London Aquatics Centre

Negative experience: Unfortunately the facility is going down the drain since the new management took over from Better. They pushed out the old staff and now 21 year olds with no management experience were promoted managers. They overbook lanes, let swim clubs book lanes cramping 50 people into 2-3 lanes (this has resulted in injuries), they introduced ridiculous cancellation fees taking away any ounce of flexibility offered, they have no phone number to reach customer service so if you need anything good luck as they do not respond to enquiries online, the new life guards are paying no attention (when people were swimming recklessly customers had to beg life guards to do their job - again a consequence of putting people with no experience in charge). Cancelled my membership after nearly 2 years. Such a shame. Avoid and stick to a facility run by Better. No regard for safety, or customer service. They only care about increasing profits.

Fantastic experience: I want to express my gratitude to the staff at Gratis for arranging my membership so seamlessly. Their knowledge, exceptional talent, and outstanding customer care truly set them apart. A special shout out to Gratis for making the experience so memorable. Thanks to his professionalism, this center has become one of my favorites. Highly recommend!

Negative experience: I’ve been a member here for years and the facilities are fantastic, but this place has deteriorated significantly since Everyone Active took over. One has to wonder if the management ever uses the facilities, as even the basics are woefully neglected. Most of the showers, water fountains, hair dryers, and swim costume dryers are broken and have been for months. Of the showers that do work, the water is scaldingly hot and barely comes out at a trickle. The accessible shower is constantly broken, and the lift outside the centre has been out of order for more than six months. Surely london’s legacy Olympic centre, previous host of the Paralympics, should be prioritizing accessibility for all members of the public! Where has the half million pound investment gone? Clearly not into the basic infrastructure of this flagship facility. There is a giant lcd screen above the training pool now but no working clock. And in the competition pool, someone had the bright idea of putting up a fence of advertisements that block swimmers’ view of the only working clock. This was once london’s most prized swimming facility- very disappointing to see it in such a neglected state. I am posting this on behalf of many regular swimmers - we are all paying members and disappointed at the lack of due care to the maintenance of the facilities. We hope our feedback will result in some positive actions to bring it up to standard.

Fantastic experience: Always a fantastic swimming experience at the London Aquatics Centre. The pool is just phenomenal. It is so lucky to have a great 50metre in London. Love it.

Negative experience: This gym has absolutely fantastic facilities (including a studio and spin room) but I have cancelled my membership after one month as, like other gyms that have recently switched hands from Better, the company running is has no interest in what is best for members. It also serves as a gym for the GB drivers and they regularly cancel classes or move them to the humid area above the pool in order to accommodate the athletes. This isnt a problem but it shouldn't be operating as a gym for the public. Poor management, limited number of classes.

Positive experience: Great. Could do with dryers for your swim suit and the cafe service is pretty pants but overall great value for money

Fantastic experience: Wow. If you have EveryoneActive membership, you can swim at the 2012 Olympic venue! Also has a smaller warmer pool and a gym

Positive experience: I am glad I quit Be-Well (purveyors of public swimming in Lutfur's Republic of Tower Hamlets). London Aquatics website works well and the changing rooms are much cleaner than the changing rooms in Tower Hamlets' pools. My only gripe is that I cannot park my Lime Bike by the pool. I have to park it 6 minutes walk away and then traverse several hazardous road junctions. What is the point of this? There is plenty of space by the pool to allow Lime Bike parking. Furthermore both the park and the swimming pool should be supporting more active travel. Who do I write to get this sorted - Lime, the park, the swimming pool???

