London Fields Lido

Of course it’s still 5 star, I mean it is the biggest outdoor heated pool in London!
A few extra things to add though:
— watch out for aquasplash on school holidays or weekends. A massive inflatable obstacle course takes up half the pool and pushes all lane swimmers into two lanes whilst 2 children at a time complete the obstacle course — just stupid if you ask me.
— new floodlights mean the pool is open later in the evenings and you can swim after work throughout the winter
— the sun terrace is just concrete, don’t expect grass. The café is never open here but you can get food through the window that serves the front too.
— the Hackney under 18s free swimming does not apply here unfortunately. If you have kids and live in the borough you’ll need to go to Clissold, Kings Hall or Britannia.
— the better membership card you have for other leisure centres in the borough does entitle you to a discount here.
— the 20p locker charge is non refundable so make you sure you take out everything you need.
— swimming in rain and snow is amazing, despite the difficulty in motivating you to go swimming when the weather is doing either of those things.

Such a pleasure to have this lido in the neighbourhood. It has amazing opening hours, 6:30 — 21:00 including weekends which as the days get longer is perfect for an after work dip.
The way the lanes are divided makes it comfortable for all levels of swimmers as there are dedicated lanes from slow to fast and in between.
The reception staff are always smiling and I’ve even had a couple lessons which have kept me from drowning as I try desperately to get into shape.
A 50m outdoor heated pool can’t be beat!

We wanted to read, tan by water, and do some laps which this place more than satisfied.
1. For gosh sake bring a yoga mat or three if you want to vitamin D your back; cement is not grass
2.There is only one corner of this facility that has sun from 11:00 — 16:00, find it or risk leaving vs. nomading your kit to pavement previously thought inhabitable, yes even me a former Boy Scout misjudged the sun’s trajectory.
3. Echoing an earlier review, multiple 20p pieces are nice to have, not that the locker (not needed if you plan to splash asynchronously) outfoxed me,…ahem
4. We arrived at 10:10 and there was a fast moving line that took maybe 10 min to get through
5. The little private changing rooms are nice in case you wants to avoid grade/?primary? school group/​gym shower flashbacks
6. Around 3:45 the place looks exactly like Soylent Green’s depiction of a 2022 NYC, i.e., people sprawled across every possible inch of alley and fire escape.
7.Banana Bread and Espresso = yeah great, double up —- £3 Toasties = omg how do they sell these in good conscious
8.Ideally next time I want to exit at say 15:00, grab a burger at Lucky Chip, down bottles in the park (maybe the most intense scene I’ve ever witnessed), then hit up Dalston Roof Park, and really start hammering the evening.

Outdoor heated pool, in the middle of a park! COME ON.
Its just gorgeous — and competitive — BRING a friend and see who can get to 10 lengths first. A sure way to make sure that you are hungry enough to justify whatever you want afterwards.
Its heated (as I said) — which means that even swimming in rain is fun.
You can admire the high-​rise apartments nearby and wonder if they are also gazing down at you as you once again swallow just a little too much water and are forced to stop your lap midflow to cough.
If you’ve been humming and hawwwing about a swim for a while… go here. Especially in the early morning. There’s some real characters.

My favourite place in London, nothing beats swimming here in the morning.
Friendly staff, good facilities, hot showers.
Pool is always clean and never over chlorinated.
Have had my goggles stolen twice from the pool side whilst doing a final cool off lap, I’ve since stopped wearing them ;)

It’s no where near where I live but on a hot summers day it is so worth the trek… and the long line to get in.
It was busy on a Sunday but there was still room for me to lay out my towel and shtuff on the pool deck.
My main goal that day was to dip in, get out, lay on my towel and read my book until the sun naturally dried me off. and repeat until Im satisfied. BUT if I wanted to actually do some laps that day there was a slow lane that I could have joined so I wouldn’t feel so intimidated by the other crazy fast lap swimmers.
Only 4 pounds something to get in? awesome.
There are lockers that cost 20p but you have to put in a coin every time you reopen your locker. SO make sure you take out everything you might need for your time there and lock away the valuables and spare clothes you wont need… so you don’t end up paying 40p like I did.

