What is hacking you off today?

[Billy Bests boot laces]

It's not ready and the people who manage it don't know when it will be...

Sounds about right!.

 

[The Big Dady]

I don't remember the old Westcliff outdoor swimming baths, but that's something we need again.

The Westcliff Outdoor Swimming Baths (Where the casino is now all the original outer walls are still there) was great, two water slides, two spring boards, a high diving board, and a bridge across the middle. Changing rooms were around the pool and a sundeck on top with a large cafe.

You just paid for a day pass and could spend all day there, or get a all year season ticket for just 7/6p

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

It was great. That right side by the bottom photo was where the lads and cool people went, and you could sunbathe there. It could get a bit rowdy sometimes, but everyone seemed to get on. If you wanted peace, then it was up the other end. Changing rooms were roadside only when I was going as a lad.

 

[Mr Plow]

Looking at some photos on the Ros Southend Past in Photos. Old Southend and memories. facebook page it looks like a lot of the original amenities are still there in the basement under the casino (or were a few years ago at least) including the nightclub, squash courts and at least one of the swimming pools.

 

[Leigh_Seasider]

Looking at some photos on the Ros Southend Past in Photos. Old Southend and memories. facebook page it looks like a lot of the original amenities are still there in the basement under the casino (or were a few years ago at least) including the nightclub, squash courts and at least one of the swimming pools.

Well that’s interesting. I don’t think it would be the worst thing in the world if they pulled down the Casino but I’ve at least one mate who’d strongly disagree..

 

[RHB]

Well that’s interesting. I don’t think it would be the worst thing in the world if they pulled down the Casino but I’ve at least one mate who’d strongly disagree..

..........and a large chunk of the Chinese population of Southend and district would probably agree with your mate.

 

[Cricko]

@blueblueblue I do remember the old Westcliff Lido, just, @Cricko could tell you about it's opening.
I used to have swim lessons there, after that went the pool at Linderfarne Social in Valkyrie Road was used AND that was awful before Warrior Sq, which was mobbed when it opened for first few years. None were Lidos though.
A 50 meter tidal lido near Shoebury Ccmmon just to the east of the Coastguard lookout would make good use of an at present unusable seafront area.

Haha. I did used to go there as a youngster, we used to jump in off the top some times to save paying. Much of the pool is still visible downstairs from the Casino. Pimpernells was a good night club there in the 70's. Valkyrie was a depressing pool being locked in, hated that place. We could do with another big putside pool but i doubt that will ever happen. There is a video about somewhere of a tour of what is still left below Gentings.

"GAMBLERS at Maxims Casino tend to have eyes for the roulette wheel rather than the building’s architecture.

And the thousands who pass along the seafront probably don’t give the Westcliff building a second glance.

Yet it is worth a closer look.
It is one of the most impressive on the Essex coastline, and it has a history a lot more turbulent than your average game of blackjack.
A memento of both the architecture and the motley fortunes of the building emerged when Southend businessman Ian Green came across a bundle of old plans gathering dust in his storeroom.

They are the original plans for the casino site, dating from 1911.
These architect’s drawings are just about all that is left of an extraordinary business adventure and rescue operation which saved the life of the building. Sadly, like other dreams, it eventually sunk without trace into the Southend mud.
Ian is 67 now, and as entrepreneurial as ever. The publisher has just launched a new task management system for small businesses, digitosoftware.com The combination of business innovation, white knight ideals and nautical reference also informed the adventure that began in 1969 when Ian set out to save the life of a decaying Southend monument.

It was kicked off by a story in the old Southend Pictorial newspaper, headlined in bold capitals FUTURE OF WESTCLIFF POOL IN BALANCE.
The Westcliff swimming pool occupied the site of the current Westcliff casino.
It would be more accurate to say it still occupies the site. The apron walls of the old pool, curved in a wave shape to break the power of estuary waves, form the base of the current building.
They enable the casino to jut out into the sea. This is one visual attraction no establishment in Las Vegas, however fabulous, can hope to match. In 1969, however, it looked as if the structure’s days were numbered.
The Southend Pictorial report had continued: “Westcliff swimming pool will open as usual this year, but it may only last another two seasons. Its future depends a great deal on the weather. Should it be a bad summer, people will naturally flock to the recently-opened heated pool (in Warrior Square).”
https://www.outbrain.com/what-is/default/en