Negative experience: Nothing short of incompetent!! I have been coming here regularly since May 2024. I don’t really know how I’ve lasted this long. There are always issues! I pay for swimming lessons for my 2 kids and have a fitness membership for myself. 1. Women’s only sessions: these run on a Thursday morning only 7-8 & 8-9, the first few times I came to these sessions back in May/ April- there’d be male lifeguards and fathers arriving for baby swim class during the session. I complained a few times about this because although having spoken up about it to the managers- this continued for a few weeks after. I stopped going to this session. I don’t know if it still continues. 2. I come to the centre twice in one day for the kids swimming lesson; morning and afternoon session. I use a pushchair and 9/10 the lift is not working and I have to walk all the way round to get to the centre. Very irritating. 3. There’s always some issue with the gate access at the reception. When you ask at the desk they tell you to ‘use your card’ ‘just swipe your card’ Frustrating. So so frustrating. 4. On 2 or 3 occasions, I have been rung 15mins before the beginning of the swim lesson to be told it’s cancelled. I’m already on my way at this point- just ridiculous. 5. Since about September we’ve been experiencing having a different swim teacher each week. Not consistent teaching and I see little progress due to this. 6. Why is there an aquarobics class with blasting loud music across the pool during a baby &parent swim lesson?! Overstimulating and distracting for the little ones. Can hardly hear the swim teacher. Like I said, I just don’t know how I held on for this long but very recently I called the centre to find out about freezing my kids lessons for the winter. I was told that this is possible and it would be better if I came in person to speak to someone from the membership team. I did just that today and was met with ‘we don’t freeze swimming lessons’. That was the last straw for me- I’ve cancelled all my memberships! (P.s the lift wasn’t working today either!!)

Negative experience: The experience has been worsen and worsen since the changeover. Don’t recommend a membership here at all if you got other choice

Positive experience: The pool is great and changing rooms are clean. But water is a bit cold and the booking process on the website is overly complicated. It’s easier via the app, but you shouldn’t need an app to book a swimming session.

Positive experience: I wanted to share some feedback about my experience at the gym. Overall, I appreciate the convenient location friendly staff and the setup; however, a few issues have affected my enjoyment, and I’m considering my membership options if these aren’t improved. First, cleanliness is a concern. There are often times when the gym is out of wipes for equipment, and I’ve noticed that not everyone uses them regularly. This can create an uncomfortable and potentially unhygienic environment, especially post-COVID. The other significant issue is the temperature and humidity, which can make cardio sessions very challenging. The gym frequently feels quite hot, likely due to the proximity of the pool, but also stuffy. Improving ventilation would make a huge difference here, as the air often feels heavy, mouldy and humid, which doesn’t feel healthy at all for an exercise space.

Negative experience: The only decent 50m pool in central London vicinity. But why is it being ruined by poor management?! Closed way too often for random events but still have to pay for full membership. State of facilities is barely acceptable. Why are people allowed to go in with their shoes in the changing areas? Even with a membership you have to book a specific slot but have to pay £4 if cancel within 4 hours of it. This is absurd!

Negative experience: Warning! Main pool is closed every other weekend for private events (which is obviously the main reason to come here). Tell me why I’m paying £47.50 a month when I can’t access it for ~15% of the time? And obviously general public want to come more on the weekends when they actually have time, but it’s not available half the time. You should alert people when they’re signing up that it’ll be unaccessible half the weekends, or give a discount accounting for that - more people might sign up then actually. Yes there’s the mini pool but it gets so busy because 50+ people are trying to fit in it so you can’t do any sort of uninterrupted swimming.

Negative experience: The place itself is amazing, but the Everyone app is terrible plus it is really hard to get things solved. I'm with a problem on my swimming membership which I've been trying for more than a week to solve but I simply don't know what else to do. The receptionists are not proper trained to solve membership issues, phone number is never working (no one ever attends you), website does not have any option to talk to someone, app works poorly, it's been a very big disappointment.

Negative experience: All the things you find on the bottom of the 50m pool make you wonder how they even got there. So many tissues, grass, leaves, a teddy bear, ear plugs. Feels a bit like swimming in the canal, very disgusting. It certainly used to be so much better before Everyone Active took over.

Negative experience: I have been trying to get through to speak to someone at the Aquatic Centre for over 40 minutes now. Why have a phone line if no one answers it?

Fantastic experience: Great place for training. There are 1x50mt, 2x25mt pools. It is a very fast pool. Change rooms are good and clean. Staff is very helpful.