London Fields Lido is without a doubt one of my new favourite places to swim. They recently did it up (its been there since the 30’s) and the facilities are great. First thing in the morning, you feel like you are swimming in a misty lake in the mountains in the middle of nowhere rather than smack bang in the middle of London. It’s heated and open all year round so even in winter swimming here is great. With only £1 per go it’s definitely my new pool of choice.

Cup of coffee,
Flip flop to Lido
Slap on the Speedos
Bash out the Laps!
This is one of the best things about living in Hackney
Long live the Lido!

I have been here on a beautiful summer day and just managed to get in before a loooooong queue formed due to their «one out/​one in» policy.
While it was pretty full inside, there was nevertheless good order. The rules are strict (no cameras, radios) but it’s good.
The only thing that disappointed me a little is that the Lido really is only that: a huge, clean, lovely pool with a bit of concrete around it. No grassy areas to lie down on and if you leave the building to go to the adjacent park you are charged again for entrance.
So bring a soft towel and lots of 20p coins for the lockers. And sunscreen. And enjoy!
PS: As for child-​friendly, that is probably true for babies but I don’t think 2 – 10 year olds would enjoy swimming in lanes…

Have been here a few times since I moved to Hackney. What a great place. All the times I went was in the winter and sunny but bitterly cold, and I cannot say it was not a little nippy still, getting into the pool. But it is heated to 27 degrees, and after a few laps, you are warmed up fine. The place is amazing with steam rising off the water, and to swim outside is a fantastic experience. It is well maintained and in good order. Occasionally I see a leaf at the bottom of the pool, but that is not enough for me to run out screaming. Seems to be an adult only pool with the entire pool segregated into lanes. Which in my opinion is a great thing, and novel too. Makes me feel good to know I am not swimming through kids pee for once.

Splishy sploshy splashy, that’s just how my afternoon went when me and the girls decided to don our swimwear, some of us wearing a little inappropriate outfits (not naming anyone Huddy!) and head on down to the local pool.
Who cares if it’s a breezy day, we are British after all. We swim n the Atlantic Ocean, a little pool in Hackney does not fill us with fear. Well actually it was the crazy OAPs splashing around that did but that being said this place is awesome. Seriously cool! It’s a heated pool so you’d rather be in swimming than hanging about. There are loads of lanes and it’s big enough to fit everyone in. they even have a little café there so you can sit pool side and nosh on chips and Slush Puppies like you did when you were a kid.
It’s not even pricey, a few bob a ticket and you can swim for hours. Thank you Hackney Council, I knew the money I paid you was going somewhere!

People took the mick out of me when I suggested flexing our swimming muscles at London Fields lido. It’s probably going to be full of robbers, raiding the changing rooms, one friend said Or hipsters drinking Vedett in their D&G Italian swimmers, quipped another.
And how wrong could they have been? London fields’ lido is lovely. Perfect for when that (non existent) Great British Heatwave hits town and everyone decides to get out into the not quite sun and bask in that 20-​degree heat. If you’re lucky. It’s a full length pool too, and filled by a great mix of old guys in Speedos getting their RDA of exercise, families on a day out and serious people in the fast lane, possibly training for the Olympics up the road.
It’s cheap as chips to get in, the water when I went was a steaming 26 degrees (oh yesss) you can get lessons if you are so inclined, they have special events and most importantly are also VERY CLEAN. I say this in capitals as I’m not anally retentive about most things, but swimming pool hygiene is one of them. Nothing quite irks me more than pools of unidentified grey goo in changing rooms, clumps of random hair and general minging-​ness in swimming baths. Places like that (mentioning no names) are total verucca farms. And if you think you’re about to drown and perish (I’m a horrendous swimmer, so that threat is always near) there’s always a lifeguard on duty too.

