Were police called to Brockwell Lido?

On Tuesday, as the capital’s heatwave hit its peak, half-melted Londoners were desperate to escape the 32C heat. Twenty-two year-old Erin knew exactly where she was off to on her break from the literary agency she works at: the deliciously cool waters of Brockwell Lido, one of the capital’s last remaining and most popular outdoor pools. 

At lunchtime, she set off for the lido, which sits on the edge of Brockwell Park, buying on the door for the 1.30pm slot. It came with a warning: she could only have one hour in the pool. This was new. “It’s obviously really busy when it’s sunny but I’ve never had a situation like that,” she explains. “Before I’ve always just gone and stayed the whole day.” 

Still, entry was pretty painless. Erin came, swam and dutifully left by 2pm, passing the beginnings of a queue that was amassing at the entrance. So far, so uneventful.

But a little while after she left her phone lit up with a frantic message from her aunt who, by coincidence, had also gone to the lido not long after her. “They’ve just chucked everyone out of the lido without warning. They said it was too packed and had to let the afternoon people in. Police are there now,” it read. “People have literally just arrived and are refusing to leave. Chaos. They booked out all the lane spaces but let people in. Absolute shit show.”

The story quickly made it to social media. “Brockwell Lido used to be my favourite part of living in South London, but omg today this was insane,” one viral TikTok video complained.  “New rules where they kick everyone out halfway through the day and they had to call the police to enforce the rule. RIP to long summer days sunbathing.”

Such a drama, naturally, piqued interest in the Londoner office. Just how mad could the situation at a lido get? Which unit did the Met send? Did a van load of territorial support group officers come screaming up and kettle a bunch of kids and graphic designers taking a sneakily long lunch break? It wasn’t beyond belief; they’ve been known to come out harder for less. And what precedent did such an incident set, in a city getting progressively hotter, yet increasingly devoid of clean water to take a refreshing dip in? Would we all soon find ourselves flat against century-old red brick walls, being read our rights if we lingered too long in the showers after a swim? We had to know more.