Dimensions Leisure Centre

Fantastic experience: My kids love to go

Negative experience: Was made to feel like a piece of trash by the receptionist. There was an incident in the pool and miscommunication from the staff made us lose way more time than the incident itself. After the session I tried to kindly ask the receptionist, if we are entitled to any kind of reimbursement. I would have completely understood an explanation of pool policies, but the second I said we did get back in the pool, I got a very rude "No, you don't get anything!". I don't expect them to know at what time each customer got back in the pool, but I felt like this person thinks we had a wonderful time and now I've come to make some unreasonable demands. Anxiously I tried to explain what happened in our case and why I've come to disturb her with my question. Only managed to say "So we were told..." when she immediately interrupted me and told me to stop shouting at her. I tried my best to be calm, speak quietly and explain myself, but yet again I got told off before I got halfway through the sentence. It seemed like in her opinion I'm an entitled brat who has come to demand a refund I don't deserve and yell at the staff when I don't get my way. I was standing there like a fool trying to understand, if I will get any kind of proper conversation from this person or a chance to appologise for sounding rude (in her opinion), but eventually I walked away, because I felt like she will continue to berate me the same way she's done so far. And I was right. When I left, she called after me saying she can give me a voucher. I absolutely regret going back for it, because while sorting the voucher she proceeded to rudely tell me how I already got the session I had paid for. I feel like the only reason she offered me the voucher was to make sure I know exactly how entitled and completely in the wrong I am. As someone who has worked in customer service for many years, I'm truly shocked this kind of person is allowed to work with people. I don't remember anyone ever talking to me in such a rude and berating manner. Not even the most complicated customers I've had to deal with myself. For days I've been thinking if I should write a review. Since I was not allowed to say a word during this whole thing, at least I have a chance to warn others to not expect meeting the "friendly reception team" they advertise on their website.

Fantastic experience: Had great time because my autistic/ASD friend staff and lifeguard able use free armbands because of my disability which on poole side which can use

Positive experience: Smaller than what I was expecting. Reasonable priced, friendly staff and the pool was nice and warm. Nice and clean and had warm showers. It was nice and quite when we went and it was a good experience

Negative experience: Staff are incompetent and have no willingness to do the basics of their job, they have been this way for over 25 years. The Newly refurbed pitches are already filling with rubbish and staff still can’t be bothered to open the gates for ball collection.

Negative experience: We attended for the first time a sensory splash session for my disabled son. The music was too loud even when asked to turn it down. The pool was dirty as were the changing rooms. The lifeguards were more interested in talking to each other than supervising the session. Overall very poor. We will not be recommending this to our community

Fantastic experience: I love it I went and it’s sooo sick

Fantastic experience: Great place my lad loves going here

Positive experience: Wasn't bad needs a revamp , but we had fun , that's all that counts

Fantastic experience: Good starter swimming lessons for kids. They also email if there are issues with teacher availability so you don't turn up to find out a lesson isn't on.

Negative experience: Lockers need replacing all rusty only a few work and if you do get one that works you struggle to open it again I cut my finger opening the locker as it was stiff and rusty needs a refurbishment.

Positive experience: Mediocre swimming pool with basic facilities, two warmed pools and a small rapids type area. Some areas of the pool area look dirty but overall ok for a quick swim with the kids. Staff sound miserable and no one keeps tabs on the soft play area. Worth a try just dont go in with high expectations

Negative experience: Very dated, and not very clean. Staff friendly and helpful upon entry and pricing for a family swim not too bad as long as you get a full session. Daughter enjoyed it but it was busy and quite crowded in the pool area. Changing cubicles and flooring were not clean lockers take 50p which you don't get back. Food and drink in the cafe area overpriced and lacks enough seating for the number of people trying to use it. There are much better options within reasonable travel distance.

