Hip dip: the best pool parties in town

Here in London we associate pool parties with sun-soaked American TV programmes but this summer we are embracing our goose bumps and combining our usual weekend night out with a quick dip.
Two weeks ago, under a setting sun, London's best-known rooftop pool at Shoreditch House hosted its Pool Disco Boogie Nights evening, where roller girls poured out onto the pool deck, Mojito cocktails in hand. On May 30, the House is laying on a members-only Pool Birthday where clowns, entertainers and oversized balloons will transform the roof once again.

Renowned hotelier and restaurateur Mark Fuller sees huge potential for pool parties in the city since his Sanctum Soho Hotel rooftop Jacuzzi has become the centre of attention.

"With people choosing to party outdoors to drink and smoke, pool parties are proving a popular choice. The current economy doesn't permit us jetting off to LA at the drop of a hat, so people look to re-create that cosmopolitan vibe here. Our rooftop bar with Jacuzzi was paramount for us and it offers guests a different pen to play in."

If this summer's warm weather predictions are disproved, private hire parties at Nicole Kidman's favourite London stop-off, The Haymarket Hotel, will suit outdoor-pool phobes. Estée Lauder and Swarovski recently held product launch parties around the hotel's indoor pool with deep-end rates of £400 an hour. If you are into intimate pool parties and have money to burn, the Langham Hotel, near Regent Street, offers the £7,000-a-night Infinity Suite, where four people can clamber into the colossal, colour-changing chromotherapy mini-pool like bath, champagne included.

Less grandiose is converted fitness centre-cum-club venue, Aquarium on Old Street, where two lifeguards keep a check on the hordes of Saturday night swim-clubbers who alternate 10 minutes of dancing with 20 minutes of splashing downstairs. Decidedly gritty, Aquarium is home to east London's regular hen parties and stag dos, although poolside rules must be obeyed. No diving and, according to the club's spokesman, "At least some form of sobriety is important — in the pool, guests can wear whatever they want but can't be completely intoxicated.

"Guests are starting to hear about our Eighties Car Wash pool nights, arriving from all over England. We've been lucky this year, especially with corporate party bookings," he continues.
Megan Thomas, 22, has twice visited Aquarium. She says: "It's a fun venue and, being Shoreditch, is full of people in outrageous swimwear. Recently I've seen feathers, gold and multicoloured bikinis and plenty of hen dos."

Avalon cocktail bar and club has gone one step further. A series of Roman bath parties is planned in its subterranean Shoreditch spa this summer, where invitees can borrow toga costumes and one of the private mini-pool party rooms will be transformed into Cleopatra's Milk Bath.

Avalon's co-founder, Rob Gribbin, believes in using the past for inspiration: "In Roman towns, baths combined health treatments with a place to socialise and gossip. We wanted to re-create this but have added the party element to make it work for modern Londoners. Like Budapest's amazing "sparties", we will eventually bring in performers, DJs and other elements as well."

The trend for pool parties was sealed this weekend when David Walliams and his new bride, model Lara Stone, chose Shoreditch House as the venue for their post-marriage revelries. Who ended up going for a dip remains to be heard, but it proved there ain't no party this summer without a pool.