Coventry’s current public swimming pool is set to be demolished in the not too distant future but what about the old ones?
The Central Baths in Priory Street opened in 1894 in Coventry city centre with three pools and separate men’s and women’s slipper baths. In those days the building wasn’t just somewhere to swim. People who lived in houses with no plumbing used the slipper baths to get clean.
Between the wars the pools were the venue for water polo and swimming competitions as well as events such as boxing matches, dances and meetings.
When the Second World War broke out the baths were closed and the pools were drained and prepared for use as a mortuary in anticipation of bombing raids. But when the bombers came it was the baths that were hit and partly destroyed. The temporary mortuaries were never used.
After the war the damaged part of the building was left, with some staff growing vegetables there, while some of the slipper baths were repaired.
In 1966 the whole building was demolished and replaced with the pools at the Coventry Sports and Leisure Centre site in Fairfax Street.
Soon after they were built the trade publication The Building News gave details of the new public baths built by the Corporation of Coventry.
Of note was the fact that all the baths (both slipper and swimming) and the whole of the service laundry department were on one level.
The men’s and women’s baths had separate entrances with a checktaker’s office in between enabling one person to take the money from both sexes and classes.
In addition to public swimming it had ten men’s first-class private baths, twenty men’s second-class private baths, four women’s first-class private baths, and six women’s second-class private baths - making 40 private baths in total.
The publication said the baths were built by Mr C Gray Hill of Coventry, at a total cost of £17,965 16s 10d.
I was surprised when I stumbled on the baths in the early 1960s just how much had survived the war. They could easily have been restored to their former glory but it was never attempted.
