Haven Point — Attraction in South Tyneside

I really like this pool, but if you actually want to swim, forget it!. It's an 8 lane pool, with 4 lanes provided for "general use" two lanes for social swimming and two for swim training.

Staff however, do nothing maintain lane etiquette, despite their being boards, at the end.of the pool explaining this. They may as well not bother, with lanes, some people don't respect the purpose of each lane. Lanes 7 and 8 are for swim training, yet it was far from uncommon for your your swim to be cut short, by people swimming doggy paddle or social swimmers, who swim slowly and chat as they go, usually swimming in the middle of the lane and preventing you from swimming anything, but at their pace. Don't bother speaking to the lifeguard either, despite it being a safety issue.

The lifeguards choose not to do anything about it, if you do speak to them, you get shot down in flames and told "they are swimming, so they training, remember not every one can swim as well as you". I can swim, but I'm not a particularly fast swimmer. I explained, that it states on the board "that you should chose the lane best suited to your speed" I was snapped at and told you'll have to slow down" i don't mind slowing down a bit, but to three minutes a length?

If you approach the shift manager, your made to feel like a liar and told, "well if that's what is happening, the lifeguards will act on it. Well sorry, no they don't.

Issues around the lane etiquette seem to be commonly experienced, Over thr months I attended, on a number of occassions I witnessed arguments break out as swimmers became frustrated, by the situation and safety being compremised. I may sound here, like I'm demanding a lane, because I can swim, I'm not. I just don't want to cause injury to someone, by swimming into them, with my face in the water I can only see the bottom of the pool!

It's a great facility, which should be able to accomodate everyone. It has a jacuzzi, slides, steam room and sauna and it's an eight lane pool.

Unfortunately, I have now given up on Haven Point, cancelled my membership and...

Decently priced, All 3 pools are great. (Little kids pool, slightly deeper pool and a proper swimming pool.) Aswell as 2 rather fun slides. The jakuzie is a hit and miss as sometimes it can be quite cold and full of little children and other times it can be warm and pretty much empty (depends on time of day...) I go frequently and it is a great laugh with freinds and family. The prices are reasonable for childrens swimming passes, and you get 1 hour 30 minuets in the pools; there are open showers next to the pool for a quick rince off and cubical showers with male and female sections (same as a toilet.) The lockers are £1, so bring change, and you get your pound back when you put the key in your locker. There is also a fun fair park and kids soft play close by if you dont fancy going home quite yet. Location:8/10 Toilets/showers:8/10 Swimming pools:9/10 Staff:10/10 (if you be respectful they are respectful back)

On my last visit, there were 2 girls that kept going down the blue slide together even though its a 1 person slide, due to this they were formaly told off by a member of male staff to which they replied with insults to him and parents whom were trying to get the girls to leave. The staff have a strict policy meaning they can not physically touch you in order to remove you from the pool and so the girls refused to leave. The member of staff then called for more staff and eventually the 2 girls left the pool but came back afterwards. As i was leaving the members of staff found them and tried once again to professionally deal with the situation, but there wasnt much they could do. Overall the staffs preformance in this situation gets a...

Decent facilities and great staff in hand for advice and support. Havenpoint provides a wide variety of classes and opportunities suited for a wide variety of ages and fitness levels, so you don't ever need to feel left out. It would be nice if there was more space and up-to-date equipment to work with for the number of people who turn up, since a lot of the equipment has been there for multiple years. It's still great and provides a great environment to workout and take part in various leisurely activities like swimming and yoga.

RECENT UPDATE: Put to 3 Stars as there is constant rotation of staff from other council ran gyms and the they are poor. Today, the staff member wearing the uniform from Hebburn on shift in the gym around early afternoon wasn't great. Constantly lazing around sitting on machines others want to use and constantly on his phone. There was also customers behind barricade he would ignore and forget about whilst having conversations with others. Sort the staff it out! In addition to this the staff are very lazy in seeing people coming into the sauna and steamroom on a constant without any bands on. It's in their jobs to catch anybody without bands on and make sure they don't enter into those premises but the staff constantly fails on this. May as well be no...