Nostalgia: Remembering Scarborough’s vast South Bay pool

The brainchild of the borough engineer, Harry W Smith, who also conceived Peasholm Park and the Floral Hall, the art deco attraction was the first pool of its kind in England with built-in diving boards, a water chute, changing rooms and showers. It contained nearly 2m gallons of filtered and chlorinated sea water, and preceded the famous North Bay pool by nearly 25 years.

The Amateur Swimming Association held its annual championships there, but most visitors were content to just splash around, or watch others do it – especially when a vast spectator area was added.

After it closed in 1989, the site was used to construct the UK’s largest illuminated “star map”, which glows at night as fibre optic light points.

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