Fantastic experience: Brilliant facilities, lots going on all the time. Good value for money

Positive experience: Went to check things for a risk assessment to take some children. The staff showed me around which were great . You have to pay for parking £1.50 for 3 hours unless you have a disabled badge . Then it is free .50 p for lockers which you don’t get back . At different times of the day they have different pools open .Not a big place to go .There is a slide open on certain sessions. A small Hydro pool . The Changing rooms , they have disabled one with a hoist , family and single ones . The pool and changing rooms are not that big . There is a cafe . An area to watch , soft play area . Sensory area which is an extra cost but you can hire for yourselves or share with others . There is a gym again extra cost but you can get a membership or pay o the door . The car park is big . They have a pool for swimming lessons, two sensory times a week for people who have extra needs . The carers get in free. Family swims . They provide arm bands for all ages . The chlorine smell when you went in was very strong but don’t let that put you off . You get use to it .

Positive experience: Great place for the kids, safety is taken very seriously. Reasonable price and lovely staff. The only negative is ist a little dated now and could do with revamping but the kids don't notice that.

Negative experience: Reception is pathetic, everytime you ring they take ages to answer and most times it goes to voicemail, and by the time they respond it too late to do anything. This happens every week really need sort it out. I've been ringing for the lat 60 mins today with no luck. Imagine if you have an emergency or special requirements there's no one to help

Positive experience: Great for taking kids to play. Ideal for young and non swimmers. Limited changing rooms but otherwise a good place. The fantasy pool and dragon slide was a hit with the kids and there is some fun activity sections for them to play. There are a couple of hot tubs in the rapids which were popular and the non swimmers were allowed to use the rapids as long as the had armbands on. A great 90 minutes of fun swimming.

Positive experience: Pool is great for younger kids, good value compared to how expensive a lot of places are now. There is a soft play that you get entry to along with swimming. Gets very busy, definitely book in online or phone before. Whole place could do with a lick of paint, but it's clean. You do have to pay for parking and 50p for a locker.

Fantastic experience: The people I work with really enjoy this place and we go every week, would recommend to people with young children, staff are very nice and helpful

Negative experience: Paid togoin and was only allowed to stay in for 30 mins . Was not told how much time was leftover. I did look on line for times and it said 9-11

Fantastic experience: Take our granddaughter gymnastics here great place and a nice cafe

Positive experience: The kids and I really enjoyed it. It was clean, the facilities were good and the staff were great. It wasn't too busy either. I'd recommend it.

Positive experience: Pricing is OK and we had a great time with 3 kids of 9, 6 and 3. They enjoyed the rapids and the slide. 90 minutes was the perfect amount of time. They could do with 1 or 2 more slides and also need to look at updating the locker room area. Very old school with non refundable lockers, something from the 90s. Overall, a decent visit and we'd go back.

Fantastic experience: Took my son here for the first time. Very child friendly. Will definitely be back again. Had a great time.

Positive experience: Best value for money water fun for the family, from toddlers to pre-teens. Heated pool is a luxury compared to swimming pools who have dialled the temperature down for cost savings, to the point where kids teeth chatter.

Positive experience: Its a fun pool as theres nowhere really to actually swim. Can be good fun, but been in desperate need for extention for years. Way too small.

Fantastic experience: Had a great experience here with the kids clean changing rooms and the pool was warm offering a good swimming experience for both adults and children and way cheaper than waterworld.

Positive experience: Was packed but give them credit at least they were open with lifeguards more than I can say for kidsgrove sports centre.

Positive experience: 3 stars are for the staff actually in the swimming pool who are lovely shame to say that the staff at reception are not which is a massive let down customer sevice is terrible also says they shut at 6 but clearly shut before. As everything is turned off way before 6

Negative experience: They make your conduct a ‘swim’ test in the water to ensure your children don’t need armbands. The swim test is in the beach area of the pool in half a foot of water. The children must do full front crawl and full breaststroke. Because my children cannot co-ordinate breaststroke arms and legs together and kicked front crawl legs whilst breathing she told me they couldn’t go in without armbands on. My daughter is 8 and just did her first swimming gala. When I disputed that not knowing two strokes perfectly technically does not mean they are not capable of swimming she told me it was because they stood up at the end of the swim. If you want to actually check people can swim perhaps do it a depth where natural instinct isn’t to stand up as soon as your kicks touch the floor of the pool… she then dismissed me by saying she needed to watch the pool. I was a lifeguard for over 10 years and swimming teacher and I’ve never known such a ridiculous policy. We were taught to question any suspected non swimmers and keep an eye on them if need be. If they are struggling then intervene. Absolving parents of their full responsibility to ensure their child can swim and is safe is nonsense. I know what my children are capable of. I refused to put armbands on my children and we just avoided the rapids instead. Whoever the policymaker is probably needs to rethink as it just makes children feel embarrassed when of an age where arm bands just look ridiculous. Your locker also swallows a 50p if you open it to get your forgotten goggles which is a pain. I wish they’d mention at reception as the sign on the locker is tiny.