Just ideal for the sunny days in London. When you do not have enough time to leave for warmer climes or want to relax without leaving London. It’s a heated pool so once you get used to the chill. It’s surprisingly refreshing… Its very relaxing to swim beneath the London Plane trees that afterwards I felt like walking on air…
There is also a nice sunbathing terrace ideal for catching the sun. The Lido has a cafeteria which served good single expresso for £1.20. There were also wraps and baked potatoes on the menu.

This place is cut down municipal hackney bling. A functional/​engineer designed lido with water that stays at 26 degrees, is open all year round and in the summer is urban perfect as you lie on the concrete baking with the ground digging into you.
There is little refinement to it, but it does what it needs to (i.e. offers an olympic size pool in the middle of Lonodon). In the summer it can get crazy busy and unwieldly for someone seeking a proper work out. That said watching the hackney mix of people is always interesting. The rest of the year it is a great place to go and carve up the lengths

Simply the best at what it does for miles around!
I can’t wait for the summer!!!

I do love London Fields Lido, its just a shame that my arms feel like they are going to fall off after one and a half laps. I really like the idea of swimming everyday, and I really wish I could do it. Anyway, all of that is superfluous information about me.
The pool is Olympic sized and heated. I have only been in summer, and it was packed. I have seen some enormous lines to get in, luckily I missed them, otherwise I may not have bothered.
Even though I am not a keen swimmer, I really enough splashing around, and you can do that in the half of the pool that isn’t divided into lanes.
My favourite part is sitting on the hot concrete and reading a book, maybe because it reminds me of my childhood back in Australia.

The London Fields Lido is the perfect place to be on those increasingly rare sunny and hot summer days. With a good-​sized outdoor swimming pool, an affordable entry ticket, and a great location this lido acts as a magnet to London Fields locals.
Unfortunately for me, as someone who does not really like the idea of public pools with lots of kids in it, this pool is full of them. I tend to get a bit frustrated by the amount of loud kids causing a ruckus, (obviously my maternal extincts have not yet kicked in.) but once I managed to mentally block the kids out and ensure that there is enough chlorine to get rid of any yuckiness public pools might have, I think this pool is the ideal place to go for a refreshing dip and some exercise.

This place is amazing if you like swimming — it is one of the nicest pools I have ever swam in.
No saturated chlorine water and lovely long lanes for practising and a good temperature. But the best thing is it outdoors and the pool is open rain or shine.
There is no better feeling than swimming in the morning in the freezing cold — you just walk around all day congratulating yourself for doing it !!
You just cannot believe you have done something so ridiculously healthy and feel fabulously fine —
I highly recommend it — swim in the morning… next …rule the world…

This is the one facility I visit locally that I truly could not live without. Completely renovated in 2006 it boasts wonderful, new facilities and an Olympic length heated pool which is located out of doors in the shadow of tall trees.
Its a wonderful pleasure to wake up floating in the deep end and staring up at the clouds. An equally good time to visit is at dusk, as the sky turns scarlet and the jets curve a tangential path over the park and into Heathrow airport.
Of course the pool attracts its fair share of serious swimmers too. I wouldn’t advise venturing too far from the medium lane unless you know your butterfly from your doggypaddle.
Prices are steep-​ish for a single swim, but the memberships are good value considering they allow access to seven other pools and gyms around Hackney.
Can’t recommend it enough!

As you gently push through the water, noticing leaves fallen from the tree float on by, the crisp air kisses your face, as the warm waters massage your body, you could be forgiven for thinking you are swimming in a lake in Greece, or relaxing in a hot spring in Iceland? However, the place you are taking a dip is in the lido of London Fields, Hackney.
There is something special about swimming outdoors whatever the weather, and since it’s £2.5 million overhaul, the lido is an absolute pleasure to visit. For me in the summer, it can get a wee bit busy, but anytime thereafter, you can truly feel like you are somewhere else completely. Locals get a discount price, but the pool is open to those from outside of Hackney too, so as long as you can brave the cold before jumping in and out, then a lido visit is must, you won’t regret it.