Negative experience: The London Aquatics Centre has become a complete nightmare since Everyone Active took over. THE PLACE IS FILTHY AND HAZARDOUS. The changing rooms are disgusting – I’ve seen flies everywhere and even human feces in the shower. It’s unbearably hot and stinks, probably because they don’t bother turning on the ventilation. To make matters worse, in the training pool, I had to swim with babies who clearly pee and poop in the water, and there’s no warning or proper management of this issue. It’s just gross and unhygienic. I know people who have caught fungal infections from using the showers, which is completely unacceptable. The situation is made worse on weekends when they frequently close the pool for events without proper notice. Even when the pool is open, only a couple of lanes are available, leading to severe overcrowding. I don’t want much – just for them to fix these basic issues. Just get it together and keep the place clean like it used to be.

Fantastic experience: the receptionists Amir and Kripa were extremely helpful yesterday when I visited with my children, the customer service and attention was exceptional with them offering assistance with how the swimming pools worked and memberships. They were very attentive and supportive despite it being busy. Highly reccomend.

Fantastic experience: Everything is great, I really enjoyed spending time here. I don’t understand people who complain about dirt in the changing rooms, because there are so many people, and with shoes and water, there’s always some mess. The cleaners work very hard and immediately fix it.

Negative experience: I went to register for the gym, came from abroad and i can’t register online, the receptionist told me to wait, i waited for 40min and then the receptionist told me to come register another day without any explanation. That’s unprofessional.

Positive experience: ((N.B. Bring a £1 coin and try lots of lockers till it works!)) You'd expect for such an iconic, beautiful looking building - an arena that hosted swimming at the Olympics - that the standard of facilities, cleanliness and general ease of use would be top notch. Unfortunately, that just isn't the case. The main pool looks incredible, but bar that there is nothing of particular note in this building. Entering the side entrance, you find a very sparse, basic foyer. The cafe is completely unmanned, and you aren't even able to use it to get coins back, something you specifically need in order to use the lockers. When you get to the lockers, some of them are off the hinges, and a lot of them look like they work but don't except the coin at all. One of the external doors was constantly leaking dirty water into the changing area. Overall, it's just a boring basic pool, which is a real shame considering the area and what it signifies. Staff were pretty friendly and attempted to be helpful, but you'd just expect everything to work a lot quicker, easier and more seamless.

Negative experience: SAD THE WAY THEY TREAT THEIR MEMBERS. This used to be an amazing club for our children that we have been attending for over 9 years. When it was being managed by Better.org, however sadly since April 2024 it was taken over by Everyone Active and it truly has gone down hill. And the tipping point was today when I received an email from them telling me that they had transferred my children's memberships over on the incorrect price. However when they took over in April they detailed that they would continue to honour the pricing that we were on, and in under 6 months they have did a pricing review and emailed me 4 days before our next monthly payment that is due detailing that my children's membership would now go up by £10 each which, for a family that has 3 children at the club and at such short notice without any real warning apart from 4 days before our next direct debit is totally outrageous. How can a company tell you they will honour the pricing we were on to then without warning do a pricing review and decide that we were transferred over on the wrong pricing. I as a resident of Stratford who has been attending for over 9 years to the Aquatic Centre feel that they do not care about their community of families but care more about they money, we all understand that companies need to cover their costs but not at the cost of many families who may not be able to cover the additional without prior notification and warning about it. I have cancelled and removed my children from the centre and would NOT recommend them to anyone ever, they way they treat their members is totally disrespectful instead of working with families who have been part of the centre for Years they would prefer to loose them. DO NOT RECOMMEND THEM AT ALL.

Negative experience: Having used the facilities at the London Aquatics Centre under the management of Better and now Everyone Active, it is disappointing that the standards have slipped considerably under Everyone Active. Two main issues- 1. Cleanliness and Hygeine - the pools areas used to be spotless. There are now plasters and other bits of things by the pool. 2. The app is horrendous and barely ever works. Very difficult to navigate too. Other things - the changing rooms are always dirty. Lots of doors and lockers are broken. I hope Everyone Active can get on top of all these issues pronto before the facilities fall in to drastic state of repair.

Fantastic experience: I've been bringing my kids to the London Aquatic Centre for three years, and since 'Everyone Active' took over, the services have significantly improved. I'm really happy with the new booking system and all the improvements they've made. When it was managed by 'Better UK', I was quite dissatisfied with their services, but the change has made a big difference, and I’m much more satisfied now.

