Tooting Bec Lido opens 8am to noon on Christmas Day, race at 10.30am, for South London Swimming Club members only. How to join in time, and what it costs.

Tooting Bec Lido is open on Christmas Day, as it is every day of the year, but only to members of the South London Swimming Club. The club’s opening times page sets out its 2026-27 winter: the lido opens 8am to 12 noon on Christmas Day, with the club’s Christmas Day race at 10.30am. You cannot buy a ticket on the day. If you want to be in the water on the 25th, you need to join the club first, and its own membership page says to allow up to two weeks for the card that opens the gate.

The quick answer

  • Is it open on Christmas Day? Yes, 8am to 12 noon on Friday 25 December 2026, with the race at 10.30am.
  • Can anyone swim? No. From 1 October to 30 April the lido is for South London Swimming Club members only; a Places Leisure membership does not get you in.
  • Joining: £114 for an adult aged 26 to 65 for the winter (membership plus winter lido pass), cheaper for younger, older, disabled and junior swimmers. The card takes up to two weeks, so join by early December.
  • Boxing Day and New Year’s Day: open 8am to 12 noon, races at 10am.

Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day hours

These come from the club’s opening times page, which covers the winter season from 1 October 2026 to 30 April 2027. On an ordinary winter day the lido opens at 7am or sunrise, whichever is later, and the water is cleared at 1.45pm for a 2pm close. The holidays are shorter:

Day Open Race
Friday 25 December (Christmas Day) 8am to 12 noon 10.30am
Saturday 26 December (Boxing Day) 8am to 12 noon 10am
Friday 1 January 2027 (New Year’s Day) 8am to 12 noon 10am

Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are not listed as exceptions, so the normal winter hours should apply on those days; the club does not say so directly.

One thing to watch: the club’s Sunday morning races page gives a general 9.30am start for bank holiday races “including Christmas and New Year”, while the opening times page gives 10.30am for Christmas Day itself. We have used the specific Christmas Day time. Check the opening times page in December before you set off.

Who can swim, and the race

Winter swimming at Tooting Bec Lido is, in the club’s words, “only available to SLSC members”. The visiting the lido page repeats it: “You MUST be a member of the South London Swimming Club during the winter season.” You do not need to book a session in winter, according to the club’s membership FAQs; members just turn up with a card.

The races are free and open to paid-up members. Races on bank holidays, as on Sundays, are short open handicaps of one or two widths: arrive by 9am to register, and get your handicap from the race organiser with the clipboard. To win the Christmas and New Year cups, the club says, you must have swum in three of the autumn races, so a new member can take part on the day but cannot win a cup.

The club does not say anything on its website about spectators at the Christmas Day race. If you want to watch rather than swim, ask the club first through slsc.org.uk.

Joining in time for Christmas

The club’s membership page sells a discounted winter membership that runs to 31 March 2027, whenever you join. You create an account online, and volunteers process it, so “allow up to two weeks” for your membership and access card. The FAQs add that updating your details with Places Leisure is done by hand and takes a few days. In practice, join by about Thursday 10 December to be sure of the card.

Age on 31 December 2026 Membership Winter lido pass Total
Adult, 26 to 65 £72 £42 £114
Adult, 19 to 25 £46 £21 £67
Adult, over 65 £52 £30 £82
Disabled £40 Free £40
Junior, 14 to 18 £29 £17 £46
Child, 8 to 13 £17 £11 £28

Under-8s are free. Children under 14 are added to an adult’s account and must be with an adult at the lido; anyone 14 or over needs an account of their own. The club is run by volunteers and expects members to help at its events.

How cold it will be

Tooting Bec Lido is 90 metres long and unheated, the council says in its summer reopening notice, which calls it the UK’s largest outdoor freshwater pool. It opened in 1906, the same year the club was formed. The water read 15°C on the club’s site on 12 October; in winter, the club says, “it can fall as low as 1°C, sometimes ice forms!”

If you are not used to cold water, the club points new swimmers to its tips for taking the plunge on the visiting the lido page. It also warns against warming up in the sauna after a long swim, because it can cause dizziness or fainting, and says not to use the sauna at all with heart or circulatory problems, high or low blood pressure, epilepsy or diabetes.

Not a member? The January option

The one cold-water swim at the lido this winter that is open to non-members is Crisis’s Icebreaker Tooting on Saturday 30 January 2027, 10.30am to 1.30pm. Entrants choose an icy dip of one or two 30-metre widths, a four-person relay, or a width on an inflatable. Solo entry is £15, a relay team of up to four is £60, and each entrant commits to raising at least £200 for the homelessness charity.

Getting there

The lido is on Tooting Bec Road, SW16 1RU, on Tooting Bec Common. The club asks that bikes go on the racks at the deep end, and dogs are not allowed in. Last Christmas Day TfL ran no service on most public transport, with Santander Cycles and taxis among the exceptions; its 2026 plan is not out yet, and our Christmas travel page will carry it. If you drive, read parking in Wandsworth and Wandsworth roadworks and travel first.

For the rest of the season, see Wandsworth New Year’s Eve, Christmas lights switch-ons and our What’s On listings.

This page will be updated in December with any change to the club’s holiday hours.

Sources