DULWICH LEISURE
CENTRE
2b Crystal Palace Road
Dulwich, London, SE22 9HB
0844 893 3888
Added bonus: Sweets, and painting.
Negative: .... clap your hands
Whichever way you look
at it, this building has a nice frontage. On the main road is the original 1892 entrance to the Dulwich Public Baths which looks as grand as it sounds, you can imagine men with whiskers and frock coats swanning about there whipping things. There’s a good picture of it
in my new favourite best book 'Great Lengths: The historic indoor swimming
pools of Britain' by Dr Ian Gordon and Simon Inglis. This is like a companion piece to Janet Smith's superb lido book, 'Liquid Assets' - both published by English Heritage and essential, really, if you're going for the full swimming book library. I had no idea that I was going to an historic pool til I got
this book, it made me much more keen to get to East Dulwich (a nice
bit of branding for an area you might otherwise know as Camberwell or Peckham). And rather than botch up the fancy front, they've added a new modern entrance on a side road. Properly accessible, nice, very
zhoosy* with the obligatory dark wood and glass. Which do I prefer, old or
new? Neither, they both have their place. Oh my, I must be in a good mood.