Positive experience: Best (and only decent) swimming pool in London. The changing rooms and showers could be improved though. Considering this is a place where even international competitions happen I'm am quite shocked of the state in which they are.

Fantastic experience: The swimming pool (50 mts)was perfect: clean and no crowded. I love the Acuatic Centre it is my treat of the week.

Negative experience: Better really were so much better Since being taken over by everyone active the queues are hideous, and waiting over 20 mins to get the kids signed in for a swim lesson (therefore getting late as who factors this in?!) is just really annoying I miss some of the old kids swim coaches too who were really great, shame they couldn’t stay on.

Fantastic experience: Loved it and great inflatable assault course..

Negative experience: No way of contacting to enquire since everyone active took over, and the system for booking is impossible to get through, especially since there is no way to report a problem with it. Waited over and hour on hold. You need to make an email for people to contact.

Negative experience: Frequent pool closures due to private events can be frustrating and disrupt training routines. The pool also has reduced open hours on Saturday and Sunday which is irritating at times. The gym is well equipped for beginner to intermediate weight and cardio programmes, but the facilities do get very warm which makes workouts uncomfortable.

Negative experience: This used to be my favourite place to swim. They changed management and now everything is terrible. For me, the app does not allow me to book anything, the swimming slots are less flexible, they do not answer enquiries, emails or voicemails and after 30+ mins waiting on the phone, no-one ever answers. Shockingly bad and such a shame because I would've happily paid to use this beautiful pool every week.

Negative experience: Similar to other reviews here, I agree this place is going downhill. Everyone active did a couple of things well, such as getting new machines in the gym. But keeping your gym at 25 degrees in summer is absolutely ridiculous, despite many many complaints to your staff. Will be reconsidering my yearly membership.

Negative experience: Visited today 10/08 for the first time in a couple of years and was really disappointed by how dirty it has become. Litter and numerous hairs on the floor in the changing room and the floor itself looked like it needed a steam clean - generally it felt unclean. The pool itself was fine. Such a shame as this was a top class facility

Negative experience: It was great - now a dirty mess. Since Everyone Active took over no-one cleans. It’s truly disgusting now. Swimming lessons are boring and bad. Beautiful building, such a great place. But horribly mismanaged. This is a national centre and is becoming shabby and sad. If Everyone Active aren’t interested in managing it properly it should be taken over by someone else.

Negative experience: We’ve been coming since September 2023 for kids swimming classes mainly. Sad to say there has been a noticeable decline in cleanliness at the pool and poor maintenance since the everyone active take over

Fantastic experience: I loved it can’t compare to everyone else since I’m from the states but will say the pool was awesome, staff was incredible compared to most places in the states and wow just incredible place to swim at. Loved the facilities was pretty clean when I was there yes there was a bit dirty water on floor from the wet floors but don’t mind anyways. Place was a bit busy when I arrived but I assume all places get busy when you arrive a bit later in the afternoon, overall great place compared to some recs that I swim at in the states

Fantastic experience: Soo much fun on the inflatables but be weary the times are 45 mins so be on time so you can enjoy it fully. It’s really great and fun with the kids and adults. I think it’s better to buy tickets in advance as there can be a queue upon arrival.

Negative experience: Green and Black mildew around the pool and the changing room smell. £6 for and swim and prepared for the pool to be closed and everyone crammed into the training pool regularly.

Negative experience: Hottest day of the year - pool closed with no prior warning. As other reviews say, no AC in gym whatsoever.

Negative experience: If you should have a strict, disciplined swimming routine which could only be followed even with a 3 days attendance, you will be disappointed to find out many times the management had set up a group event cancelling all the bookings. Yet they require you to cancel yours if something comes up 4 hours before your session if you don't wanna pay a £4 penalty fee

Negative experience: EveryoneActive nailed the hard parts of taking over the gym - switching out the old tired gym machines for shiny new ones, which was a much needed change! The space isn’t huge but they’ve done what they can to fit in as much as possible. However they consistently struggle with the basics - super sweaty with it reaching 25 degrees in the early morning session (a recurring theme, going by other reviews), a low stock of paper/spray to wipe machines down and the cleanliness/general state of the showers means it’s not usually worth braving it. Hoping these were just teething troubles but it’s been over 3 months!

