In at the deep end - a visit to Wembley Arena's former swimming pool.

  

Guest post by Graham Cooksley, with an introduction by Philip Grant

 

Public swimming at the Empire Pool, late 1930s. (Wembley History Society collection)

 

If you read the “Wembley Matters” series about the history of Wembley Arena, written for its 90^th anniversary in 2024, you will know that it originally included a swimming pool. It was known as the Empire Pool, and what an amazing pool it was! When it opened in July 1934, Wembley’s new pool was the largest covered swimming bath in the world, 200 feet (almost 61 metres) long, 16 feet (almost 5 metres) at the deep end, and holding 700,000 gallons of heated water. As well as the main pool, with Europe’s first wave machine, there was a paddling pool for children, a “fountain pool”, 250 changing rooms and 1,250 lockers.

 

Advert for the Empire Pool.
(from the back cover of a 1934 British Empire Games swimming programme)

 

The pool was used for public swimming and international competitions in the summer during the 1930s, but covered over during the winter months for ice hockey matches and skating, among other sports events. It was last used as a pool for the swimming and diving competitions, and the water polo finals, at the 1948 Olympic Games. 

 

The finish of a swimming race at the 1948 Olympic Games. (Image from the internet)

 

But the pool was not filled in, and still kept the original “temporary” wooden floor over it until that was replaced with a stronger concrete covering in 1974. Graham Cooksley, who posts interesting and historic images and stories about the Stadium and Arena on “X” (formerly Twitter) and Instagram @wembleyarchive1923, recently had a tour of the former pool, and kindly offered to share the experience with “Wembley Matters” readers. If you want to know “what lies beneath” the arena floor (not that horror story), please read on! Graham writes:

 

Since starting my Wembley Stadium and OVO Arena Wembley collection many years ago it has, since learning that the old Empire Pool still remained underneath the floor of the arena, been a long-held desire to view it one day.

 

In an email correspondence with the Arena team (I write a monthly heritage blog for their Social Media pages) a cheeky ‘would it be possible to view the old pool’ request developed over a few weeks into a calendar date for May 2026 when we would be visiting for a day’s play in the World Table Tennis World Championships.  This Arena visit was my first since a David Bowie gig back in 2003 so that was good enough, but to get to see the old pool would be “Christmas day for an eight year-old” levels of excitement, but for a 57 year-old. 

 

Meeting my contact at the OVO Arena at mid-day, while France v Romania Ladies was still ongoing, we made our way into the open plan offices where we met our guide from the estates team.  Hard hats were issued, and a service elevator took us down to the basement.  The underworld of the Arena is a strange mix of storage including old vending machines, standing as if waiting to be filled and used, cabling that would rival any underground station, and runs the entire length of the arena, and horizontal and vertical pipes and beams which criss-cross each other thus making those hard hats essential.

 

1. The holes for the wave making machine. (All numbered photos by Graham Cooksley)

 

First stop on this underworld tour were four cavernous holes in the floor, these were where the wave making machinery, the first in Britain, were located.  Ladders still take maintenance teams down to occasionally pump out water that still gathers in areas, probably due London’s soft clay.  Then we approach the actual swimming tank.  

 

2. Looking towards the deep end, with the ‘A’ frames and their black sheets.

 

Bathers 90 years ago would have stepped down into the waters from poolside changing lockers, whereas we walked into it through various breeches in the surrounding tank ‘wall’ and given the change of orientation that took place during the arena’s refurbishment twenty years ago, we are straight into the deep end.  Mezzanine walkways in the tank are surrounded by strange large ‘A’ frames with stretched black sheets, these we are told are for sound proofing the underworld during music acts, the vibrations from which can cause damage to the structure of the building.

 

3. One of the lamp holes in the side of the swimming pool.

 

4. The overflow channel (in black) near the top of the pool’s tank.

 

Lamp holes line the sides of the tank, some are used as cabling through points while some still retain their ‘glass’ which would have shone so brightly in those illuminated prewar days.  Around the rim of the tank the water overflow channel remains, just waiting for someone to grab hold and kick the water once again.  On the floor of the deep end is a dust covered ‘Public Toilets’ sign. How many years has that laid there? I offer it a good home, but the request is unanswered.   

