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The ponds (18 in all) were dug out some 300 years ago, to meet London's growing water demand. Inevitably, fish spawn was unwittingly introduced on the legs of visiting water birds and fish quickly established themselves. Equally inevitably, anglers took advantage of the peaceful surrounds and good sport. The River Fleet has its source in these spring-fed ponds and Fleet Road is near the Royal Free Hospital, while Fleet Street lies a few miles downstream just before the culverted river joins the Thames by Blackfriars Bridge.

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During the 1960’s I would cycle from Tottenham to fish these ponds and, when my three sons were old enough, we enjoyed many afternoons on the Vale of Health Pond but now, sadly, those swims have been blocked by fallen trees and are no longer accessible. I hope to be able to take my grandchildren to fish these ponds one day.

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Fast forward to the late 20th century and fishing territory was gradually reduced as other interest groups claimed a stake on the Heath ponds. This accelerated in 1989, when the City of London took control of managing Hampstead Heath, and many ponds were entirely closed to fishing. Since angling tends to be solitary in nature, the concept of forming a group was alien to the anglers. There was no collective voice and consequently no representation to inform the authorities of the poor deal that angling was getting.

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In 2015, a major dam strengthening project on several of the ponds was undertaken. In the subsequent landscaping, the west bank of the Model Boating Pond and the entire Mixed Swimming Pond were closed to anglers, reducing overall fishing space by about 40%. This was compounded in 2017, when a swimmer in the Men’s pond was injured by an illegal barbed hook left on the boundary rope by an irresponsible angler. This lead to the immediate suspension of angling on the north bank of that pond.

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HAHAS subsequently argued that the risk to swimmers in the Men’s pond could be minimised by fixing a second boundary rope 2-3m beyond the existing one to create a buffer zone. We also suggested that only float fishing be allowed on the north bank. Float fishing has a casting limit of less than 10m, so the swimmer’s boundary rope some 35-40m away is out of range. The City of London Corporation acted on this suggestion and in 2023 made the north bank available to HAHAS members for float fishing only. They restricted access to HAHAS because they recognised that our members are responsible and can be relied on to follow the rules.

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