Durham Baths plus Nursery - Durham - March 2012

Visited with Krypton, GhostCamera, CommunistCat, Jippers, BlueBird, Vietnam and Blood-Bandit.

It was a nice sunny day, and the main issue was getting parked up. Getting in required more than I'm used to, and my shoulders are still killing me now.

Anyway, onto the history.

On the 28th of September, 1932, the Durham City Baths and Washhouses was opened. In attendance were several prominent divers and swimmers. It replaced an open air peat-floored pool, which gave the water a brown colour. Many excused this as "peat was softer on your head than tiles if you dive in the wrong end" (They weren't wrong mind, I nutted the bottom of a pool on holiday a few years ago and now have a nasty scar). The heat from the pool itself was diverted into hot drying rooms, which were operated by women who washed and dried the clothes of swimmers to supplement a meager income. It closed in 2008 after the city's new leisure centre Freeman's Quay opened its doors and has gradually got worse since, becoming a hotspot for teens to go drinking, and an illegal rave took place there not long after closure. Summer 2011 saw the extraction of asbestos, much of the rubbish was also cleared out (quickly replaced by more rubbish) and many of the fittings from the reception are also gone. I don't actually know anything about the nursery, not even its name, and I can only assume it closed down around the same time as the baths, but I could be wrong. Google doesn't return any results for "durham baths nursery", and all other attempts turn up nothing.



The Baths

Again, I don't have any external photos, because I'm silly. I'm sure you all know what it looks like though.


The main pool area. I don't know what the black stuff is, but Jippers certainly had fun sliding around in it.


The reception window. I remember coming to the baths for the first time with friends, I can't have been older than 8 or 9, and paying the small price of £1.20 to swim for 2 hours. I feel old now!


Well pleased with this shot. Love my new camera.


RIP Umbrella Guy


Had a right chuckle to the graffiti on this.

The Nursery


I'm assuming this is meant to say "I've Got A Brand New Combine Harvester" and the artist simply ran out of paint


Peeling paint, can't get enough.


I didn't know Simba could be painted so creepily. wat


I don't understand how someone could break this glass, it's strong as fuck


More floor photos!


Couple more up on the [URL="flickr.com/ezykielurb"]Flickr.[/URL] Thanks for looking, hope you liked it.