The report went on to paint a dismal picture of the old pool that must have gone even further in putting crowds off visiting.
It described “cracking tiles” and “green algae covering the walls and bottom.” All in all, not an attractive proposition.
You would need to be pretty desperate to plunge into this frozen, rotting, seawater pool.
That summer, its fortunes continued to decline.
As recalled in a 2006 Memories article, the management even turned the pool into a dolphinarium for a short period, in a desperate bid to find a new role for it.
Meanwhile, though, Ian had read the Pictorial story and started to do some thinking.
As a keen yachtsman who kept his boat alongside the pool, he was familiar with the old structure.
“It’s a wonderful building,” he says, “and I couldn’t stand the thought of it being demolished. It brought out all my entrepreneurial instincts.”
He acquired the architects’ drawings. Examining them, he became even more impressed.
“It is an absolutely monumental structure, and a very interesting one,” he says.
“The borough architects were obviously very familiar with the power of the sea.”

The pool was built like a battleship to counter the power of the prevailing south-west winds and tidal surges which drove on to it.
No chances were taken. The plans reveal the walls are 26ft thick at their base.
Only half their height is visible above ground. The other half is sunk in a continuing curve below the mud. Thanks to this, the walls haven’t moved an inch in almost 100 years, despite the constant pounding of the wind and sea.
The pool, which opened on the eve of the First World War was more than just a leisure facility. It was a statement.
Southend Council had been formed in 1892, and the young organisation was determined to flex its municipal muscles.
Southend was a flourishing seaside resort, but its expansion was still curtailed by a problem that had defied King Canute and was certainly beyond the power of any borough council to control – the fact the tide goes out by more than a mile. The solution, therefore, was a seafront pool. Filled at high tide, it held captured seawater when the tide headed out.
“Those huge walls gave us the base to do something really interesting with the site,” says Ian.
The idea that emerged was for a leisure centre and marina. Most communities now have leisure centres, but in 1969 the idea was cutting edge.
Ian recalls the centre would have contained 18 squash courts, as well as a disco, restaurants and facilities for a range of other sports.
The marina was designed to turn the staunch walls into a haven.

Ian says: “Marinas have been a big success story elsewhere, and this would have given Southend a facility it still cries out for. “It would have been a small marina, but it would have been a start.” Ian also planned another attraction, a hovercraft service, operating from the walls of the old swimming pool.
He says: “It would have been used to take boat-owners to and from their boats, but it would also have been an attraction in its own right,”
Sadly, neither the Westcliff Leisure Centre nor its hovercraft quite achieved lift-off.
Ian bought the freehold and set about making plans and site models.
“I just needed another £750,000, a fairly small proportion of the total budget,” Ian says.
“But I couldn’t quite raise it. At that point, Brent Walker came into my life.”
Brent Walker, run by the flamboyant former boxer George Walker, was, at that point, a major player in the Southend property market.
It had cornered the market in acquiring buildings whose golden days were over, notably the redundant Kursaal.
“I was ready to sell to Walker,” says Ian, “because he seemed to share my vision of a local facility for local people.”
Walker, however, had other ideas, transforming it into a casino.
Still, whatever its fortunes as a business enterprise, the leisure centre had proved a notable exercise in conservation.
The structure of the swimming pool had been saved for another day.

For a glimpse into what might have happened otherwise, travel a mile west along the esplanade to Leigh.
The current children’s paddling and crabbing pool, alongside HMS Wilton, is a sign of how the Westcliff pool could have ended its days.
Leigh boasted an outdoor swimming pool on the same scale as the Westcliff facility.
It was demolished in 1970, apart from one section of the old apron wall, which now forms the Leigh side of the paddling-pool.
Walls built to take on the full force of the sea proved far more vulnerable when it came to changing tides of fashion"

 

[Mad Cyril]

Because it was hot I changed my regular coffee order to a Starbucks cold brew.

It was like drinking a flat pint of Guinness with Marmite stirred into it.

