Hot Britons go topless

Press, 21 July 1976, Page 9

Hot Britons go topless

NZPA staff correspondent London

Modesty seems to be evaporating in the heat wave engulfing England now, and topless sunbathers and nude swimmers receive nearly as tolerant treatment in London as they would at St Tropez. Throughout Britain, the police have been giving naked and bare-breasted sun worshippers indulgent glances — although swimming without a top in Trafalgar Square is still frowned upon. For nearly 40 years the police have ignored handfuls of nude bathers at Pilchard Cove, in South Devon. But this year there have been as many as a thousand a day and the togless bathers have spilled over on to more conservative sands nearby, stirring ftp complaints from residents and holidaymakers with children. However, the police are reluctant to take action. f‘We don’t want to rush to get the charge book out, but if we get too many complaints then we will have to do more about it,” a spokesman foi the local police force said. I Topless bathers have be-

come a common sight at busy resorts like Brighton, on the south coast, and even in central London it is not unusual to see some at the Serpentine lagoon in Hyde Park. Following the changing mores, the Greater London Council has decided that women can unfasten their bikini tops to swim at a ladies pool in Hampstead and can sunbathe topless in G.L.C. parks if they lie face down. If they were lying on their backs, G.L.C. staff would have to have a word with them, the chief officer of the Parks Department (Mr James Kennedy) said. “It is old-fashioned, but we believe it complies with the wishes of the majority of people in this country,” he said. Bottomless sunbathing was definitely out, he said. Scotland Yard has said it would not arrest topless women indiscriminately, but if a crowd gathered, a sunbather could be arrested for obstruction. Arrest is not the only thing naturist sunbathers have to fear. Doctors are treating more cases of sunburn than usual, especially in the south.