Positive experience: This is a great place to take the kids swimming. it's cheap they have a slide and rapids also they do swimming lessons for children and private lessons aswell good prices and the staff are really nice

Fantastic experience: Kids love splashing around and playing here would recommend

Positive experience: It’s a great place for kids, but really need to book the session after 12ish. They let that much people on it’s hard to move around The staff are fantastic tho and prices are very reasonable a great afternoon out.

Positive experience: Lovely local venue for a trip out with the children. Swimming pool, play area, food and drinks. Also, a gym, classes etc.

Positive experience: Fantastic swimming pool design. Really great fun with kids. All staff we met were really helpful. The place is a little tired to say the least, but as we know reflects how our country is managed, perhaps Amazon could refurbish it.

Negative experience: Turned up here to use the pool and the session ended at 1pm, we turned up at 12.10 so there was no point in going in, there are no times for swimming on the website. We were very disappointed!! We travelled here especially, we ended up having to go to a different pool.

Fantastic experience: Great leisure centre to take your kids for a swim & there is also a soft play area which is free of charge if your children have been for a swim. Prices are also reasonable!

Positive experience: Cheep day out for the kids compared to most water parks only 1 slide tho the pool is heated and clean plenty of lifeguards

Positive experience: I often take a group of young people swimming for work and they are always friendly. The life guards listen if I need to tell them important information about a young person. They also help if I let them know how to help a young person be more independent for e.g how to communicate them to have them wait on the slide so the young person doesn't need a staff member, every time. Always understanding and show no judgement.

Negative experience: The swimming lessons and the trainers are amazing, my issue is with the cofe bar, it is not the first time when we stop there for a coffee and never had an issue, but also it was a different person preparing it, today we received water instead of coffee, I asked if there was an issue with the machine he said no, but he gladly prepared another coffee which again was water, i couldn't go again to tell him as i was too embarrassed, i dont think i will have a coffee there again

Fantastic experience: Great day out for the kids. We went for the early afternoon leisure swim on a Sunday and it was pretty busy. It wasn't so bad that you couldn't move but if you have any nervous little swimmers maybe pick a quieter time. Older kids loved it

Positive experience: Very good leisure centre swimming really good for the price plus a soft play in the reception area nice little bonus.Could do with updating lockers most lockers these days you get your money back.Would be nice for Customers to have Free parking while you using the facilities.

Negative experience: Had to wear armbands at the age of 9 and could touch floor and can swim perfectly not going again

Negative experience: Rubbish customer service we use the pitches every week which we pay alot for and had a query, been calling for last couple days no answer at all. No wonder they might close if they cant do simple things like that.

Negative experience: Whole experience was a bit...meh. Don't plan on getting in touch with this centre over the phone number that they provide, soon as you select your option the line WILL be busy and you'll never speak to anyone. Turned up earlier than our time slot to get changed and ready for our time slot. Nope! You're not allowed. They only let you in 5-10 mins before your slot. You'll need 50p coin for your locker too! (Non-refundable 50p....in this day n age , so if you forget your goggles you have to pay 50p again) The whole booking 'process' was a farce, website and app is terrible, good luck! Ontop of that the Fantasy Pool itself is 'ok'. What can I say about it...it's quite small, but on the plus side it's less rusty and moldy than WaterWorld just up the road

Negative experience: Over priced dirty hole Food stupid prices Swimming for 2 adults 2 children priced ridiculous Over crowded pool which is dangerous for toddlers!!! Had to wait 2 hours to get in and get changed put are gear in filthy locker at 50p evertime you open it up then to top it off get in the water and it was absolutely freezing for a adult!!! So when my 2 year old when she got in she went blue and shivering and crying she wasnt in there for even 5min be4 i had to take her out and go home with her absolute joke run by children now im 50 quid less and too unhappy upset children

