Smallthorne Open Air Swimming Baths

The colliery surveyor Thomas Kent designed the pool, which was to be open to the public. The water was to be heated by boilers in the colliery. The pool was to have a second use as a reservoir.

A company was formed; Burslem Recreations Ltd and work was carried out by the miners.

The cost was £25,000 and it opened on 6th June 1938. The pool was large and had state of the art equipment and included under water observation windows from a sunken restaurant. It was the largest bath in the Midlands, measuring 220’ x 92’ with space for 1,200 swimmers. The depth at each end was 3’ 6” and at the centre, 9’ 6”.  It held 640,000 gallons of water and was fully tiled.

Unfortunately, the pool had to shut only months after opening due to subsidence leaving water seeping away.

The pool also had many accidents, some deaths and it appears that lifeguards were not a priority for the company.

The bath closed in September 1939 due to the start of WWII. It was then stocked with fish and managed by Mr A R Morris who was a manager at the colliery. Eventually the fish were all poached and the bath was taken over by the Fire Service for an emergency water supply. Fire engines were parked in the foyer!

During this time, cracks continued to appear as the pool was built near a known fault and on the site of an old ironstone shaft.

By the mid 1950’s the pool was derelict. Ordnance Survey maps show the pool as disused from 1950 until 1967 then by 1968 it was gone and replaced with petrol station.

An excellent film from July 1938 showing a swimming gala is linked below.