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From Times Online

June 29, 2006

Making a splash in London's lidos

Sara McConnell's July walk starts in Brixton and stops at Tooting Bec Lido, now in it's centenary year, and Brockwell Lido, for a couple of refreshing dips, as well as taking in the odd ice cream and a slice of south London history

It's summer in the city and where better to cool off than in an outdoor lido in south London? This year sees the centenary of Tooting Bec Lido, Europe's largest outdoor swimming pool, which opened in 1906. In nearby Brockwell Park, between Brixton and Herne Hill, the restored Brockwell lido has opened for business again after a long battle to prevent its closure and will see a further £2.5 million spent on improvements this year. This month's walk is really a walk plus two swims, visiting Brockwell Park, Tooting Common and the two lidos, starting at Brixton's afro-Caribbean market in Electric Avenue and winding through the Victorian Streets of Streatham Hill between the park and the common.

Highlights

Brixton Market and Electric Avenue
Railton Road
Brixton Water Lane
Brockwell Park
Brockwell Lido
Telford Avenue
Tooting Common
Tooting Bec Lido

Type of walk: linear

Time taken: two and a half hours approx (excluding swims)

Distance: five miles approx

Weekdays are better for this walk if you want a quiet swim. If you just want to look, spectators are allowed in free at Brockwell. Tooting Bec does not allow free spectator entry but you can get a good view through the railings. Brixton Market is closed on Sundays.

Start: Brixton tube (Victoria line). Turn left out of Brixton tube station up Brixton Road and take the first turning left into Electric Avenue. The road got its name because it was the first shopping street in London to be lit by electricity. Now this curve of tall Victorian terraces, built in the 1880s, is home to the afro-Caribbean Brixton Market, with stalls and shops selling yams, sweet potato, wickedly hot chillis and dried fish and shoppers talking in strong Jamaican accents. Afro-Caribbean hairdressers do a brisk trade and record shops blast out reggae music.

Turn left again into Atlantic Road to emerge again onto Brixton Road, and turn left under the railway bridge. If you want a picnic in one of the parks or need extra things for a swim, this is a good chance to pick up a sandwich, extra sun cream, towels and sun glasses in Brixton Road's shops.

Continue up Brixton Road and cross at the lights. On your left is the Ritzy Cinema, south London's oldest working cinema, restored in the 1990s. On your right is the tall red-brick clock tower of Lambeth Town Hall, where, in the 1980s, left-wing councillors defied the Thatcher government and earned themselves the tabloid soubriquet of "loony left".

Cross Coldharbour Lane and continue up Effra Road, named after the Thames tributary which used to flow through Brixton. On your left is Windrush Square, named after the ship the SS Empire Windrush, which brought the first West Indian settlers to Britain in 1948. Many of these early arrivals settled in Brixton, giving the area its distinctive afro-Caribbean flavour.

The route continues up Effra Road, then left into Mervan Road but a short diversion up to no.49 Effra Road brings you to the former Brixton Synagogue, a reminder that Brixton once had a substantial Jewish community. Now the handsome white building with its pediment and double doors is the Eurolink Business Centre.

Back in Mervan Road, continue to the junction with Talma Road, turn left, then right into Kellett Road and right again into Railton Road. This was the front line of the infamous Brixton Riots of 25 years ago, as hostility between the police and the local black community boiled over into violence. It is hard to imagine now when you look at the small shops and occasional wine bar, testifying to the area's continuing gentrification. Turn right down Effra Parade, cross Dulwich Road and continue ahead along Brixton Water Lane, past Regency and early Victorian houses in shady gardens.

Look for a gate on your left and enter Brockwell Park, then take the path branching off to your left. The Brockwell Lido is the low brick structure ahead of you with the white flags. The lido opened for business again last year after being threatened with closure for several years and will see further investment this year. It has a tempting blue pool of cool water, chairs and tables round the edge and the Beamish and McGlue organic sandwich, salad and ice-cream stall in the corner. If you don't want to swim, it's free to sit by the pool and eat.

When you come out of the lido, turn left and continue along the tarmac path to a signposted junction, where you follow the sign right to Paddling Pools and Ponds. The path rises gently towards tennis courts on either side and distant views of Battersea Power Station open out on the right beyond the grassy curve of the park. Turn left between two tennis courts towards Brockwell Hall, a grade II listed mansion built in 1811 for a wealthy glass manufacturer. The grounds of the mansion were what is now Brockwell Park, which was given to the public in 1892. Brockwell House now has a café with an outside terrace, another useful stopping off point.

To leave the park, keep following the path round to the right, past the paddling pool and the Brockwell Community Garden, looking to your left for views of the City. At the small clocktower outside Brockwell Hall turn right and follow the curve of the path roung to a gate leading out into Brockwell Park Gardens.

You are now in Streatham Hill, a slice of Victorian suburbia whose large red brick houses with extravagent stone carving, decorated bays and gables, coloured tiles and stained glass are being rediscovered and restored after years in the doldrums. Turn right into Trinity Rise at the end of Brockwell Park Gardens, then cross busy Tulse Hill at the crossing and turn right. Take Athlone Road on the left, then turn right into Upper Tulse Hill and left into Maplestead Road. This leads to Holmewood Road, which has been turned into a Home Zone by Lambeth Council. The result is calmed traffic and a small park, Holmewood Gardens, with a playground surrounded by Victorian terraces. The park opens out into a cobbled pedestrian space.

Go through the gates into Holmewood Park, straight ahead and across the pedestrianised road to the continuation of Holmewood Road to the right. At Brixton Hill, cross at the lights and turn left to the junction of the South Circular.

Grit your teeth for a few minutes here - this is one of South London's busiest junctions where the A23 and the A205 meet. Cross the south circular and continue straight on towards Streatham, taking the second turning on your right into Telford Avenue and escaping the traffic again. This is part of the Streatham Hill Conservation Area, which includes some of Streatham's handsomest houses in quiet tree-lined streets. The large Victorian houses on the left with tiled porches and fleur-de-lys carved into the windows were built in the 1870s and the letters SD (for the developers Sutton and Dudley) can still be seen above each porch.

Telford Avenue leads across Thornton Road to Tooting Bec common, a wide open space full of dog walkers, local school children doing PE and mothers with buggies. The common is wonderfully peaceful considering it is carved up by two railway lines and a main road. Take the tarmac path down the edge (east side) of the common from Rastell Road. At Bedford Hill cross and turn right across the railway bridge to take the earth path curving left as the common continues.

This leads to the Tooting Bec lido, restored to Edwardian splendour in 2002 and now a feast of colour with large and small blue pools, a line of multicoloured doors along the edge of the pool leading to changing rooms and a water fountain outside the poolside café. The pool is open all year round but in the winter months is only open to the hardy members of the South London Swimming Club, some of whom travel long distances for their daily swim. In the summer this is a haven for local families. Cool off in one of the pools for £4.10 (adult admission price) or sit outside the café with a well-deserved drink.

When you are suitably cooled off, turn left out of the lido to Tooting Bec Road, Turn left again and walk along the road until you get to the end of a low metal fence and a path back onto the common to the left. Walk diagonally across the grass looking for a set of stone steps up to Garrad's Road. Cross this into Prentis Road. This lead you to Streatham High Road

Finish in Streatham High Road for buses to Brixton Station and beyond or trains from Streatham Station (Kings Cross Thameslink) or Streatham Hill (Victoria).