 

5. The ‘Public Toilets’ sign at the bottom of the pool’s deep end

 

6. A ‘plug hole’ in one of the concrete floor beams.

 

Directly above us France and Romania continue their game but we are directed to view some small round holes in the 1974 concrete floor, our guide tells us that these are literally plug holes. At the end of an ice season the machinery would be switched off and the melting water would drain through these holes and into the swimming tank to be pumped out.  One ingenious feature in the existing concrete floor is / was a network of pipes embedded to freeze water and to form the rink.  

 

7. Some of the embedded pipes, exposed in a section of the original floor.

 

One end of the newly-built Empire Pool in 1934, with a corner water tower arrowed.

 

The underworld space gets more limited as the concrete floor above us gradually meets the pool floor as it shallows out over the length of the building, but as we leave the underworld there is one last stop to look up into the interior of one of the four iconic corner towers of the OVO Arena.  These are water towers and still have the pipework inside them and could still work if ever needed.  Sadly, our tour ends, it’s been fantastic and now eight weeks later it was such a privilege, and we are so grateful to the Arena team for making it happen. 

 

Graham Cooksley. 

Our Freedom: Then and Now – great Brent Libraries events for October!

 Guest post by local historian Philip Grant in a personal capacity

 

 

Fanny Blankers-Kohn winning the women’s 100m at Wembley in 1948.

 

As well as “Poetry in Wembley: The Language of Care” on 16 October, Brent Libraries are putting on a range of free events this month as part of the nationwide Our Freedom: Then and Now project. This looks at what freedom means for us now, following on from the 80th anniversaries of VE Day and VJ Day. The local theme for this is ‘a creative community project that invites local people to rediscover and reimagine Brent’s wartime history, offering residents a chance to explore hidden stories from the Second World War and connect them with their own lived experiences of freedom, resilience, and community today.’

 

For those who are free during the day, there will be four “coffee morning” events, each from 11am to 12noon (with free tea and coffee available from around 10.45!). I will put “links” in the title of each to the Eventbrite page where you can get more details, and reserve your place if you would like to attend.

 

On the starting line, at Kingsbury Library on Tuesday 7 October, is my illustrated talk on “Wembley’s 1948 Olympic Games” (above). These “austerity games”, the first summer Olympics for 12 years (since Berlin in 1936), were not just a sporting event, but a chance to help rebuild a peaceful world, where nations could compete in friendly rivalry, not fight each other. As well as the Games themselves, the talk will show how the people of Wembley, and its Council, helped to make them a success.

 

A British ladies’ football team in 1895.

 

Next in the programme, at Willesden Green Library on 14 October, is Phil Vasili’s talk on “The History of Women’s Football in the UK”. Many of us will have celebrated the success of England’s “Lionesses” in two European Championships in the past few years, but I certainly didn’t know there had been a ladies’ football team in this country as far back as 1895! (Did Queen Victoria know? If so, I suspect she would not have been amused!) 

 

An extract from one of the wartime letters from Preston Park.

 

On Wednesday 22 October at Wembley Library, I am involved again with the illustrated presentation of “Wartime letters from Preston Park”. Two ladies from the Brent Libraries team will also be joining me, to read extracts from letters written by local housewives, Nancie and Doris, to a former neighbour during the Second World War. Having heard their first-hand experiences of living through a conflict, while trying to give their children as normal an upbringing as possible, there will be the chance for discussion. Many other wars have taken place since 1945, with some still ongoing, and anyone who wishes to share their more recent experiences, and how these compare with those in the letters, will be very welcome at this event.

