Club History

Founded in 1860, Brighton Swimming Club is England’s oldest swimming club.

Brighton Swimming Club is proud to be the country’s oldest continuously running swimming club.  Founded in 1860, the sea swimming section has been in daily operation save only for the Second World War, when the beaches were off limits, guarded, as they were, by defences.

While maintaining its sea swimming section throughout, the club encompassed pool swimming when public baths came into use at the end of the 19th century.  The pool based section constitutes one of the city’s largest youth clubs, while the sea section thrives at a time of enormous interest in open water swimming.  All sections rely heavily on the voluntary efforts of its membership. Our helpers can all take pride in providing an important part in the continuation of our heritage.

Visit the Floating Memories site for more club history.

In 2011 the “Floating memories” website was set up with the help of Lottery heritage funding and is administered by club member Paul Farrington. It is a remarkable collection of pictures, documents, videos and other general items detailing a great deal of the day to day history of the Club.