Since its creation in the early 19th century, Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens have been an oasis of calm in the city centre, offering a welcome rest from the hustle and bustle that surrounds the park.
Save for a small children’s play area, café and dilapidated bandstand, for much of the year, there really isn’t much of the way in terms of entertainment in the Gardens - and many locals say that’s just fine.
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But all that could have been very different had a plan to construct a bathing lido been given the green light.
In February 1939, such a proposal was being led by city councillor Mrs Barbara Woodburn.
The incredible plan would have seen a new bathing facility built in the West Princes Street Gardens with “appropriate dressing rooms” under Princes Street.
If the lido plan turned out not to be feasible, Mrs Woodburn suggested that a children’s paddling and boating pool be created instead.
Arguing her case, Mrs Woodburn said there was a clear demand for city centre recreation facilities across the country, and that tourists to Edinburgh had little else to do after having visited the historic sights.
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When it was pointed out that a city centre lido may have an adverse effect on the fortunes of the then newly-built Portobello Bathing Pool, Mrs Woodburn disagreed.
She said: “If there was a place of the kind, it would not lead to the detriment of the Portobello pool, because the people, I feel, who would use it have not time to go to Portobello.
“We could have it screened off from Princes Street, if necessary.”
And, since the Gardens area was originally the Nor’ Loch, Councillor Woodburn said the lido scheme would be the perfect fit for the site.
In agreement was Councillor George J. Romanes, who said he felt that, while older people could happily walk along Princes Street and gaze up at the Castle Rock, there was a real absence of things to do for the younger generation.
A lido, Councillor Romanes said, would also provide opportunities for office and shop staff to enjoy a refreshing dip in the middle of the day when they did not have time to venture to Portobello.
But while there was support for the lido, there was also plenty of criticism and local newspapers received a flurry of letters from aggrieved residents.
Writing in the Edinburgh Evening News, one member of the public wrote: “We have plenty of baths supplying the needs of the people. How many months of the year could a lido be used to make it anything near a paying proposition?
“Visitors do not come here for this, and they are well catered for in Portobello and Port Seton.”
Another said: “Who is Mrs Woodburn? Has she ever read the history of the Nor’ Loch? Does she know why it was filled up? In case she does not, I would suggest to her it smelled rather badly.”
A third person wrote: “I hope this idea will not get beyond the Parks Committee. A children’s boating or paddling pool by all means - but a lido, no!”
In a separate article, one resident also bemoaned the inevitability of the lido Tannoy system blaring "ragtime music" and disrupting the peace and tranquillity of the Gardens.
The following month, Councillor Woodburn got her answer and it was a firm no, with Edinburgh planners deciding no action be taken on the matter by 13 votes to six.
Councillor Woodburn would have remained hopeful that the plan could be visited again the future. However, the outbreak of the Second World War that September ultimately saw the plans shelved permanently.
