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A leisure centre, sports centre, recreation center, or aquatics centre is a purpose-built building or site, usually owned and provided by the local government authority, where people can engage in a variety of sports and exercise, and keep fit. [1]
Facilities typically include a swimming pool, a large sports hall, and a gym, and may include: aerobics studios, an indoor cycling studio, squash courts, a cafeteria, a licensed bar, outdoor grass and/or artificial pitches for football (soccer), hockey etc., a solarium, sauna and/or steam room. Some of its functions may overlap with that of a community centre.
Leisure centres are staffed by attendants who carry out a range of tasks to help and supervise the people using the leisure centre's facilities, and act as swimming pool lifeguards, gym instructors and coaches, offering advice, motivation, and expertise to users. Leisure centres are often operated by private companies on contract to the local authority.
Some leisure centres, particularly in Australia, are called aquatic centres, if their main facilities are pools for swimming, diving, and other aquatic sports.
Castle Point is a local government district with borough status in south Essex, England, lying 30 miles (48 km) east of central London. The borough comprises an area on the mainland and the adjoining Canvey Island in the Thames Estuary, which is connected to the mainland by bridges. The council is based in Thundersley. The borough's other main settlements are Canvey Island, Hadleigh and South Benfleet.
Cranbourne is a city in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 43 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Casey local government area. Cranbourne recorded a population of 21,281 at the 2021 census.
Grand Central Stockport is a retail, entertainment and leisure complex in Stockport, Greater Manchester. It is adjacent to Stockport railway station and the complex first opened in 1991. Since then it has included various leisure facilities such as a multiplex cinema, a swimming pool, a Cineworld Cinema a bowling alley, a gym, a Quasar complex, and various food outlets. As of 2013, the area is being redeveloped and only half of the development is still open, including the pool, along with some other businesses. The remainder of the complex nightclub and cinema has been demolished in preparation for a new multi-storey car park and office complex.
South Norwood Leisure Centre is a leisure centre located on Portland Road in South Norwood in Croydon, London. It contains a 25m sized swimming pool, teaching pool, 32 station gym and two studios. The centre is managed by Better (GLL).
The Link Centre is a leisure centre in Swindon, England. The building, owned by Swindon Borough Council and operated by Greenwich Leisure under the brand "Better", is best known for its national-sized ice rink which houses a National Ice Hockey League team, the Swindon Wildcats.
The Adelaide Aquatic Centre is a complex of indoor heated swimming pools operated by the Adelaide City Council and located in the northernmost extent of the Adelaide Parklands in North Adelaide, Australia. It is located in the square of parkland bordered by Jeffcott Street, Barton Terrace West, Prospect Road and Fitzroy Terrace. There is a car park to the west whose entrance is off Jeffcott Street, but the entrance to the centre itself faces north, towards Fitzroy Terrace. The centre opened on 20 December 1969.
The King Alfred Leisure Centre, owned by Brighton and Hove City Council and operated by Freedom Leisure, is the largest wet and dry sport centre in the city of Brighton and Hove and is situated on Hove sea front.
Canberra International Sports and Aquatic Centre (CISAC) is a privately owned sport centre located in Bruce, a suburb of Canberra, Australia. CISAC is home to the CISAC swim academy and the Ginninderra Marlins swimming club.
Sports and Leisure Management Limited (SLM) is a leisure management company that was formed in Hinckley, Leicestershire, United Kingdom in 1987. It trades under the name Everyone Active, which is its consumer brand. At present, the company manages over 200 leisure centres on the behalf of over 50 local authorities and trusts all over England. It provides sports and leisure services to approximately 2.7million members and caters for 3.2million visitors each month.
Southend Leisure & Tennis Centre is a sports centre located in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. The centre was built in March 1996 and expanded in November 2010, adding Southend Swimming and Diving Centre to the site, with a new reception area linking the two centres together with self-swiping turnstiles. The site's main name remained as Southend Leisure & Tennis Centre with the addition of Southend Swimming and Diving Centre. The centre is also known as Garon Park, as the buildings sit within the park site. The centre is run by Fusion Lifestyle.
Most leisure centres in Cardiff, capital of Wales, are owned by Cardiff Council. Since 2016, the running of eight formerly Council-run leisure centres has been outsourced to Greenwich Leisure Limited, operating under their 'Better' branding. Channel View Leisure Centre continues to be managed by Cardiff Council, whilst the Cardiff International Pool in Cardiff Bay is run separately by another private company.
Camberwell Public Baths opened in 1892 and has been in continuous operation as publicly funded community baths and more recently as a public leisure centre.
Woking Park is a large park and leisure complex in Woking, Surrey, operated and maintained by Woking Borough Council. The park is in the Hoe Valley and will be affected by the Hoe Valley Scheme.
Public swimming pools in Hong Kong are managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD). There are 44 public swimming pools in Hong Kong; 9 in Hong Kong Island, 13 in Kowloon, and 22 in the New Territories. LCSD manages public swimming pools according to Law of Hong Kong Chapter 132 sections 42 to 45.
The Plymouth Life Centre is a leisure centre in Central Park, Plymouth run by Plymouth Active in partnership with Plymouth City Council. Its facilities include a family leisure pool, a climbing wall, an eight-lane indoor bowls centre, fitness suite, a 10 lane 50-metre Olympic standard swimming pool, an Olympic standard diving pool, along with dryside training facilities, showers and a multipurpose area for dance and martial arts. It is currently the only 12 court multipurpose sports hall in Devon. The climbing wall facility is managed by High Sports. The aquatic facilities are the largest facility in southern England and were used by several teams training for the 2012 Olympics. The Life Centre replaces the Mayflower Centre and Central Park Leisure Pools. It opened in March 2012 at a cost of £46.5m.
Sandwell Aquatics Centre is an indoor facility located in Londonderry, Smethwick, West Midlands, England. It contains an Olympic-size swimming pool, a 10-metre diving board with 25 metre pool, a community swimming pool and permanent seating for 1,000 spectators with an additional 4,000 seats during the Games. Construction began in January 2020 and opened on 12 April 2022 to mark 100 days until the start of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.