 

  

The Second World War is also the subject of October’s final “coffee morning” event, at Willesden Green Library on Tuesday 28 October. “Stepping Back in Time” is a WW2 object handling session hosted by Brent Museum & Archives, where you can also share wartime stories handed down through your family, as well as enjoying your tea/coffee and biscuits. 

 

Brent Libraries, Culture and Heritage is also partnering with the Jason Roberts Foundation to put on several events in the Our Freedom: Then and Now programme. These include two early evening (from 6.30 to 8pm) “In Conversation” discussions with local sporting heroes this month, which are free and open to people of all ages. 

 

These events kick off at Harlesden Library on Wednesday 15 October, with “In Conversation with: Richard Langley & Mark Stein”, when these two former professional footballers will talk candidly about the changes they have seen over the years, both on and off the field. This will be followed by a Q&A session’

 

Athletes including Yamilé Aldama and Connie Henry.

 

Taking up the baton, two former track athletes will be at Wembley Library on Thursday 23 October, when you can get “In Conversation with Yamilé Aldama & Connie Henry, MBE”. These two Olympic and Commonwealth Games medallists will discuss all facets of freedom and what it means to them, including freedom of expression, identity, and whether our freedom could be at risk, as well as taking part in a Q&A session with the audience.

 

I hope these Our Freedom: Then and Now events will include some you can come and enjoy this month. And there are more, including Black History Month events, that you can find on the Brent Libraries, Culture and Heritage Eventbrite page at:

http://tinyurl.com/jjhjrrzs

 

I encourage you all to make the most of these free events, organised for all Brent residents by the frontline team at Brent Libraries!

Philip Grant.

 

 

Some Wembley local history to enjoy in the next few weeks!

Guest post by local historian Philip Grant in a personal capacity 

 

Sir Arthur Elvin in 1948.

 

I have to declare an interest, as I am involved with most of the events featured in this guest post, but I hope that by sharing the details on “Wembley Matters”, more people who might be interested in one or two of them will have the opportunity to enjoy them.

 

An aerial view of Wembley Town Hall, nearing completion in 1939.
(Image from “Wembley” by Geoffrey Hewlett, 2002)

 

 As part of Open House weekend, the Lycée International Winston Churchill in Forty Lane is opening its doors to the public for guided tours on Saturday 13 September, from 10am to 2.30pm. Although it has been a French Lycée since 2015, many people still know the building as the former Brent Town Hall. It started life as Wembley Town Hall, designed by Clifford Strange and built between 1937 and 1940. The former Town Hall is Grade 2 listed, and this is a rare opportunity for residents to go inside, so if you want more details please “click” on this link.

 

During his lifetime, Arthur Elvin became known as Mister Wembley, and played an important part in making Wembley the world-famous destination it is today. Yet many local people now don’t know much about him, or even why the name Elvin has been given to a garden square behind the Civic Centre or a school in the High Road. I felt that his story needed to be told, so I am giving an illustrated talk about him at the Wembley History Society meeting at St Andrew’s Church Hall, Kingsbury, on Friday 19 September at 7.30pm.

 

 

As the poster above says, visitors to the Society’s meetings are very welcome, and the 83 and 302 buses, which stop close to the venue, should be running along Church Lane again by the time of the meeting! So, please come along, arriving between 7.15 and 7.25pm if possible, if you would be interested in discovering more about “Mister Wembley” and his part in our local history.

 

Arthur Elvin played an important part in bringing the 1948 Olympic Games to Wembley, and that famous sporting event, and the part the local community played in making it a success, are the subject of a free “coffee morning” talk at Kingsbury Library on Tuesday 7 October, from 11am to 12noon (with tea/coffee and biscuits available from 10.45, so come early!). It is best to reserve your place for these Brent Libraries events, and you can do that by “clicking” here.

 

Title slide for the “coffee morning” talk on Tuesday 7 October.