 

[RobM]

Because it was hot I changed my regular coffee order to a Starbucks cold brew.

It was like drinking a flat pint of Guinness with Marmite stirred into it.

It's the simple pleasures, eh?

 

[londonblue]

Because it was hot I changed my regular coffee order to a Starbucks cold brew.

It was like drinking a flat pint of Guinness with Marmite stirred into it.

I make a mean iced latte.

 

[Mad Cyril]

Really disappointed the club are using unpaid interns:

📊 Southend United are looking to take on an Analyst Intern to work - Southend United Football Club on LinkedIn

📊 Southend United are looking to take on an Analyst Intern to work during all home fixtures in the 2022/23 season. Key roles include: • Filming...

www.linkedin.com

 

[blueblueblue]

Well that’s interesting. I don’t think it would be the worst thing in the world if they pulled down the Casino but I’ve at least one mate who’d strongly disagree..

It will never happen, it makes a lot of money. It's actually a good night out if you're sensible. I use to go years ago and as RHB pointed out, it's a big hit for the Chinese population in the City. As soon as they shut up there restaurants, they flock to the Casino until the early hours of the morning.

AND THEY GAMBLE BIG MONEY.

 

[Mad Cyril]

Well that’s interesting. I don’t think it would be the worst thing in the world if they pulled down the Casino but I’ve at least one mate who’d strongly disagree..

I'd like to see the place closed as well.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

I'd like to see the casino move to the Kursall and use that,
And reading about the current site and the strength of the base, gut it and turn it back to a lido.

 

[blueblueblue]

I'd like to see the casino move to the Kursall and use that,
And reading about the current site and the strength of the base, gut it and turn it back to a lido.

The Kursaal had a Casino a few years back, it was a flop.

The Kursaal is a big question, nothing seems to be a hit no matter what they do with it.

 

[Chrisb]

The Kursaal had a Casino a few years back, it was a flop.

The Kursaal is a big question, nothing seems to be a hit no matter what they do with it.

Maybe a casino there would be more popular if the Westcliff one was closed.

 

[blueblueblue]

Maybe a casino there would be more popular if the Westcliff one was closed.

That won't happen.

The big White Elephant is the Kursaal Estate, it needs knocking down. That part of the City will always be a dump as long as it's there. I'd rather live on the streets than live in the Kursaal Estate.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

That won't happen.

The big White Elephant is the Kursaal Estate, it needs knocking down. That part of the City will always be a dump as long as it's there. I'd rather live on the streets than live in the Kursaal Estate.

I grew up in Park Lane in the 60 and 70s, before the estate was built and remember my folks and neighbours saying it was going to be a ghetto just from the plans but SBC obviously took no notice.
And I also think if it was a private, Barbican style, gated owned homes it could be rather good, location and services are all there but too many of the tenants are casualties of society and self abuse , mixed with stupidity. There are some good people on there and pockets where residents look after their little bit.

 

[blueblueblue]

I grew up in Park Lane in the 60 and 70s, before the estate was built and remember my folks and neighbours saying it was going to be a ghetto just from the plans but SBC obviously took no notice.
And I also think if it was a private, Barbican style, gated owned homes it could be rather good, location and services are all there but too many of the tenants are casualties of society and self abuse , mixed with stupidity. There are some good people on there and pockets where residents look after their little bit.

Yep, they went for the Art Decko look but ended up with an Art DARK-O.

It's funny because I remember when it was first built in the early 80's, my Aunt and Uncle were the first people to move in. My Mum and Dad took us and I'll never forget my suprise how dark and cold it was. I'll always remember how scared I was when we drove in, I couldn't have been any older than 10 but I do remember that.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

It will never happen, it makes a lot of money. It's actually a good night out if you're sensible. I use to go years ago and as RHB pointed out, it's a big hit for the Chinese population in the City. As soon as they shut up there restaurants, they flock to the Casino until the early hours of the morning.

AND THEY GAMBLE BIG MONEY.

I'd be very surprised if every Chinese restaurant & take a way in the area, make 'loadsamoney' every day?. But as you say, & i know others who've said the same, that they do spend more than many of us could afford to, in the casino.
So where does it come from.....?.