Hoylake Pool, on the prom, opened in June 1913 and was refurbished in the late 1920s, reopening in 1931.
In 1976 the council closed the pool after the site suffered storm damage, but a Hoylake Action Campaign was quickly formed, and dozens of volunteers came together to repair the pool, and formed the Hoylake Pool Trust to make sure it was open for that long, hot summer.
They secured funding from the Job Creation Scheme to staff the pool for the season and complete the renovation, remodelling the pool into an L shape and creating more sunbathing space.
On warm summer’s evenings, local people were known to scale the walls for a midnight skinnydip, as reported in the local News and Advertiser under the headline ‘Midnight Nude Bathing at Hoylake Baths’.
Memories of the pool include summers ‘lived’ at the pool, a hand-cranked mangle for drying cozzies, rooftop sunbathing, the Miss Wirral beauty pageant, icy winter swimming lessons overseen by instructors in fur coats, the two bubbling fountains, and the slides, known as the ‘Curly’ one and… ‘The Killer’.
A run of bad weather and a lack of funding saw the pool closed down in 1982, and it was demolished in 1984.
Liz Nolan remembers:
“Growing up in Hoylake, the pool and the cinema were our world. Every summer for as long as I can remember I was bought a Pass for the pool. We would religiously make our way through the boat yard over walls via the corner shop. We always seemed to find lost money! Even though looking back the summers seemed warmer, I know we used to have competitions to see who could go in the pool and stay in the longest when it was at its coldest and wildest. We loved daring each other on the Killer, watching the beauty contestants get ready, spending time sat in the huge canteen-like cafe in our costumes watching the pouring rain. We met boys, defended friends from strangers and floated for hours in the sparkling blue water.”
“We hung onto bikini tops from boys both in the water and whilst sunbathing on our tummies. We bumped up and down the fountains and rolled the life out of many a costume in the cast iron press. We used to attend a two-site school, so delighted in the days when the bus drew up in Hoylake and we would sneak off the bus via the back exit and off to the pool for the afternoon. When the pool closed Hoylake lost its soul and the life went out of the town. Soon after, the cinema followed. But for us, growing up with our pool was heaven.”
Thanks to the Liverpool Echo & Hoylake Junction.
