* Update 8 October 2015: At a consultation meeting Hackney council promised pool campaigners nothing. 

THE DEADLINE ended today for would-be investors and developers to register their interest in the Hackney council proposal to sell Haggerston Baths.

The 250-year lease offered on the Grade 2 listed building had attracted more than 400 enquiries by noon 19 June 2015. About 100 people were guided over the interior.

Among them were locals wanting a last look at the 25m x 10m people’s pool, as Loving Dalston has dubbed it.

Others were serious, including an agent from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Australia has become a power in English property development: eg, the Westfield shopping centres were built for Australians.

Hackney council has hired the property division of a City bank team to dispose of the baths, which were opened in 1903 and abandoned to vandals in 2000.

Though a 250-year lease is proposed, it could be drastically shortened for what the council and its City adviser considered the right offer.

Adaptation for use as a club or hotel has been ruled out, leaving shops, offices and flats a likely option.

The Haggerston Pool Community Trust wants the council to prioritise any bid that “includes a swimming pool and other community facilities”. In any case, says the trust, the pool hall should be left intact.

David Altheer 190615

* Backstory: Hackney chronicler wades in to save baths; Investors flood in for pool; From baths to brewery?; Hackney washes its hands of heritage site

* All pictures  © david.altheer@gmail.com

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