Negative experience: The whole building and surrounding area are beautiful but as someone who frequents the gym every morning that’s where the nice part of the morning finishes. The whole building is boiling hot. Even people at the training pool have complained. The gym is just impossibly hot. I’m soaked in sweat after a 5 minute light warmup. We’ve complained about this several times over the course of 3 months and have even been lied to by the staff. They’ve recently installed a thermometer after all the complaining and the lowest I’ve seen it is 25°C. The personal trainers/trainning staff are lovely and try to help but that’s about it. I’ve been yelled at by the cleaning staff for walking over recently cleaned floors even though there was no signs about it. There’s loud banging and construction noises at 7 am. It’s over all just not a nice environment to come train in the mornings. Never had these problems for the couple of months I was here with the management from Better so unfortunately I got a yearly membership when management changed. Can’t recommend to anyone having a reoccurring membership.

Negative experience: I’ve been coming here for months without complaining, and having a nice time. Since everyone active took over, the already small gym became a living hell, with temperatures above 25 degrees, no ventilation, no one even agreeing to open a door to outside to change the air, and telling patronisingly and very rude that clients are just complaining when the AC is on when I take pictures every day that is not. Apart from the lack of security when events happen in the place with kids playing around the equipment and random people coming into the gym that are not coming to exercise. If I haven’t had purchased a year membership as is the closest gym to my house, I would have left this place long time ago. Definetly don’t come here if you can avoid it.

Negative experience: My son went here for 2 weeks with his school. He told me this place is dirty and not clean. He ended up having fungal infection on his skin. He showered everyday after going here but had these rash was all over his body. Doctors said its due to the swimming area not being clean. In the past, he has been swimming before during year 3 at Newham leisure centre and never had this issue with his skin. This time he went in year 6 to this centre and ended up having fungal infection due to the swimming centre not being clean, dirty floors and changing rooms. Disgraceful and unacceptable and has caused a server skin conditions on him.

Fantastic experience: I had my subscription for 3 months initially with Better UK, and then with the new company Everyone Active. Even though my subscription was full subscription, I had fee weeks with no access to the swimming pool with no compensation because my membership is not for swimming only! After this long interruption, I decided to quit. The facilities are great but the operating companies are not to the expectations. I might reconsider if they improved their operation.

Negative experience: The only Olympian thing about it is the astonishing lack of cleanliness. Dirty floors, showers, lockers, pool. Come on! This was a massive investment into promoting UK and London; and the regeneration of an area in need of amenities. It's utterly disrespectful to the local community to care this little about proving them the most basic level of cleanliness.

Negative experience: Beautiful facility shame they do not spend the necessary money keeping out clean. Pool not clean, showers and toilet and changing area really really dirty.

Fantastic experience: My happy place and I know the happy place of so many Londoners. Staff do a great job at running the outstanding facilities. Thank you!

Positive experience: I went to the Atlantis inflatable yesterday, I found booking the session difficult as it doesn't advertise which dates it's on, I had to call up to find out & you can only book 7 days in advance. I found the staff very grumpy especially with the kids when they couldn't get back on the inflatables, when I explained to one of life guards that the step wasn't there, the velcro had come off so there was no step, he just shrugged & said "I dunno" The inflatables side of it was excellent & great fun for all ages.

Negative experience: Their customer services on site, online and phone is just terrible (ie. Non-existent). Was given misinformation during sign up, and now can’t get anyone to address issues with membership because no one responses

Negative experience: 8£ for using the pool for an hour should be a criiiiimeeeee, no discount for students, youth or unemployed people... The lockers distribution is a bit weird and unpleasant in my opinion. Besides that the building is majestic. God bless Zaha Hadid.

Fantastic experience: My partner and I had a lovely experience signing up for memberships. We discussed our options with Gemma, one of the salespeople at the centre, and she was incredibly helpful, friendly and supportive, she also gave us a very useful tour of the facilities. Really forward to using the gym and pools here

Negative experience: I am a member and my child also swims there. They have recently been taken over by Everyone Active. Yesterday, I tried to get my daughter to join the diving lessons, which she was so excited about. Leave aside that you have to pay two months in advance, non refundable. They also asked for £25 admin fee to do it. Literally, for adding her name, already in the system, to the list of sessions and update payments, four clicks, and two minutes of work. I was appalled and refused. You should be ashamed of your ethics and plain stortion of cash from customers.