 

The pre-arranged 1948 Olympic Games talk has been included in the programme for “Our Freedom – Then and Now”, a nationwide project, with Brent Libraries as one of its participating cultural organisations, building on the legacy of the VE Day and VJ Day 80^th anniversary commemorations. When I heard about this project, and that Brent’s aim was ‘an opportunity for local people to creatively explore and share Brent’s hidden wartime stories, connecting the past with their own experiences of community, resilience, and freedom today,’ I knew that I had a resource which would fit perfectly into that theme.

 

Title slide for the “coffee morning” event at Wembley Library on Wednesday 22 October

 

The result will be seen and heard at a Wembley Library “coffee morning” on Wednesday 22 October, from 11am to 12noon, when the first-hand Second World War experiences of two local housewives will be shared, through extracts from letters they wrote to a friend. Those letters were saved by their former neighbour, and eventually donated to Wembley History Society by her daughter in 2020, and they provide a fascinating insight into every-day life at that time. The extracts will be read by two ladies from Brent Libraries, while I will be providing the pictures which link their stories. You can reserve your seat for this event by “clicking” here.

 

Philip Grant.

The Empire Pool / Wembley Arena Story – Part 2

 Guest post by local historian Philip Grant. Part 2 of a series.

 

1.     The newly finished Empire Pool, with the Stadium beyond, 1934. (Source: Britain from Above)

 

Welcome back for this second part of this story about Wembley Stadium’s “little brother”, the indoor sports arena originally known as the Empire Pool. As we saw in Part 1, it opened just in time to host the swimming and diving events for the 1934 British Empire Games. Its main entrance was at the western end of the building, accessed from the road which had been Raglan Gardens, but which was renamed Empire Way.

 

Although the swimming pool in summer and ice hockey/skating rink in winter were the main sporting facilities that the building was designed for, the floored-over pool soon found plenty of other uses. Before the end of 1934, it had already staged boxing and basketball matches, and a professional tennis tournament which became an annual feature. The big tennis attraction was British star, Dan Maskell, taking on top American players in the men’s singles.

 

2.     A women’s doubles match at the Empire Pool, 1930s. (Image from the internet)

 

Spectators at the Empire Pool could also enjoy a meal in its restaurant, overlooking the action from the second tier. Another attraction, on the same level, was a dance floor area, where people who had paid for public swimming or skating could relax for free after these activities, with a dance band playing each afternoon and evening. Arthur Elvin saw his new venture as a year-round centre for entertainment!

 

New sports were added to the programme in 1935, when the Empire Pool became the annual venue for the English Open Table Tennis Championships. This event drew in thousands of spectators, making a good profit. That year also saw the Amateur Athletic Association use the arena for its first indoor athletics championships, although the flat track with its tight bends was not to the satisfaction of some runners.

 

Elvin saw the chance to stage, for the first time in Britain, a new sporting event. Six-day cycle racing was proving very popular on the continent, but that would need a special banked track. He got Wembley’s team of craftsmen to build one for him! They did this in the stadium car park, designed in sections that could be carried into the building and fitted together for the event. The complete track was 178 yards (163 metres) in circumference, and cost £5,000 to construct.

 

3.     The cycle track under construction, 1936. (From an old book)

 

4.     A six-day cycle race in progress at Wembley, 1930s. (From an old book)

 

The race involved fifteen teams, each with two riders (with Dutch and Belgian professionals at the forefront), at least one of whom had to be on the track whenever the race was in progress, day and night for 143 hours. As well as the total distance covered, there were extra points to be gained during five-lap sprints every hour, as well as prize competitions for money, including for the fastest mile (ten laps of the track). The German pairing of Kilian and Vopel won the 1936 race, having ridden 1,939 miles!

 

Spectators could pay to come and watch the six-day race at any time, and many did, so that it became an annual event. But what did they do with the huge track, which filled the arena, for the other 359 days of the year? Just across the road from the Empire Pool was the former Palace of Arts building, and Elvin’s Stadium company now owned it, and used it for storage.

