Poplar Baths

Poplar Baths stands beside All Saints DLR station on East India Dock Road in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The present building opened in 1933 as a public bath house and theatre, replacing an earlier 1852 washhouse. A statue of local shipowner Richard Green marks the entrance to the site. The structure is Grade II listed and once appeared on English Heritage’s register of buildings at risk. Campaigners, the Environment Trust and Swan Housing Group worked for years to bring the building back to life. The campaign succeeded in 2010 when Tower Hamlets Council backed the plan. Redevelopment began in 2014 and finished in July 2016, creating a new leisure centre with a swimming pool and gymnasium. One hundred affordable homes were built alongside the centre at a cost of £36 million. Between 1954 and 1959 the old baths drew an average of 225,700 visitors each year. The restored building now serves the community once again. Visitors enter a modern leisure centre that preserves the 1930s façade. Inside, a pool and gym provide everyday recreation while the surrounding landscaped area includes new housing. The statue of Richard Green remains on the roadside, a reminder of the site’s philanthropic past. The building’s theatre spaces have been replaced by leisure facilities, yet the original brickwork and entrance arch still frame the entrance. The reopened baths sit at the heart of Poplar, offering a place for sport, health and local life.