Negative experience: If you are trying to learn how to swim as a Beginner here DON’T. There is one instructor for multiple students on a massive pool. He can’t watch over everyone at once which risks you to drown. Even if he has to save you, the experience is never worth it as a beginner. Also, the lesson will progress without you if you are not up to speed quickly enough.

Negative experience: Since taken over by Everyone Active customer service was greatly downgraded. The time slots for family have been reduced to a couple a day making it nearly impossible for parents with babies to use the pool. Very disappointed that babies are so overlooked, when it is the foundational age to be have contact with water and swimming.

Negative experience: When I arrived at the reception for the Open Day, I was told by a very miserable customer service advisor to come through the gates for swimming lessons. I waited there and I was getting a bit lost. I had to ask a couple of people regarding the swimming lessons taster day I booked. I ended back at the reception where the people there were nicer and told me to just go through to the training pool. I had to ask around for where the adult swimming lessons was, and the session itself was great! However very very disorganised! I am glad I came early but, the open day was overwhelming

Fantastic experience: What a lovely reminder of London's Olympic Games. Still looks like a fantastic architectural marvel. The facilities inside are top notch whether as a spectator or a participant.

Negative experience: 'Everyone Active' is the claim, yet 'Everyone brain-dead is their game. Entrance desk is less orderly than a free doughtnuts queue at Fat Kids Convention, run by a pack of clueless numpties in Primart tracksuits. Since 'Eveyone Active' took over, nobody understands the system (including the front desk numpties); every customer queues to ask for basic requests which can't be fulfilled. Time to invest on a broken record rather than hiring those over-paid numpties? Change room resembles a dumpster where your local Jeremy Corbyn look-a-like searches for scraps. Fancy a fun wet slide? plenty of banana skin along the walkway. Oh, if you are looking for the cleaner, they're at the pool corner sitting on deckchairs next to plate of crushed cream cake on the floor, but don't interrupt them until they finish their RIbena. Enjoy your swim, and if you accidentyally swallow the water, you'll soon find yourself growing body parts and starring in a B-grade horror movie. 'Everyone active- where everyone will be covered in green slime in the cess pool' .

Negative experience: It used to be my regular gym ( mostly for swimming) but there have been way too many issues for me to keep paying for something that I have very little opportunity to use. Also, please take on board the cleaning business, the staff that really needs some further training on customer service, the contact form and hopefully a telephone like that works ... Goodbye for now.

Negative experience: The London Aquatic Centre, once managed by Better and now by Everyone Active, has experienced a steep decline in quality since the transition. The changeover was chaotic, and rather than improving over time, conditions have deteriorated significantly. From poor WiFi connectivity to subpar swimming facilities, inept management to unqualified instructors, and lack of transparency to abysmal communication, every aspect has worsened. The center is now blatantly money-oriented, with no genuine concern for its patrons. Events are prioritized over regular training sessions for children, who suffer despite having scheduled lessons. The café is inaccessible unless you make a purchase, and they flood your inbox with promotional emails while failing to inform you of lesson cancellations. When asked about these issues, the staff’s response is unhelpful, directing you to check an app that is equally unreliable. The entire operation is a chaotic mess, disappointing at every turn.

Positive experience: Pretty dead place for such a beautiful pool. Full size - 50 metres. Maybe 6 swimmers. I didn't swim so I don't know what the facilities were like. I was looking for swimming gear. One brand available only and mostly for kids. Not much for adult men. I wouldn't go there. Pretty unenthusiastic staff. Out on a limb.

Negative experience: Everyone Active have continued to charge me for a swimming class I cancelled in February. No one answers the phone, and the company do not respond to messages. I visited in person but was told that refunds and cancellations must be done by Head Office.

Negative experience: More like Nobody Fitness. The unfriendly staff and the incredibly inflexible booking system has meant I've been turned away multiple times. Maybe just go for a jog instead.