Fantastic experience: Excellent value for money...staff very helpful and facilities are really good

Positive experience: Daughter loves swimming here. Always warm inside and good water temperature. Ideal for little kids. Only downside is the changing area is quite dated and could do with a face-lift

Fantastic experience: We went to a sensory sesdion here it was so loveley for the peoplexwith xtra needs they loved it

Negative experience: Me and two of my friends visited here recently, one of my friends had just had a baby and was already nervous about going. This was made far worse when we got there by staff members laughing and talking about us. They made no attempt to hide the fact they were doing so and on several occasions laughed in our faces, specifically a younger girl with blonde curly hair. Myself and one of my friends got out of the pool and when we did so the female staff member laughed and pointed at us to the other employees on shift. What was supposed to be a lovely experience was completely overshadowed by the immature and unpleasant demeanour displayed by the staff. My friend who had brought her baby swimming for the first time ended up leaving crying due to how self conscious she was made to feel. I would never return due to this experience and would encourage others to stay away if you are looking for a family friendly atmosphere.

Fantastic experience: Great aqua classes, boot camp with Nathan excellent service support and advice

Negative experience: The booking process failed ,I paid over the phone on 7 nov but had to pay again upon arrival as name was not on the list .Now I have to make a special journey to provide physical evidence of duplicate payments. The special event was not so special attendant dressed as elves and bubbles to create the illusion of snow falling and some xmas music.

Fantastic experience: Great for an affordable swim with the kiddies. Helpful staff and very clean and tidy. Food is super affordable in the little café, and its great to be able to grab a beer there too. Swimming lessons are also really reasonably priced and the children are well supported, in decent sized classes and progress well with their badges etc. The mini softplay area is brill for when you're a bit early to a lesson or they aren't quite tired enough afterwards! Grabbing a bite to eat and letting them play whilst it is cooking. Fab. I haven't used the gym, myself, so I can't review that. But I do know that the astroturf pitches are managed much better than they were and it is now clean, safe and monitored by staff. There is a cost for parking, but that becomes free if you purchase a gym membership. The car parks are huge, so lots of room to leave your vehicle. There is wheelchair accessible parking and entrance to the building and the staff are very helpful if anything further is needed. I'm not sure of their wheelchair policy, but I'm sure they will offer as much as they can.

Positive experience: Nice pool and reasonably priced. There's a slide and lots of fountains to play with. A rapids thing and a hot tub. I just wish the water was warmer because it was pretty chilly... Although to be fair I don't know how you'd achieve that with the cost of energy these days! But something to mention because I wouldn't bring a baby here (my kids are 7 and 9) Arm bands are provided and lifeguards are attentive, all the kids (and adults!) were very well behaved.

Fantastic experience: Fantastic Pool, Gym and Cafe with an awesome area for children. Been a visitor for the last 15 years . Would recommend the Gym awesome atmosphere and friendly Staff. Fantastic.

Fantastic experience: Pool was clean and perfect for kids great value staff welcoming helpful and alert to whats going on in pool soft play area is brill kids loved it highly recommend and will be going again

Fantastic experience: Fantastic for the price. Family of 4 can swim for the same as one person at bigger water parks. The kids loved the rapids and slide. Small but they'd have happily stayed longer if we hadn't had to get back to the dog.

Positive experience: I'd say it's a good place take younger kids but there isn't much for the older ones but for the price it's enjoyable

Positive experience: Good for kids and well priced a revamp wouldn't go a miss though

Positive experience: Went for a family swim. Changing rooms are very outdated now and very cramped. Nearly all lockers are broken. Take 50ps for the lockers, not pounds and parking is £1.50. The pool itself is good for kids, not for a big swim. There's a mini rapid style area you can float through. And a slide that the kids will love. There is also a small pool you can swim in, but this was closed when we went. Honestly, the whole area looked grimy and has aged a lot. Does not look like it has had any money invested back into it at all.

Positive experience: Good for its price and great entertainment,but no private showers which puts it down.