 

5.     European Swimming Championships programme cover, 1938. (Courtesy of Geoff Lane)

 

By 1937, Wembley’s ice rink was welcoming the British Figure-skating Championships. The pool was being used less of the time, because events at the sports arena proved more profitable, but it was uncovered and refilled for the European Swimming Championships in August 1938. Germany, whose flag was then red, with a black swastika in a white circle, topped the medal table with 14 in total (including five gold and seven silver). 

 

The following month, Adolf Hitler’s Munich Agreement with Britain, France and Italy (but not Czechoslovakia, whose territory it gave to Germany) would pave the way for events that led to the Second World War. The bright lights that shone through the windows of the Empire Pool would have to be blacked out, and a new phase of its story began.

 

6.     The Empire Pool at night, 1930s. (From an old book)

 

When war was declared in September 1939, the Government ordered entertainment venues, such as the stadium and Empire Pool, to close, for fear of bombing raids that could kill thousands of spectators. Arthur Elvin wanted to keep his facilities going, both to generate income for his business and pay the wages of his staff, and because he could see the benefit of continuing his events for the morale of the public. He managed to buy 300 gallons of black paint, and got his workmen to paint over all 56,000 square feet of the Pool’s glass roof! Within a month, he was allowed to hold events again, although with a reduced number of spectators.

 

Regular greyhound racing meetings resumed at the stadium, but indoor events were less frequent, and often involved teams from the services, raising money for charities. In May 1940, both Wembley venues became temporary dispersal camps for British soldiers evacuated from Dunkirk, then for refugees from Belgium, Holland and France, fleeing from the German occupation of their countries, before they too could be found accommodation elsewhere.

 

7.     Civilians being evacuated from Gibraltar in 1940. (Image from the internet)

 

The Empire Pool had now been requisitioned by the Government, and stayed that way until October 1944. In July 1940 they decided that all civilians, apart from those already doing essential work for the British armed services, should be evacuated from Gibraltar, which would become a vital strategic military base at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. Around 10,000 people were shipped to London, and for many their home for the next few months would be a room made of wooden partitions in the Empire Pool, with meals provided by its restaurant.

 

Elvin continued to manage the building, and allowed anyone in uniform to skate on the ice rink for free. He also worked with the Central Physical Training Council, so that they could use the arena to hold several mass PT sessions there each week, to help keep Wembley residents fit during the war.

 

8.     Programme for a Victory Gala at the Empire Pool in 1946. (Courtesy of Geoff Lane)

 

In 1946, events at the Empire Pool gradually returned to normal, including a Victory Gala (again in aid of a charity) and a Victory Day circus for children to mark the first anniversary of the end of the war. The ice rink also welcomed back its regular ice hockey matches, with some new recruits for Wembley’s teams.

 

9.     A Wembley Monarchs programme and photo of three new players. (Images from the internet)

 

By 1947, Arthur Elvin had offered Wembley’s facilities so that London could stage the 1948 Olympic Games. In order promote public interest in the forthcoming multi-sports competitions, the British Olympic Association staged an international competition at the Empire Pool in July 1947.

 

 

 10.  Programme for the July 1947 International Sports Contest. (Image from the internet)

 

A year later, it was time for “the real thing”, with the opening ceremony of the XIVth Olympiad, London 1948, taking place on 29 July 1948. The swimming pool at the Empire Pool was brought back into use, first for the swimming and diving events, and the finals of the water polo competition. Then the Wembley team erected a bridge across the pool, with a boxing ring at the centre of it, for the Olympics boxing matches. Every day saw the Pool’s seats packed with spectators, and the BBC’s new cameras used to broadcast the events (to those in reach of its transmitters, and who were wealthy enough to afford a television set).

 

11.  Olympic swimming at the Empire Pool, August 1948. (Source: Brent Archives)

 

 

12.  Olympic boxing at the Empire Pool, August 1948. (Source: Brent Archives)

 

The 1948 Olympic Games were the last time that the swimming pool here was ever used. From then onwards the Empire Pool would become just an indoor arena – but not just for sports! I look forward to sharing the next part of its story with you, in words and pictures, next weekend.

 

Philip Grant.