[1] Plans for an open air pool had previously been mooted by Edinburgh Town Council in 1928, 1930 and 1933, but were discounted - the main obstacles being seen as the Scottish weather and cost.

The objections on the grounds of cost were silenced when it became clear that hot water could be provided for the pool by the coal-fired Portobello Power Station nearby.

One of its main attractions was the wave-making machine which, at a cost of £7,000, was the first to be installed in an outdoor pool in the UK and could generate waves up to three feet high.

During the war, the pool was camouflaged to look like a field to prevent it being used as a marker for enemy bombers to target the nearby power station.

Suggestions were made on how to bring in more customers from the pool-users' association: The advent of cheap package holidays abroad played a pivotal role in its decline and its fortunes worsened in 1978 with the closure of Portobello power station.