The outdoor pool hiding in plain sight near Covent Garden
Oasis Sports Centre offers year-round heated swimming in the middle of London – and its unlikely history is almost as good as the location.
Covent Garden has many places designed to separate you from your money, but a heated outdoor pool is not one most people expect to find behind an unpromising leisure-centre entrance near High Holborn. Go inside Oasis Sports Centre, change, follow the signs and you emerge beside 27.5 metres of open-air water, surrounded by flats, offices and the general business of central London. It feels improbable, which is half the appeal. This is not a rooftop hotel pool with a cocktail balanced beside it; it is a working public pool where people come to swim proper lengths. Better runs it throughout the year , so the activity works as a bright summer swim or a winter session with steam hanging above the water. Here is what to expect, how to book without wasting a journey and why the pool’s wartime history makes the visit rather more interesting than a routine trip to the leisure centre. A pool London nearly never got Public bathing on this site goes back much further than the building you see today. Bloomsbury Baths and Washhouses opened here in 1852, followed by Holborn Baths in 1902, but the outdoor pool itself began as part of a new complex planned in 1937. Work was interrupted by the Second World War and, according to Historic England’s photographic record , the half-completed basin was used as an emergency water tank. The pool finally opened for swimmers in June 1946, which gives it one of the better origin stories among London leisure centres. It spent the war holding water for emergencies, then carried on holding water while people did front crawl in it. An indoor pool was added alongside in 1960, but the open-air one remains the reason to make a special journey. The London Museum calls Oasis one of London’s more surreal swimming experiences , hidden beside housing in Holborn. That description makes sense when you are in the water: the pool is not surrounded by lawns or grand lido architecture, but by the backs and balconies of central London buildings. The city has simply made room for a swimming pool and got on with things. What the swim is actually like The outdoor pool is 27.5 metres long and heated to about 26°C. That is comfortable once you are moving, although nobody is going to mistake it for a bath, and it means the experience counts as outdoor swimming without requiring the grim determination of a cold-water dip. The timetable normally separates Swim for Fitness sessions, with lanes for continuous swimming, from Swim for All sessions intended for a more relaxed visit. Pick the one that matches what you actually want to do. Turning up for a gentle float during a lane session is unlikely to improve your afternoon, or anybody else’s. A lane pool is a working swimming space, not a hotel infinity pool. Photo: Alea Long on Unsplash . There is also an indoor pool, an outdoor sauna and a rooftop terrace at the centre, although access depends on the session or ticket you buy. Rain does not normally stop a safe outdoor swim, but staff can close the pool if conditions require it. In winter, getting out is generally harder than getting in; the short walk back to the changing room is where your enthusiasm receives its proper examination. Book before you turn up Better recommends pre-booking every session, with slots usually released up to seven days ahead. Walk-ins may be admitted when space is available, but Covent Garden contains better ways to spend an hour than standing at a leisure-centre desk discovering that the pool is full. Sessions normally last up to 50 minutes, including changing time, so arrive early enough to use the booking you have paid for. Use the live Oasis timetable and booking page rather than relying on opening times copied into an old article. Prices change too, and the amount shown during the booking process is the one that matters. Bring your own towel, swimwear and goggles if you use them, and check the current locker arrangements before leaving home. The address is 32 Endell Street, although the main entrance is on High Holborn. Tottenham Court Road and Holborn stations are both close enough to make this a straightforward central London activity, but allow a little margin for finding the entrance on a first visit. A convenient location does not make missing a timed slot any more charming. Who will enjoy it? Confident swimmers who want to train should choose a Swim for Fitness slot and follow the lane speeds shown on the day. Families, social swimmers and people who would rather not spend 50 minutes being overtaken should look for Swim for All, then check the session details and current rules for children before booking. The labels matter more than they first appear to. The centre lists accessible changing facilities, an accessible toilet and a poolside hoist, but step-free movement is not available throughout the building. If you need a particular route or help getting to the outdoor pool, contact the venue before paying for a session. That is more useful than reaching the front desk and finding that the bit you need is on the wrong side of a staircase. Make a proper outing of it The pool’s location makes it easy to build a half-day around the swim without producing a list of 17 nearby attractions. Seven Dials and Covent Garden are a few minutes away, while the British Museum is close enough for anyone whose ideal recovery activity involves looking at several thousand objects. Book the swim first, then decide whether you want lunch, a wander or somewhere warm to sit while your hair stops announcing that you have just been in a pool. In summer, the terrace gives the visit a faint holiday feeling despite the surrounding office blocks. In winter, the contrast is better: cold air above the water, a heated lane beneath you and the knowledge that most people nearby are doing nothing more adventurous than negotiating Tottenham Court Road. Either version is more memorable than an ordinary trip to the gym. Is Oasis worth adding to your 42? Yes. It needs very little specialist preparation, can be completed in one booked session and turns a familiar activity into something genuinely distinctive. The setting and history give you a reason to remember the swim, while the year-round timetable means you do not have to wait for the three afternoons on which London agrees to behave like summer. You can add “Swim in the outdoor pool at Oasis Sports Centre” to your 42 Things list , then use Better’s live timetable when you are ready to book. One safe outdoor session is enough to complete it; becoming the person who swims there before work every Tuesday is entirely optional. Header photograph: Adam Cai via Unsplash . The photograph is illustrative.