1/4 Davy in the Tongelreep wave pool (image: Urbex Explore).
Five YouTubers filmed in the former Tongelreep swimming pool in Eindhoven. They said they could walk in through an emergency exit that was open. The almost ten-minute video shows how the indoor swimming pool looks today, more than six years after its closure.
It is pitch dark in the changing cubicles, here and there loose tiles and dry plants betray that it has been a while since they have had water. But for a pool that no one has swum in for six years, the Tongelreep still looks pretty good.
Davy van den Bosch noticed that too. With four others he could easily enter. Together with his friends he often visits empty buildings. “To our surprise, it was still completely full. It was nice to see, because I used to swim there myself,” says Davy.
“We thought there would be nothing left.”
The YouTubers encountered all the famous spots of the Tongelreep on their journey: the bubble baths, the green family slide, the rapids and of course the turbo toll. “We thought that there would be nothing left, because it is being demolished. That’s why it was so nice to see that everything was still intact. The water was out of the pools,” says Davy.
The wave pool now contains sports equipment, which betrays that the former swimming pool is not a ghost building. Inquiries with the municipality of Eindhoven, owner of the pool, learn that the sports equipment is used by divers from the Royal Dutch Swimming Association.
The municipality says it is not happy with the action of the video makers. “Unfortunately, a door was broken open last week through which the filmers entered,” says a spokesman. But the unannounced arrival of the video makers is no reason for the municipality to take action. “No”, is the short but clear answer to the question of whether security will be tightened.
“We never break down a door ourselves.”
Incidentally, the YouTubers deny that they have forced a door. “If the door is closed, it’s closed. Now we were lucky and were able to get in. But we never break a door ourselves,” says Davy.
The YouTubers visit abandoned buildings much more often. A well-known example is the former – now demolished – Bernhoven Hospital in Veghel. Despite the fact that just walking in somewhere to film is not allowed, Davy and his friends have never really had a problem with it. “If the owner of a building or the police come in, we calmly tell them what we are doing. But we don’t have any burglary equipment with us. Usually we get off with a warning.”
In the case of the Tongelreep, the video makers arrived on time. The building will soon be demolished, after the swimming pool closed its doors for good in 2016 after thirty years. The reason was that fewer and fewer visitors came and the subsidy tap was turned off by the municipality.
Demolition of the complex began in March. The outdoor pool was demolished first. Eventually, a new recreational and instruction pool will be built on the same site. The new Tongelreep must be ready by the end of 2025.
The video it’s all about.
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