SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Leeds International Pool being built in 1967.

Leeds International Pool was opened on 23rd September 1967. Designed by architect John Poulson the bulding had an innovative design incorporating concrete and large expanses of glazing with a light framework of steel.In its first six months the pool was used by 220,000 people. In the forty years since then countless thousands of people have learnt to swim, swam for fun, for fitness, in competitions, played water polo, canoed, learnt how to save lives, raised money for charity, trained for the Olympics, become trainers, coaches and pool staff themselves at Leeds International Pool.And there were other activities too - yoga, weight training, fitness classes, 50+ sessions, Heart and Diabetes Watch programmes.In the summer of 2007 the Leeds International Pool will be closing its doors for the final time and the new Leeds Aquatics Centre will be opening at the John Charles Centre for Sport in South Leeds.There are plans afoot to create an exhibition and a lasting archive of the history and experiences of the thousands of people who used Leeds International Pool.Post your memories, stories and pictures here on Secret Leeds, any tales you have to tell about the building, or even memories of what stood there before 1967... We will pass the information on to the organisers of the exhibition.

Can we mention the corrupt ways of said architect. There are tails to tell!!!This pool was centimeters short of the 50m required so never held any meaningful international championship meetings, they went to Sheffield instead

Of course we can Geoff. Old Poulson can't sue 6' under! Admin may wanna delete this comment

Wasn't a big fan of the place myself. Only went about a dozen times but it was always "grimy/grotty" to me (changing rooms and pool sides).

geoffb wrote: Can we mention the corrupt ways of said architect. There are tails to tell!!!This pool was centimeters short of the 50m required so never held any meaningful international championship meetings, they went to Sheffield instead I heard a story which I thought was urban myth. When the blueprint was drawn up for the main pool, they hadn't considered the fact that when the tiles that would line the pool were added, it would be a centimetre or so shorter than what is required championship meetings.

I don't know if it was down to the thickness of the tiles or not, but the International was definately just too small for full blown international events.I can remember going a few times in the late 70's / early 80's and it seemed run down and cold then, compared to the shiny new Fearnville Sports Centre Pool we normally went to.Wasn't there an "indoor" running track that went around the building like a balcony, so you could go for a jog regardless of the weather?It's a crying shame it's being closed with no real replacement. I know the council have spent a lot of money on the grandly named "Leeds Aquatic Centre" at John Charles Stadium, but that's no use to anyone wanting a swim in their lunch hour is it? Thats before you remember there are no sensible public tranport links there either...And the shared useage of the Uni's new pool is about as much use to most people working in town being too far away to be of any use

Gutted the International is closing. I learnt to swim there thirty-odd years ago...

Both my kids learnt to swim at the International Pool in the late seventies. I have memories of taking them there at some ungodly hour on a Saturday morning. My daughter Victoria got her bronze lifesaving medal there later on which served her well when she went to work in Summer Camp in New York State in 1991. It was enough to get her qualified as a lifeguard.As to the "Olympic standard", my understanding is that the pool was built to current standards at the time but the Olympic committee changed the width of the lanes a couple of years later and the Leeds pool wasn't of a design that could cope with the change.Do you know they can't empty it? If they drain the water, the removal of the stress on the concrete 'bath' it's held in will make it crack upwards and ruin it.

Me and my mate used to swim there every Sat & Sun morning.Back in the late 70'sWe worked out that 34 lengths equalled one mile.Now I'm told we were short by the width of a tile.I don't know how to break it to my old mucker...