Re-opening leisure centres and indoor swimming pools

Leisure centres in Brighton & Hove will open on a phased basis with Withdean Sports Complex opening first on Monday 27 July.

 

Although leisure centres are allowed to open from 25 July, a lot of work has to happen behind the scenes and some of Brighton & Hove’s facilities will remain closed while we work with our operator Freedom Leisure.

 

Councillor Carmen Appich, chair of the Tourism, Equalities, Communities & Culture Committee said: “We are delighted that Freedom Leisure are able to open Withdean Sports Complex so soon after the lifting of lockdown on 25 July. 

 

“We understand that residents are looking forward to going back to using their favourite gyms, swimming pools and joining live sports and fitness classes. All we can say at the moment is that we hope to be able to gradually open our facilities and that when they do customers can expect to come back to a safe environment in line with best practice guidance.” 

 

As with many other areas, leisure centres have been hard hit by the coronavirus outbreak, leaving many councils and their leisure partners stretched to the limit financially.

 

Without additional government support for leisure services there is a huge funding gap when taking into account the cost of running the facilities with all the additional measures that need to be put in place. These include physical distancing, which will impact on capacity, and the high levels of cleanliness and hygiene required. 

 

Nationally the Local Government Association is continuing to highlight the need for urgent measures to support the leisure sector to survive and earlier this month wrote to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

More information about how Freedom Leisure are getting ready to welcome back customers.