Camden’s leisure centres, gyms and swimming pools are preparing to reopen to both members and non-members on Saturday 25 July 2020 following the latest Government guidance.
We are working closely with leisure partner and operator Better Leisure to make sure facilities are Covid-19 secure ahead of reopening. Services and activities will be re-introduced in phases to manage capacity and maximise safety, starting with gym, swim and group exercise for the first few weeks. The swimming pool at Pancras Square Leisure will reopen slightly later due to essential maintenance works in early August.
The outdoor swimming pool at Oasis Sports Centre reopened on Monday 20 July. To visit the pool, you’ll need to book a slot.
Keeping safe in Camden’s leisure centres
To keep residents and staff safe, Better Leisure has introduced a number of safety procedures which can be viewed in this short video.
Leisure centre users must pre-book gym, swim or fitness classes and pay online remotely or at the centres by card only. Each leisure centre user will only be allowed one hour on site for each activity. Users may attend one activity type per day effectively allowing customers to attend 3 sessions, provided they pre-book and leave the centre.
Physical changes to the environment in our leisure facilities to enable social distancing will include:
- reducing the amount of gym stations and relocating some equipment to other rooms (eg squash courts) to allow a 2 metre gap between users
- reallocating sports halls as studio space, increasing capacity for group exercise
- only changing rooms in swimming pools will reopen initially
- doubling the width swimming lanes
- 3 metre individual bays will be created within exercise studios to ensure a minimum of 2 metres between users during classes
- separate entrance and exits
For more information, take a look at Better Leisure’s frequently asked questions on reopening leisure services.
Steps to reopening
We’ll reopen leisure activities in phases to keep everyone safe. More information on dates (subject to review), is as follows:
Phase one - from Saturday 25 July to end August/early September 2020:
- Gym, lane swimming and group exercise reopen
- These will be available in bookable slots. Non-members can register on GLL’s website or via the Better app and get a free booking membership.
- All customers are strongly encouraged to book and pay online or via the app in advance of attending the centre, but will be able to book in-centre if they don’t have access to the internet.
- There will be no ‘front of house’ reception function in the early phases or cash transactions.
Phase two – from September to December 2020:
Subject to Government guidance, the following services may resume:
- Swimming lessons and courses, with reduced capacity.
- School swimming lessons
- Some of the council’s targeted physical activity programmes for residents with long term conditions, such adult weight management and exercise on referral, could be reintroduced with a reduced capacity.
Phase three – from January 2021 to June 2021:
Subject to Government guidance, a further rollout and expansion of phases one and two, increasing the amount of users and capacity and reintroducing further services and provisions.
More information
All of the latest information on centre reopening, including booking and safety procedures can be found on the Better Leisure Coronavirus webpages.