see Hyde Park and the London Eye from the gym next to the pool.

This luxury isn’t cheap at a daily rate of £65 for those not staying at the hotel. For that you get to use the pool and gym, sauna and steam room. You can also use sun-loungers in an outdoor courtyard next to the pool, as well as robes, towels, slippers and lotion.

If you can’t stretch to £65 and it’s a bracing swim you’re after, try the ponds at Hampstead Heath, at £2 a dip.

There are three swimming ponds, known as the men’s pond, the ladies’ pond and the mixed pond. All were officially opened to the public in 1890. The men’s pond is the biggest; the perimeter is 380 metres. It is a 90-metre swim from the jetty to the central point. It’s also very deep – over six metres at its deepest point.

The ponds are fed by springs and are completely natural, filtered by reed beds. The Environment Agency tests the water once a month; the ponds usually get a good or excellent rating for the quality of their water, except after a storm.

And there are people who do swim in all weather conditions, including
one hardcore swimmer called Wyn, who’s 98. But even when the water is freezing cold, you can be safe as long as you’re sensible, says Paul Jeal, the ponds’ senior supervisor.

“It can be dangerous. If you’re coming for the first time, go in slowly. Gradually increase the time you swim. There’s this thing called ‘sudden immersion syndrome;’ your breath can be taken away from you.”

The public can participate in a New Year’s Day race at the ladies’ pond. There are also two annual races on Christmas Day which are held at the men’s pond. One is for a swimming group known as the life boys club, and one for anyone brave enough.

“It’s become very popular now. People go up to watch. Anyone can enter – we had something like 50 people enter this year. It’s just a 25-metre swim out to a marker, a 50-metre dash. You can dive in, jump in, you can swim breast stroke, front crawl, there’s no different strokes. It’s just a one-off race,” says Paul.

It may be spring but if this all sounds too chilly you could try the indoor pool and Jacuzzi at Club Aquarium. What makes this pool unique is its location: it’s in a nightclub.

The club opened in 1995 in a former gym, and the managers decided to keep the pool. Two oval portholes give those on the dance floor in the adjacent room a chance to gawp at bathers in the pool and Jacuzzi. The Jacuzzi seats about eight and bathing time is restricted to 10 minutes. The T-shaped pool is watched over by two lifeguards to make sure no one dives in. It’s shallow – five foot at its deepest point.

The decor is disappointing. Apart from a glitzy mirror that stretches along the back wall, you could be down your local leisure centre, except for the addition of a withering palm tree.

But for those who can’t wait for their summer holiday and want to mix cocktails and disco with a splash about, Club Aquarium is for you.

For something completely different, contact Aquabatix. Professional synchronised swimmers perform ballet moves and somersaults in water in time to music, dressed in costumes more suited to a trapeze artist than a swimmer.

All Aquabatix performers have between six and 15 years experience and rehearse for about two days for a single 20-minute performance. Film crews, corporate clients or private parties hire the performers to swim in their own private pools. For three eight-minute performances prices start at £2,000. You might have seen Aquabatix performers swimming in mermaid tails to launch Disney’s Little Mermaid DVD, an event held at Kensington Close Hotel, or in the BBC programme “Touch me, I’m Karen Taylor,” and MTV’s “Bust a Move.”

Past projects also include the Big Dance in 2006, a week-long celebration in London. Performers achieved the most different types of choreography while dancing simultaneously in one place. In November 2007, despite the temperature, performers set a Guinness world record in the fountains in Trafalger Square. Dancers lay on their back with one leg vertical, one horizontal and switched legs 72 times; the most ballet leg switches ever achieved in one minute.

If this inspires you, you might like to try your hand at synchronised swimming yourself – details below.

Berkeley Hotel pool, Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, SW1X
020 7235 6000 www.the-berkeley.co.uk.
Pool opening times: 6.30-10pm Mon-Fri; 8am-8pm Sat-Sun.

Hampstead Heath ponds, Hampstead Heath, NW3
020 7485 5757
Opening times: The men’s pond and ladies’ pond are open all year round; summer time 7am-9pm; winter times depend on daylight.
Cost: £2 adults, £1 concessions.

Club Aquarium pool, 256 Old Street, EC1
0870 246 1966; www.clubaquarium.co.uk.
Opening times: Fri-Sat 10pm-10am (pool open midnight to 3am); Sun 10pm-4am.
Cost: £10 - £15. The pool is an additional £1 which includes a towel.

Aquabatix 0208 144 2782; mobile 07764 478 100; www.aquabatix.com.

If you want to get involved in synchronised swimming, visit: www.sportcentric.com.

Images from top to bottom: Berkeley hotel pool, Hampstead ponds and Club Aquarium