Negative experience: Absolutely shocking,only got 20 mins on pool before we got kicked out because someone had a poo in there!!! IM DEMANDING A FULL REFUND VERY ANGRY

Positive experience: The building and facilities are looking a bit dated but still fun, more aimed at smaller kids as the pools quite small however the lady signing us in was absolutely fantastic, we’d accidentally paid for an extra person, she spotted the mistake and refunded us without making any fuss. Extremely kind of her to do so. The pool part itself is fun and very reasonably priced.

Positive experience: My youngest (7) has loved going here for years now. Its a little run down but the younger kids have a great time. Not too big and usually not too crouded. Older kids go too and seem to enjoy themselves. Everyone always seems to have a nice time here. Staff are helpful and friendly.

Negative experience: It's a pay for everything establishment. We only tried the swimming..the pool and slide are excellent. I do have a serious issue with the pay for locker! You have to have a locker if you go swimming, so why is it an extra charge!!?? It gets worse; if you need shampoo or anything for the showers, you have to pay again or leave it unlocked - really?? This is the only place that I have ever been charged for using a locker. I only found three showers - totally inadequate. The cafe area is a tad small and have no seats available when it is busy. You also have to pay to park. Two stars are for the water experience.

Fantastic experience: Dimensions is a firm family favourite! The rapids and dragon slide are great children and adults alike. The cafe is also superb value for a range of options.

Fantastic experience: What a wonderful pool! We booked for an afternoon session and it didn't disappoint. Very reasonable pricing. The staff were very friendly and helpful. The facilities were clean and tidy. The pool itself is amazing, three hot pools a lazy river/rapids, a brilliant baby/toddler series of pools and a very good slide indeed. We will definitely be back!

Negative experience: The swimming area is amazing, but try to get ahold of them over the phone for weeks and still haven't been able to get through to them.

Fantastic experience: Good value day with kids! It's small for an adventure water park but just the right size of little ones and a bit older. Rapids, jacuzzis, 1 flume, paddling pools and splash zone

Fantastic experience: Great price for young children wanting a water slide, rapids and small pool.

Positive experience: It's a lovely pool for younger children , I take my grandchildren there most Sundays and we love it ,the receptionist isnt very friendly, she completed my transaction without even looking up from her computer screen and unfortunately the changing room's are just awful , just dirty , we went last week and there was somthing that looked like blood all up the door and on all sides of the cubicle, however when you come out of the pool they have a really good cafe, the prices are very very reasonable and you get enough food to fill them hungry tummys after you have been swimming , mine are always starving and there is the climbing thingie for them to play on free if you have paid to go in the pool. ☺

Negative experience: My kids really enjoyed it hear at first but within about 10-15 minutes of being here my wife started to get red watery eyes, a tight chest and red blotches. My kids were complaining about having a dry throat and tight chest and also had red eyes. Obviously swimming places like this use chlorine but on this day I think there was to much of it in the water. Overall seems a good place and can sometimes get really busy but definitely something to think about as this affected my family all day after going.

Positive experience: Luckily, it wasn't very busy, so we were able to enjoy ourselves. The kids loved it

Positive experience: Good selection of swimming areas. Big slide for the older kids and some smaller pools for the littler kids. There is also the rapids and the little water sprinklers. Changing rooms need a good clean as they were gross and based on that, I wouldn't rush back as there are other choices, but a cheaper alternative to Splash landings and Water world. A couple of things to mention, you pay 50p for the locker that you don't get back and the car park is £1.50 for 3 hours.

Fantastic experience: It's a good place to spend time with children at the pool. Children like it a lot, especially the dragon slide

Fantastic experience: Such a great place to take the children swimming. And the gym facilities are great. Staff are all very friendly

Positive experience: Fun for the kids, smaller than expected. Good for the rapids but the hour and a half time slot is enough.

Negative experience: Staff never pick up the phone. I have tried to ring a number of times, on different days and you'll get put in queue then they just hang up when you reach 1st. The website never works to book either, I've now been locked out of my account and thus having to resort to call them.

Fantastic experience: Great value for money. The soft play is a great added bonus too. Lockers could do with an update (lots out of order/broken) but this would be a quick fix

Positive experience: Visited for the 1st time and you know its kind of small but for the price its good value. Got a decent slide and also a rapids and the kids enjoyed it, it was a cheap few hours compared to places like Waterworld. Worn the little man out anyhow

Positive experience: We usually really enjoy our time with our one year old here. But today the pool was far too cold for him and we left early. Looking around we weren't the only ones that felt this way as others also left early.

