When I was growing up, this was the only swimming pool we had after the indoor pool was demolished in 1966. This one, which had its grand opening on the 11th July 1936, was demolished in the mid 1980's, and then it was the site of the Folkestone Market on Sundays until it was moved up into Sandgate Road. However, the current residents of Folkestone are not deprived, they have the Sports Centre near Radnor Park which houses two swimming pools, a fitness centre, a dry ski slope, a 9 hole golf course and many other activities.
Personally, I had no idea the pool was heated, as it always felt freezing cold to me, even on warm days. But this is what I found on this site: https://lidosandpools.uk/folkestone-sea-water-bathing-pool/
The Folkestone pool is believed to be among the largest open-air pools in the country to be heated. Steam is taken from a battery of two coke-fired Lancashire and tubular boilers which are situated in the hotel under the cliff. From these boilers a steam main is carried underground across the promenade direct to the bathing pool, and the heat of the steam is discharged directly into the pool through special water heaters. The plant is designed to maintain a temperature of 70 deg. Fahr. for the pool water. For supplying fresh water for the shower baths and also for all other services a steam heated calorifier is installed. Messrs. H. W. Dutton and Co., Ltd., of London, were responsible for the steam heating arrangements throughout.
From the 'hotel under the cliff' I assume they were referring to the Marina, that I didn't know was a hotel, or possibly the Victoria Hotel that was on the Western end of Marine Crescent. Would appreciate hearing from anyone who knows which premises it was.
Regardless, as the Marina came down in 1966, if it got its heat from there, it certainly didn't after that time, but if you are interested in the technicalities of the swimming pool, I recommend that webpage.
I tried to get the same angle of the area from the Leas, but in 2022, you couldn't see through all the foliage that needed to be cut back, so the above right is from Marine Parade below. You can just make out the pier and lighthouse on the left, or Harbour Arm, as it now called. It was the pier in the left photo, and you can see a ferry berthed on the other side of it. These days, the ferries all run from Dover, and the trains no longer run to Folkestone Harbour. I would guess the photo on the left dates from the 1970's as that was when the popular children's paddling pool was was there on the far right. In the centre is the swimming pool, where schools would make regular visits, plus Channel swimmers would train, and many of us would go to have fun, except for the tray of disinfectant with dead insects floating on the top that we were expected to walk through from the changing rooms to the pool - many of us learned how to turn our feet and walk on the wall on either side to get over the top of that! I know that was defeating the object, but the insects - ugh!
Beyond the pool you can see the outdoor skating rink that was there for a while. I never did go there, but when I was younger, I regularly went to the indoor rink located in the Marine Gardens Pavilion on the other side of the boating pool and Rotunda that you can also see beyond the skating rink.
By 2022 on the right there was - well, nothing, and it looked like this for quite a few years. I would love an up to date shot of this area from the Leas if the foliage has been cut back please?
There are no 'now' pictures yet, as nothing has been built on the site of the swimming pool, which used to be located in front of the Bathing Establishment, later called The Marina Indoor Pool, which is now a carpark. There is of course Shoreline Luxury apartments, the first block of many, but that is more in front of the Leas Lift.
Here are a couple of photos of the swimming pool being well used. They are not dated, but I would guess them both to be around the late 1950's
I would date this one a little older, possibly late 40's? I am going by the style of the swimsuits, I don't remember seeing men's swimming trunks being held up with straps, so has to be before my swimming days started. Bikini's were possibly coming into fashion, as the two girls standing behind the pole have a small gap between top and bottom. The Leas Cliff Hall can be seen in the background, but as that was built between 1925 and 1927, it is no help.
Not a very clear photograph, it is from one of those postcards that they made to look like a canvas. They don't age well, and don't have clear edges even when new. Again it wasn't posted, so I have no date.
The pool had its official opening on 11th July, 1936, and closed in the mid 1980's. It was built by Otto Marx to Olympic standards and cost £30,000. It was owned by the Folkestone Bathing Company, who had already taken over the Bathing Establishment nearby in 1933. The latter later had a name change to The Marina, and you can see it was advertising its locatiion so that visitors strolling along the Leas would be enticed to come down for a swim. Likewise, the Red Roof Chalet next door were advertising their Follies.
