The first swimming spot in the River Thames is now open for summer
Ready to diiiiive
If it feels like there has been a never-ending rise of all things wild swimming recently – community saunas, new Lidos, leisure centres, surfing lakes, giant potholes, then you’re not making it up. There has been a (tidal) wave of new initiatives proposed to create more wild swimming spots across the UK, and one in London is looking very promising.
Cast your minds back a couple of months ago and 13 sites across the UK were shortlisted for ‘swimming status’, which does not include a pink Kellogg’s 50m swim badge, but in fact is about creating sites which are safe, designated spaces suitable for public swimming. The government proposed to designate Riverside at Ham and Kingston as one of the latest official bathing sites, which was welcomed by Richmond Council and now is officially greenlit. The site has been put forward and championed by locals, including the Teddington Bluetits swimming group who believe it would be transformative for the community.
Despite the fact that most people associate the waters of the Thames with rusty shopping trollies, floating wet wipes, and other unsavoury detritus, the area has been deemed officially (and scientifically) clean, and is fit for public dipping. The first (and brave) dippers were welcomed into the bathing site on May 15th, and it will stay open throughout the summer season until September.
The site has been used as a bathing site before, having been a popular Victorian swimming location. The designation originally proved challenging for Thames Water as the body attempts to drive through a water recycling scheme to draw off tens of millions of litres of water a day from the Thames near the proposed bathing water area and replace it with treated effluent from the nearby Mogden sewage works. Local campaigners have been fighting for bathing-pond status for years, and after being declared biologically dead in 1950s, the reopening of the waterway is a landmark achievement.
Speaking to the Standard, Water minister Emma Hardy said: “The Thames is the vital artery at the heart of London’s cultural and sporting life.
“Plans for the very first bathing site in Ham and Kingston would mark a dramatic step towards a river fit for the world’s greatest capital city, making it a place people can confidently swim and take pride in.”
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