Canary Wharf opens for night-time open water swimming at Halloween

Canary Wharf’s first open-water swimming venue at Middle Dock is open to visitors, residents and those who work in the area.

Supported by NOWCA, the UK’s biggest network of safe open water venues, the safety of the water at Canary Wharf is tested by Love Open Water. It is checked regularly for levels of cleanliness.

Every session is overseen by lifeguards and for all abilities and swimming competency levels, for people over the age of ten.

Access to the water is from the pontoon next to the Humble Grape pub on Mackkenzie Walk. There are changing huts situated here for swimmers.

To swim here, the public need to buy a NOWCA membership for £15 per year, which gives them access to 40 NOWCA membership, costing £15 per annum.

Canary Wharf swimming sessions cost £8 and run all week, as well as at weekends.

The water temperature is around 13.9 degrees Celsius. There are no shallow/ standing areas in the water at this venue. It is a depth of between 2.5m-8m all the way round.

The venue is not wetsuit compulsory, but swimmers should be aware that the Royal Life Saving Society recommend swimmers wear wetsuits in water that is under 15°C.

The venue requests that all swimmers wear a brightly coloured hat in the water. This can either be a swimming cap or a warm hat/ headband to both provide visibility to other swimmers and safety staff as well as helping retain vital core heat to prevent risk of hypothermia.

Shobi Khan, Canary Wharf CEO, said: “Canary Wharf has more than 20 acres of parks, gardens and squares and a key objective is to open up the water for our residents, visitors and business customers.”

Rick Kiddle, founder and CEO of NOWCA added: ‘Our aim is to help make open water more accessible, to more people, and most importantly more safely.

“We are really excited to be part of this fantastic new venue at Canary Wharf as it will open more swimming possibilities in the east London area.”