The Parliament Hill Lido

THE summer sun and sweltering temperatures have led to bumper crowds hoping to cool off with a dip at the Parliament Hill Lido.

When a website opened on Tuesday to receive advance swimming bookings for next week, the pool’s managers, the City of London, sold around 12,000 tickets to the Olympic-sized outdoor pool in 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, swimming resumed at the Hampstead Heath’s ponds earlier this week after closures caused by last week’s flood and water tests.