You will see the Victoria Pier nearby, that was advertising an upcoming concert for that evening. It was endless entertainment all along the West Beach in those days, and endless visitors who came to support it all.
The following was gleaned from the Folkestone & District Local History Society:
In 1963 the Folkestone Bathing Company put the swimming pool and skating rink (which they had built in 1955) up for sale. The Folkestone Council Amenities Development Committee agreed to purchase both the swimming pool and skating rink for £20,000 at their December meeting (1963).
In the early months of 1964 the Council spent £6,000 on repairs and re-decoration of the pool. The official re-opening took place on Saturday 23rd May 1964 by the Mayor, Councillor H.J.V. Johnson. Six members of Kent County Constabulary frogmen team gave a diving demonstration at the opening gala and four members of the Police Cadets’ lifesaving team gave a demonstration of the dangers of an unskilled swimmer trying to rescue a drowning person. They showed the correct and incorrect methods of approach, how to lift the body from the water, and artificial respiration.
In 1978 Shepway District Council gave the pool up as a dead loss and proposed to fill it in and make a skateboard rink on the site. However Jimmy Godden saved the pool from its fate, by modernising it and it re-opened in 1979. In June 1981 Mr Godden acquired the freehold of the sea front (16 acres) and the swimming pool was filled in November 1981 with the accompanying buildings demolished except for one which was converted into the Roundabout Café which was formerly the entrance to the pool. The area was covered with tarmac to accommodate a Sunday Market. In 2006 Roger de Haan purchased the seafront from Mr Godden and in 2009 the Roundabout Café was demolished.
This is a nice scan sent by Jeremy O'Keeffe. It looks like the outdoor skating rink was being used as a car park, was that before or after the skating rink? I am not sure, and have no date for this one either. The West beach looks pretty busy, and they still hade the rowing boats for hire at that time. The harbour too was busy loading or unloading the ferry you can see on the other side of the pier, and a train appears to be pulling into the harbour station. We can also see the Marine Gardens Pavilion, and with a magnifying glass I can see they were advertising the Bouquets on the roof. In the foreground, the Marina was advertising that they had a licensed restaurant and bar. All the hungry and thirsty people on the Leas could pop down via the lift with ease. The Rotunda itself looks to have little more than the Dome at that time. I don't see any rides, but they may have had the dodgem cars, on the seaward side, as I seem to remember they were about the first of the rides to be installed.
The Bouquets at the Marine Gardens Pavilion 1936
This one brings back memories of getting out of the water shivering, and warming up with a hot orange drink with a bread roll & butter for lunch. Not very nutritious but tasted like heaven!
In the background is the double tracked funicular lift, and that looks like the Victoria Pier entrance behind the Café, so it must be earlier than my memories. Late 40's early 50's maybe?
An enlarged version of the card further up the page to enable you to see more detail.
I no longer have the original of this one, and it is not a very good quality, especially in the colour, but I wanted to show you just how busy it used to get when the schools used to come. In the background you can see a couple of double decker buses and the car park next door looks pretty full, and barely room to swim in the pool! Hard to believe it wasn't making a pretty good profit in those days even without the holidaymakers.
Between the Swimming Pool and the Rotunda, Folkestone used to have a nice boating pool. The little wooden boats were lovely, not sure if they ran on diesel or petrol, but I can still smell them to this day if I think about them. They had a pedal to make them go, and a steering wheel. If you were caught trying to make them work like the dodgem cars, and deliberately ram into another one, you would be bellowed at through the loud speaker to come in at once. It would not be tolerated! I would date this from the 30's judging by the clothes, and would guess the three people walking nearest the camera were in the upper classes, as no kid of a working class family would have tolerated being dressed like that, whatever the year!
This card was sent to the Sisters at Tenterden Hospital from Michael & John -"Having a good time despite the bad weather". Looks like the weather was glorious when the photo for the card was taken though. Probably 1960's as that was the era of brightly coloured postcards.
This one shows the seaward side of the Boating Pool, I think it was about the second arcade from the Dome where I used to spend most of my pocket money as a child. There were several machines inside, I mostly remember the penny slots and pinball machines, but my favourite was the Claw machine, or Crane as we used to call them, because the lady in charge used to make sure we went home with something, unlike inside the Dome, we didn't feel we had totally wasted our precious money and had fun at the same time.
