Look inside oldest pool in Reading turned into homes

The Arthur Hill Pool at Cemetery Junction was closed in 2016, with Reading Borough Council deciding to transform the site to provide 15 homes for key workers such as NHS and teaching staff, police and public sector workers.

The council’s housing team is already in the process of finding tenants to occupy the flats.

Jimmy Capucho Amaro, 42, who works as a physical therapist at Prospect Park Hospital, currently shares with five other people, and can now have a place to call his own.

Mr Capucho Amaro said: “I live in such a small space because it was what I could afford, because NHS staff, we don’t have very high pay.

“I tried to go to other places, but the rents are so high, you have to share with someone else, you can’t do it on your own.

Jimmy Capucho Amaro, 42, a physiotherapist who works at Prospect Park Hospital, signed up for the new key working housing at the former Arthur Hill Pool site in Kings Road, Reading. Credit: James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporting Service

“I’ve been used to living on my own in the Canaries, when I came here it was a big shock because I was sharing a house with other people.

“This is such an upgrade, you really have no idea. This kind of initiative is very smart, because we are so short-staffed in the NHS, having this is such a plus, because it’s a rent that you can actually pay.”

Subject to contract signing, Mr Capucho Amaro is set to pay £538 per month,  with all of the flats being made available at Reading social rent levels.

The flats the Local Democracy Reporting Service saw were generously sized and unfurnished, with each coming with air source pumps to provide heat.

The homes are made up of 13 one-bed and two two-bed apartments, with flats contained within the transformed Arthur Hill Pool building and eight contained in a new build to the rear.

The key worker council homes were officially opened in a ribbon-cutting ceremony with councillor Tony Page, the Mayor of Reading, doing the honours.

Councillor Tony Page, the Mayor of Reading, opens the key worker housing at Arthur Hill Pool in Kings Road, Reading. Credit: James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporting Service

The council’s decision to close and repurpose Arthur Hill Pool proved controversial, with campaigners calling for the facility to be preserved and Green councillors supporting the campaign.

However, the council’s Labour administration argued the pool facilities would be re-provided at Palmer Park Leisure Centre, which opened in December 2022, six years after Arthur Hill Pool closed.

Speaking at the key worker housing opening, cllr Page (Labour, Abbey) said: “The facilities in Palmer Park are of a far higher standard than was ever delivered here or possible to be delivered with an ancient Victorian building which was beyond being refurbished.

“We were determined to not only re-provide an improved swimming and leisure centre but also to make good use of this for public sector housing, all of which was opposed by the Green councillors who supposedly are in favour of such things.

“But hey ho never let short-term local opportunism stand in the way of their campaigning.”