Portobello’s outdoor swimming pool was opened in 1936. It was equipped with diving boards and a wave machine, and was open between May and September. The pool’s proximity to a power station gave it access to heated water, but also meant that it had to be covered for the duration of World War II to prevent it being used as a marker by German bombers. The actor Sean Connery served as a Portobello lifeguard in the post war period. The pool was closed in 1979, not long after the power station, and the area is now used for five-a-side football.