Here is a personal photo of the Boating Pool, left to right is my sister Karol, my step-mother Marjory, Karol's daughter Stephanie and my half-sister Candy. I would date it around 1960. Sign in the background reads 'NO BUMPING ALLOWED' LOL
A couple more personal ones. We were home visiting my Mum from Canada in 1973, and this was my son Graham's first visit to the Rotunda at 5 years old. The pic on the left always makes me laugh, as Mum can't find the pedal and was getting frantic figuring they would drift into other boats. On the right - "Found it!"
I didn't realise No. 1 The Leas had been up that long! Always wondered why they put that piece with no windows facing the sea, is it a stairwell? Seems a waste of view to me.
This photo was sent to me by Andrew Day, with, I believe, his mother. Thank you Andrew, I love seeing photos of people having fun.
This was the Boating Pool Café in 2006 when things were starting to be demolished.
This sketch from the Folkestone Herald dated 30th January 1937 was sent to me by Mark Hourahane. It shows the original plans for the Boating Pool. As you can see, they had originally planned to put an island in the centre shaped like England & Scotland. On sober second thought I think they decided it would be more trouble than it was worth, with people running the boats aground on it, or getting off there, and refusing to come back in when their time was up. Or maybe they were just afraid of upsetting people from Wales & Northern Ireland! Thanks very much Mark!
This card is dated 1953 and the sender was saying they had been on the Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, now THAT's the way to have a good holiday too! The Marine Gardens Pavilion was advertising the Bouquets, was this an old postcard, or were they still entertaining there by 1953?
No posted, but this gives you a good idea of the exact location of the boating pool, right opposite Marine Crescent, which is still there.
Both of these cards call it the Childrens' Boating Pool, but judging by most of the cards, I suspect just as many, if not more adults went on them. They were fun at any age. In the coloured one you can see at one time you could sit and have a cup of tea while watching the boats in 1957, now that is civilised! Note the coaches in the background that had unloaded their passengers there to have fun down the Rotunda!
Here we are at the Rotunda! I don't have a year for this one, but it looks like it has all expanded closer to the harbour with lots of fun rides and side shows for all ages. It looks like a second dome has been added.
Another one showing the back of Marine Crescent, and the Dome is still there, but it looks like the boating pool has gone. Which means the swimming pool had gone by this time too, as I believe it went first.
After Jimmy Godden bought the rest of the West Beach area, he really went to town on adding attractions, including The Mouse, the Helter Skelter and Castle Dracular. He bought the Swimming Pool too, but even after renovation, he still couldn't make a profit, so filled it in and the site was used for a Sunday Market for some time. The building in the bottom left corner of Ian Lacey's photo was the Marine Gardens Pavilion, which was probably either La Parisienne (The Priz) or the Onyx nightclub when the photo was taken. Mr. Godden finally sold the lot to Roger deHaan, and the whole of the seafront was swept away to make room for luxury housing, including the Marine Gardens Pavilion. Historians and other residents did their best to save the building, including trying to get it designated a listed building, but it fell on deaf ears.
Many thanks to Ian Mansfield and Ian Lacey for the fabulous photos above.
This shows the early days of the Marine Gardens Pavilion. It has been a theatre, a boxing arena, a roller skating rink, a nightclub and no doubt it was used for many other short term venues.
Thank you Steve Walker for this lovely photo. I wonder if charabancs will ever come back into fashion?
A nice aerial shot of the Rotunda. Not dated, but the Road of Remembrance was open, so must be a few years ago! The Burstin underground carpark hadn't gone up in flames yet either. More importantly, the ferries were still leaving from Folkestone and The Rotunda and the Marine Gardens Pavilion was still there. I know we are supposed to look forward, not back, but these were the days when the seafront was there for everyone to use and enjoy. The plans for the future appear to be only living accommodation for those who will be able to afford it.
Update: Here is a little bright spot on the horizon. In 2022 this miniature golf opened up near the Harbour Arm. I hear there is also a restaurant and bar nearby, plus a Sauna. Here is hoping the general public will still have things like this to use once all the luxury flats have been built.
If more businesses open up on the seafront, please let me know, with photos, I would be very happy to add them here.
The Sunday Market in 2005
The fishing trawler that used to be there at the time of the Market
If you would like to see photos of the demolition of the Rotunda, click the above.
Updated Oct 2026