First time at this leisure centre for splash and slide. Please accept this as constructive criticism. I attended during āhalf termā so it was unbelievably busy to the point of rammed!
Booked in advance which was easy enough. Checked in at reception where the friendly receptionist gave us a purple band. One for me and my child. Walked through to changing rooms which were very dirty (mud all over floor) but nothing that regular cleaning could not solve. There were 3 attendants with mops and buckets chatting leisurely in the corner.
When we got to splash and slide area it was so crowded it was difficult to find a space to actually stand let alone swim/play. You were sort of herded around the pool by the crowds. There was a card on a barrier above saying purple. As there were loads of people in the area with different colour bands I assumed other colours would be leaving soon. When more and more people entered but no-one left I asked one of the attendants if the other colours would leave soon but he said that āno! There is always many colours of bands in the pool. It has a capacity of 193 and there are 130 in thereā. My question is how does he know that when there is no monitoring who goes in and out and why put a purple card on the window which was there when I went in and when I went out even though I was over my time due to struggling to get through crowds. The receptionist had advised me of the time I was allowed so none of what he said made any sense.
There were many different demographics in the pool I.e older people, disabled people, babies, toddlers young adults. In particular a lot of very enthusiastic teenagers who pushed, kicked, and continuously fell on top of vulnerable people as they threw each other into the pool due to lack of space for anyone to move out of the way.
3 young male adults were very lively throwing a small ball (which are on sale in the foyer). They were throwing it very hard at each other but it kept missing and hitting other people. It hit my child very hard on her nose causing her pain and redness. She was in tears. I also saw them hit a young boy. They clearly didnāt mean to do it. There just wasnāt enough room for this type of game. 3 tall teenage girls pushed and kicked me hard as they aggressively chased each other around a very crowded pool and I witnessed a disabled child being carried around the outside pool being shoved against the wall by teenage boys as they enthusiastically chased each other. Again nothing was meant Iām sure and Iām all for having fun but it is unavoidable if the number of people in the pool is not controlled. In my opinion there is an accident waiting to happen here.
There appeared to be plenty of ālifeguardsā around and the watched on with complete apathy! I guess they must be used to it!
Surely there is a better way to control numbers by the colour coded bands or less time in the pool for certain colours!
Leaving the pool and returning to the changing rooms the Floor was still muddy and the 3 attendants with their mops and buckets were still chatting.
We had intended to have a drink and a snack in the restaurant but it was a mess with a lot of empty tables not cleared. There seemed to be plenty of attendants but few actually doing anything.
Itās a nice pool with plenty of different avenues but the management/control lets it down badly. A great shame! I know it would have been a much better experience if the place had been managed correctly the āitās half term excuseā is not an acceptable excuse.
I havenāt given up yet. Iām going to try a swim in the main pool next week and see if itās any better and āitās not half...
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