Approaching the building, you would never have guessed the exotic oasis that lay inside.
Apart from an unusual pyramid-shaped roof, it was to all appearances a fairly unremarkable looking 1980s council building. But once inside, a tropical indoor playground was revealed that became renowned across Manchester.
Gorton Tub made memories that lasted a lifetime and was the place every child wanted to go. Despite its name making it sound like a Victorian bathhouse, it was far from just any ordinary suburban swimming pool - it was Manchester's own inner-city water park.
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Just like The Water Place in Bolton, Gorton Tub opened to great fanfare in 1988. Crowds of kids spent many fun-filled hours splashing about in its chlorinated water before heading for a Slush Puppie and a chocolate bar, or if you were lucky, a burger and chips.
Posts on online fan pages have described the indoor water-park as 'the place where dreams were made and happiness was shared.' Another post said: "You was a lucky kid if you got to go here!"
Sadly, Gorton Tub closed in the early 2000s. However, its legacy lives on with the building now used as a gymnastics centre where Manchester's Olympians of the future are taught.
Many youngsters took their first swimming lessons at Gorton Tub in its standard-laned pool. But it was elsewhere that the building's main attractions lay.
The tropically themed pool housed several water flume slides, including a huge central one with steps going to the top that almost reached the ceiling. There were also river rapids, a whirlpool, a beach area and a paddling pool.
It was even a pioneer in terms of access, with a ramp for those with walking difficulties to safely lower themselves into the water, a rare sight in the 1980s. It also had a café and several party rooms, with birthday parties a frequent occurrence and a key part of its business.
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The tub later underwent a re-brand, changing its name to Neptune's Kingdom after the Roman god of the sea. A cartoon depicting Neptune surrounded by exotic fish stood above the main entrance on the building.
It was designed by architects Space and Place (S+P) who have designed numerous well known swimming pools across the country. Back in 2020, Justin O'Brien, a manager at S+P told the Manchester Evening News : "It was very innovative in its day. It had everything really, rapids, flumes.
"Obviously it had that very distinctive pyramid shape and it had columns and a big glazed roof which let in a lot of light. It was very hot and humid and it had that tropical atmosphere and felt really exotic with all the palm trees and plants and stuff.
"It was really cool. Fun pools like that became very popular in Germany.
"But there had never been anything like that in this area before and there wasn't anything else like it at the time really. It was built to give Gorton and the surrounding area a boost and give the kids something to do and somewhere for them to have a day out.
"And it was very busy in its heyday. You have to remember at the time in the late eighties a lot of industry had closed. It was a little fantasy world for kids and I'm not surprised so many people have so many fond memories of it."
The pool's original name was chosen by pupils at Sacred Heart Primary School. Former pupil, Andrew Bradshaw, who was six years-old at the time, remembers it well.
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In 2020, Andrew, who grew up in Gorton, told the MEN: "They had a competition to name it with the winner getting a year's free pass. Our school said each class would have a go with the best suggestion being entered.
"I never shut up telling my mates about this but I came up with the Gorton Tub name. They showed us some designs of what it was going to look like and there were two small little pools, like paddling pools or baby pools but they looked like bath tubs and that's where it came from.
"Our teacher at the time Mrs Carl said 'what a good idea' we'll submit that. We later found out we'd won and we all collected our free pass in assembly and the paper came down to take our picture."
Andrew was there on the day the tub opened and was a constant visitor for the next year and beyond. "I must have been about second or third in the queue on the day it opened," he said.
"And I was there every weekend, even more in the summer. I was like a fish or a mermaid I was in there that much.
"I loved the rapids which just propelled you round or the slide. The fear walking up the steps but then the rush as you shot down it and splashed in at the end.
"I must admit I was a bit disappointed when they changed the name to Neptune's Kingdom as it took the shine off the name a bit. But everyone still does and always will know it as Gorton Tub so that's quite satisfying. Even now when I drive past the memories come flooding back."
