Two swimmers have taken the first ever legal dip in Bristol’s harbour — and one said the “water tastes surprisingly lovely”. They took part in a groundbreaking trial ahead of an open-water swimming pilot launching later this spring.
Swimmers will be charged £7 an hour to swim in the harbour every Saturday and Sunday from 8am to 10am. The five-week pilot starts on April 29, and each session will last one hour, booked in advance online.
A blue pontoon was set up at Baltic Wharf, near the Cottage Inn pub, for the two swimmers to test the safety measures in the pilot, on Tuesday, March 28. Bristol City Council said the £7 fee was "really competitive”, and expects the sessions to be fully booked.
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The pilot will be run by the council, local watersports centre All-Aboard, and open water specialists Uswim. David Quatermain, from Uswim, took part in the trial, and said the harbour was “such a great spot to swim”.
He said: “There’s an open water swimming pilot coming up, and it was great to trial it today. And the water tastes surprisingly lovely as well — I’m not just saying that. The visibility is surprising as well when you swim with your face in the water, you can see your hands and stuff. It’s such a great spot to swim, and I’m sure it’ll be a real success when it starts.”
Swimming in the harbour is currently banned under a controversial council byelaw. In 2021, campaigners repeatedly flouted the ban and swam in the Cumberland Basin, leading to the Harbour Master threatening them with a £1,000 fine.
Swimmers will be kept safe with lifeguards and safety boats. Changing facilities will be set up, as well as a supervised area for swimmers to leave bags and belongings. The council will also test the quality of the water every week to make sure it’s clean enough.
Labour Councillor Ellie King, cabinet member for public health and communities, said: “We’ve got lifeguards and safety boats, we’ve got the pontoon to enter the water safely, we’re going to have changing facilities and we’re also talking to the cafe about opening up for hot drinks afterwards so swimmers can warm up again.
'Cleanest part of the harbour'
“This is the cleanest part of the harbour. The water regularly tests either good or excellent. We’ll be doing weekly water tests throughout the pilot to ensure that the water is of required quality and we’re also talking to Wessex Water about having more permanent water testing solutions. That would allow us to have live updates, which would be an amazing position.
“We’ve done everything we can to keep the prices as low as possible. Similar schemes in Cheshire and Salford are £10. It pays for our safety, the lifeguards, changing facilities and the safety boats; it pays for the course to be set out in agreement with all the other operators on the water, and it pays for All Aboard and USwim, our delivery partners. So I think it’s very competitive.
“We’re expecting this to be fully booked up for the pilot. If that’s successful, then we’ll try this summer and see if it goes as well as we hope, and then we’ll have to see for the future. If it attracts the people that we want to, and brings a nice new audience down to the harbour, then we’re hoping it’ll be a success.”
Asked if the pilot could lead to a similar scheme at Conham River Park, a popular wild swimming spot, Cllr King said that “wasn’t on the radar”, but is under regular review. Last year campaigners urged the council to help them apply to the Environment Agency to designate Conham with bathing water status, which would lead to the water getting cleaned up.
Cllr King said: “At present that isn’t on our radar. It’s more complex down there because of the way that water is needed for travel in and out of the river. It doesn’t have the same options available to us at the moment. But it’s something that we’re regularly reviewing.”
