Sadly those images – now held by Brent Archives – are one of the few relics of a lost lido that once drew thousands of families to Gladstone Park.
Today a raised mound and a flattened grassy area in front of the car park in Dollis Hill Lane is all that remains of the kidney shaped pool that first opened in July 1903.
It was designed by borough engineer Oliver Claude Robson as Willesden’s first public swimming bath at a cost of just more than £2,500, and was modelled on the pool at Harrow School which councillors had visited beforehand.
(Image: Brent Archives/Willesden Chronicle)
Painted blue, it had changing rooms and a sun terrace and a straight 25‑metre length at one end so it could host competitions.
There were also two spring diving boards, with a 5ft 6 in deep end and sloping sides at the shallow end.
Admission to boys and men was free on Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday and 3d on Tuesday and Fridays. Wednesday was Ladies Day with a charge of 3d in the morning and free during the afternoon.
It was one of scores of open air pools built across London in the early years of the 20th century to provide low cost recreation for local families. Many fell into disuse in the 1980s when cheap holidays to the continent became popular.
But those living around Willesden and Neasden and Cricklewood from the 1940s to the 1980s recall summer days queuing up at the turnstile to pay a few pence to swim all day – and the ever present ice-cream van in the car park.
One recalls the pool was regularly “packed,” while others, including former pupils at Gladstone Park Primary School, John Kelly School and Wycombe Secondary Modern remember learning to swim and holding their annual school swimming galas there.
Sadly the pool was shut in the late 80s and remained derelict with one resident who recalls local children using it as an informal skate park as the sloping sides made a perfect ramp.
It was demolished by Brent Council, with the intention of providing new facilities on the site that never came to pass.
Many still bemoan the demise of the pool. Posting on the Facebook page I Grew Up In North London, one recalled: “I visited it quite often in 1974 when I was living in Kilburn. I remember it as a kidney shaped pool with rows of changing sheds along the top side.”
Another replied: “I spent the hot summer of 76 there good times.”
“My best friend and I used to cycle up to the pool in our school holidays in the 1950’s.”
While another wrote: “I was a life guard there in the 60’s. Good times and great place to work.”