Andrew's sister Louise Russell, also a regular visitor said: "I absolutely loved the place, I have so many great memories of it. I can picture it really vividly and still tell you exactly how it looked.
"I remember going loads at weekends and during school holidays. I'd sometimes get some pocket money off my parents and go and meet my mates as well.
"I loved the rapids and hanging onto the bridge that went over. We'd stay for hours.
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"They used to give you different coloured bands and shout when your group had to get out but we just used to hide ours under the water so we could stay in. Afterwards we'd go to the canteen and get come chips or if we had enough we'd get a burger.
Louise added: "They really were the good days. It's a shame I never got to take my kids there."
Sadly, the lost indoor water attraction closed in 2001, with reports of rising costs and falling numbers. An audit of leisure facilities is said to have been carried out in the run up to the city hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2002 and the pool was ultimately deemed too expensive to run.
Also, a brand new Aquatics centre had been built for the games just a few miles away, off Oxford Road, and was to be opened up to the public afterwards. An article from the Manchester Evening News around the time said the decision to close Gorton Tub was eventually taken due to 'technical faults and plunging user figures.'
However the decision by the city council was not without controversy, with even the town's MP, the late Sir Gerald Kaufman, branding it "ludicrous" and saying there was "no justification" for it. A campaign was launched to save it, and around 800 people are said to have blocked traffic on Hyde Road during one protest.
There was also a fun day held to celebrate the facility. However Justin O'Brien - manager of the pool's architects - believed the economics of smaller leisure pools like Gorton Tub didn't add up in the long term. He said: "I went just before it closed and it was beginning to look a bit tired and it was on its last legs really."
"Pools like that are very expensive to run. You have to heat them and filter the water and the filtration isn't easy and is expensive as well because of all the kids and the shallow water.
"The rules around lifeguards changed as well and due to the nature of the pool it meant having to have lots of lifeguards all on at the same time. So I believe it was losing a lot of money and the only other option would have been to knock it down.
"The only ones like it really that have survived are huge ones or ones that have expanded. For smaller ones like Gorton it just didn't add up really.
"But architecturally it was okay. So it was brilliant they got another use out of it."
The leisure pool in Hyde, Tameside which opened around the same time remains open and there are big ones in Blackpool and Stoke however the loss of a place where so many memories were made is still mourned by some. The former tub is now home to the City of Manchester Institute of Gymnastics.
At the time the tub closed the CMIG's home at the former Gorton Baths, the separate historic former pool on Hyde Road near Belle Vue, was falling into disrepair.
The club, founded by Colin Leigh in 1972, raised around £200,000 to go alongside grant funding to go towards the £1.2 million project to turn the former Gorton Tub into a state-of-the-art gymnastics centre. Justin was involved in the project, which began in January 2004 and said 'it wasn't easy' as the central column supporting the roof had to be removed and its weight supported elsewhere.
The main pool area was filled in but some of the smaller ones were retained and filled with foam as trampoline pits. In December 2004 it was officially opened by the Lord Mayor of Manchester, and it has since gone from strength to strength with bosses saying it is now one of the best local facilities anywhere in the UK and even Europe.
In 2012 it was a used as a training centre for athletes competing at London Olympics. Speaking to the MEN in 2020, manager Andrew Webb said: "I think at first Colin (Leigh) was unsure about the idea as converting it was going to be a huge challenge. And I think it was.
"But everyone did a fantastic job. And when you look at it now its one of the best gymnastics facilities in the UK but probably the world as well. It's a really good size.
"Its helping thousands of kids each week. We have a little café and tuck shop so we get lots of families in and it's become a bit of a community hub again as well I suppose.
"Looking inside now your eyes are just taken by all the equipment but there are some tell-tale signs like the pool tiles are still visible on same parts of the wall and some of the pillars from the slides remain. Its an amazing legacy for the place I believe."
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