Fantastic experience: Visited today, after 33 years! Lady on reception very welcoming & helpful.The staf supervising around helpful attentive.Key I was unable to turn, young man assisted.THANK YOU

Fantastic experience: Brilliant for the price just a shame half of the things weren't open when we went but I would definitely go again and the Pool Side Cafe is perfect for non participation guests.

Fantastic experience: Fully equipped sensory room/other sections. For unlimited fun, feel free to ask if you ever get stuck on how to operate any equipment.

Fantastic experience: Cheap place to go in the holidays with the kids Plenty of life guards on patrol Clean and friendly atmosphere

Negative experience: My son was using the outside sports facilities with the scouts. I could not believe the amount of litter all over. I looked terrible. I was not happy for the children playing around all that litter. It could look so nice if they just took some care of it.

Positive experience: Love the gym here, go all the time. But watch out for the many wet floor signs, random cones and buckets that are left all over the place to collect rain water from the leaking roof. This can be an absolute nightmare for a blind person who walks with a white cane, as you can imagine. Staff are lovely and helpful, if not for the help of the staff I would not be able to do my work outs as a blind person. STOKE-ON-TRENT CITY COUNCIL PLEASE SORT OUT THE LEAKING ROOF THAT MAKES IT A NIGHTMARE FOR DISABLED PEOPLE.

Positive experience: It'd great for young ones, not too big, my only negative is there is a really warm jacuzzi at the top and it's always closed... I can't understand...

Positive experience: Alright for the kids. Better places available, surprises me that you have to pay for the carpark on top too and then the lockers take your 50p, with a one time opening system... Little rubbish... But again okay place for the kids and place music adding to the chilled vibe. No where to really swim though.

Positive experience: Used the gym and liked the amount of equipment that is available. Staff friendly and helpful all areas are clean and regularly cleaned. Liked it and will use again

Fantastic experience: We had a great time, the water dragon slide is a lot of fun and the river rapids were brill. Worth a trip! Only down side was the parking machines which need replacing and why not make it free for families!

Positive experience: No one ever answers the phone. Same result on multiple occasions. If you leave message they do generally get back to you but no ay to run a business. Pool is great fun but could do with a revamp. Every time I have been the slide has been closed.

Negative experience: Had to give it a 1 but -1 is more suitable, if your child has the ability to swim but lifeguards and managers say otherwise and have a child in tears don't bother

Negative experience: Hosted a charity football match on the 3g pitches. Collectively we had to pay over £40 in car park fees.

Fantastic experience: Good facilities and receptionist was very friendly and helpful with queries and equipment hire. Badminton courts were set up for us just before we arrived. Difficult to view prices online. Booking was easy on the phone. Quite low prices for hiring of sports courts.

Fantastic experience: Want to say it's horrible so you don't all turn up and make it crowded but.. its a great place with an equally great entry price. We go often, my children love it and I get to have a go on the dragon slide!! Clean, safe with a Costa outside.

Positive experience: Facilities are ok, but the reception team are useless. They will answer the phone 1/10 times and that’s if you’re lucky. Useless if you want information.

Positive experience: It is good for kids and families but not really a swimming pool. The staff were nice and the water was really warm, which makes a change from Biddulph which is like swimming in an ice bath. Car parking is a pain as making people pay for parking is poor and this is why its 3 stars and not 4.

Negative experience: This review relates to a 'swimming' trip and not the other facilities. As others have commented, the small pool was closed when my family and I visited, so it wasn't possible to swim properly. No obvious reason why, it wasn't being used for lessons or similar. The facilities are similar to what you might find at a Haven holiday park, more for small children to splash around, rather than swim. Generally quite tired, no proper information online, not particularly clean and very over zealous in terms of making those under 1.4m wear arm bands in the 'rapids', even including competent swimmers. I get they have a duty of care and have to manage risk, but what is enforced is over the top in comparison to elsewhere. The slide was good. Quite congested (reception included, which really doesn't work when people are queueing for a session) and poor acoustics in the 'pool' room.