Boris Johnson was mobbed by students as he visited Wanstead yesterday.

The Mayor of London was visiting as part of his Make a Splash programme to meet children using the facility and talk to teachers and councillors.

The pool was installed last month for 12 weeks to let schools hold lessons and residents use it in the evening.

Mr Johnson said: “I think it’s been proving very popular.

“It’s a tragedy that in London 60 per cent of children can’t swim a length.”

He learnt to swim while growing up in Camden in a pool “a quarter of the size” than the 12m one in Wanstead, he added.

Mr Johnson talked to children from Fairlop Primary School who were demonstrating their skills and met instructors and local councillors.

He congratulated the swimmers on their front crawl but declined to take a dip himself.

See our picture gallery from the event here or click on the link to the right of this story.