The UK’s first public “floating lido” is being planned for east London.
Proposals have been submitted to turn a 60m Dutch barge, moored at West India Quay near Canary Wharf, into an open-air swimming pool, with sauna, plunge pool and office space.
Berlin, Paris, New York and Lake Como all boast barge lidos. But the London pool will contain no chlorine, with swimmers bathing in “naturally filtered and heated” dock water.
Swimmers will be surrounded by vegetation and “floating reed beds”, according to the plans.
If approved, the London lido, named the Water Cures Spa, will also be used for events such as gigs, talks and “wellbeing activities such as yoga”, according to documents submitted to Tower Hamlets council.
The plans are set out by bodywork therapist Nico Thoemmes.
