Downstream

of Studio Octopi’s plans has
been substantial and, as with
the Victorian floating baths,
media reports expressed
enthusiasm at a new place to
swim, tinged with scepticism
that the Thames is the place
to do it. The context is
similar, too; in 1875, when
the Charing Cross bath
opened, the new sewer
scheme had just been
completed, while Captain
Webb’s crossing of the