Andover Leisure Centre — Local services in Test Valley

UPDATE:

Went swimming again this evening. Upon the lifting of restrictions, they've increased the capacity for swim sessions and added another slow lane. It's now overcapacity. There was one larger slow lane with a max of 12 people which worked very well. There's now two slow smaller lanes with 8 people in - and it's awful. I got out after 15 minutes along with 7 other people who were struggling to swim as a result and I've come away with several bruises.

There are now people swimming up and down a lane that is maybe 5/6ft wide. It's honestly impossible to swim. Swimming up, the people in the next lane can kick you and vice versa, and the people coming back down can also kick you/vice versa and the same coming back down, except you're now hitting the wall on one side, which unsurprisingly really hurts. If I was able to hit a wall or hit and be hit by other people while normally exercising in the gym, that would be a problem that wouldn't get past health and safety. Why is the swimming pool different?

Seriously thinking about cancelling my membership as I'm paying to swim but... Can't swim.

Add more swim sessions instead of stuffing as many people in the pool as you can for profit. It's not safe in any fashion.

(To add insult to injury, we were then all told we were swimming in the wrong direction - apparently the lifeguards were more concerned about the direction of the lanes than people being able to swim safely...)

Facilities are great but the swimming sessions are quite scarce. Most evenings it's only 9.15pm, which is really disappointing as the town's only pool. I get it, there's clubs etc but to relegate and limit everyone else's options...

The leisure centre has pretty good facilities overall. The gym is really well equipped and would say that's the best part of the leisure centre. The centre seems great for families as it has soft play, a small climbing wall for children, lots of family sessions in the pool and a cafe. The pool is ok but the changing rooms are very cold, and it would be great if there was a woman's only swim session. The "just swim" sessions are also very busy and it's difficult to get a full length in without stopping to let people on either side of you coming towards you through, which can get really frustrating. I got kicked in the pool by a passing swimmer so feel as though the amount of people let in to each session should be far more limited. Especially as I've seen pregnant ladies using the pool. The classes are good and the instructors seem great, but they get so busy I haven't actually been able to book onto many. There is an option to be notified when a space becomes available on a class, but even with notifications enabled on the app they only send an email, so by the time I see an email the space has gone. However, considering it has the most expensive membership in town, you would expect free parking and as far as I know it's the only gym in town that doesn't have free parking. So it can get really costly if you add the price of parking to your membership costs. Not only that, but the pay and display car parks aren't big enough. I was booked in for a Sunday morning yoga class and ended up being late because none of the car parks close by had any spaces. If I'd have known about the parking before signing up, I would have got a...

Been a couple of times now and honestly its been a pain every time. Been trying to take a my 3 year old to fun swim sessions. Unless you get there early you arent getting in as they have no queue system to allow people to go in as people leave. I even asked if there was a waiting system and was told no. I was also told that there was a number of people waiting and i could wait with them. When i asked how they knew who was first and when to let them in the person i was speaking to actually looked blank. They had no idea.

Arranged to meet friends at the swimming pool and they have complained of same thing, not being able to get in.

I also have the problem that the teaching pool has nowhere near enough modulation on who enters. I have a small child who is very confident in the pool and swims very well, however more than once our experience has been ruined by poorly mannered teens. I mean i get it, teens are teens and can be silly....why are they in a teaching pool with small children?

Also went to the soft play kids area. It was getting later in the afternoon so asked what time the softplay closes. I was told its open as long as the centre is..... then got thrown out at 18:00 in the evening. The soft play also has really really poor air movement.... i mean seriously it smelled like old toddler feet. Im not just being picky here, soft play areas are not necessarily the freshest of places but this place reeks.

Not a good place in all, never going to the soft play again and would rather drive to a better managed pool than this place despite living less than...