Developer and builder Guildmore has got the green light from planners to start work on the £36m project.

Guildmore will restore this Grade II listed building to its former glory with a modern sports facility, which includes a new 25-metre swimming pool and retains period features.The site will also support a new tower of 60 flats.

The firm is financing the whole scheme and will then lease the buildings back to the council.

Its plan also includes building a new Haileybury Youth centre at Dame Colet along with an extra 40 flats.

Poplar Baths opened originally in 1852, costing £10,000. Built to provide public wash facilities for the East End’s poor as a result of the Baths and Washhouses Act 1846.

The ‘slipper baths’ section originally contained six baths for women in each division, 12 in the men’s first-class section and 24 in the second-class.

Rebuilt in 1933, the larger pool was floored over, designated the East India Hall and converted to a theatre with 1,400 seats and a dance hall and cinema, until bomb damage forced its closure.