Negative experience: Everyone Active transferred my Better Gym membership without my concern when they took over and I’ve been trying to make contact with them for over two months. The contact form on the website is broken, the phone line doesn’t work, and they don’t reply to Facebook messages. I’ve been forced to use the press enquiry email and even after being promo someone would contact me last week, still nothing. It’s impressive how badly managed they are but they’ve still managed to bill me twice for a membership I never asked for and have no way of cancelling.

Negative experience: This used to be my regular gym and swimming pool. Unfortunately since everyone active has taken over it’s worse than what it used to be. The staff seems untrained or unbothered to deal with any sort of issues. I have a membership that shows pending/outstanding yet payments are going through as scheduled from my account. The staff has no clue why that is and also there is no head office to speak to or a contact number to call. Avoid yourselves the hassle and save that money to be paid to a better management and facilities.

Fantastic experience: Great venue for swimming galas - whatever the level or distance. Lots of options for food/snacks/breaks locally too. Parking and public transport are both good options.

Negative experience: Fantastic pool, but it's got worse since everyone active took over. Pool is closed at random times. Their timetable also often has inconsistencies between different parts of their website, and the app - so it's confusing to work out when it's actually open. And they have significantly reduced the times they are open on Sundays, which is the main time I go swimming. I was part of an everyone active pool in Bristol and it was similarly terrible - heavily restricted opening times meant you basically couldn't get a spot.

Negative experience: Second edit: I’m taking off another star. I’ve been informed via the app on the evening of 6th June that this weekend (8th & 9th) the competition pool will yet again be closed. All closures must be announced six months in advance so everyone knows where they stand. Two days is far too short notice. First Edit: I’m taking off two stars. The competition pool is closed far too often at the weekends for nonevents like “open days”. Slightly better under Everyone Active. I’m happy with the booking app, temperature of competition pool, and cleanliness of changing rooms and competition pool, although more work could be done getting rid of the mould stains on sides of the competition pool. As long as they keep on top of hygiene standards I’d give 4 stars.

Negative experience: The yoga class was temporarily moved to very weird place , which none of staff knows where is allocated , you will need to run up and down until you will find it by yourself , plus its extremely hot there. On top of it Yoga class was canceled last minute without any notification, which was quite inconvenient when around 7 people sitting with no idea whats going on .Thanks to regular yoggi Mark who took initiative and made class for us which was nice of him . It would be helpful if there's a system in place to notify us in advance of any changes to the class schedule to avoid similar situations in the future . And the class cost 14.40£ imagine how disappointing its is !

Negative experience: I’ve been coming here since last August. Since ‘Everyone active’ took over the services has gone downhill. Nearly every week there is an event and we are not informed of cancellation to classes. I was very concerned that the swim instructor is not consistent thus making it difficult for my daughter to get in the pool. So we missed yet another swim lesson. When I informed the staff I was advised by Louise Wray that I didn’t need to be informed before hand. A different instructor nearly every week is distressing for the children. A parent had to get into the pool with his daughter. The company can not and will not take constructive criticism and make a change. So I have cancelled my membership and will join elsewhere. The changing rooms are filthy and smell really bad. The swimsuit dryer doesn’t work. This is poor service and clearly they do not value their customers. I found the below on their website. If you don’t mind wasting your time and money then carry on going to this leisure centre. It’s just a money making business that do value customers. We can add to, change, withdraw or cancel facilities or activities from the centre without notice. This includes closing a centre or making changes to opening hours for safety reasons, maintenance or special events.

Negative experience: I've been swimming and competing here for 7 years. Things went downhill since Everyone's Active took over. 1 - The temperature in the competition pool is too low. Everyone's from my club and outside complains about it. It's hard to keep muscles warm when resting in between sets. While the temperature might be acceptable during race days, it's important to remember that people train here regularly. 2 - The changing rooms are now extremelly dirty and showers have been broken for a week now. 3 - this is my personal opinion but red/black signage and staff wearing all black makes the centre feel unwelcoming compared to the Better's green.

Negative experience: I have been coming here for years. It’s sad to see it going down the drain since EveryoneActive took over. Pool and changing rooms are not as clean. No longer WiFi. Broken mirrors/glasses/lights. Out of order swimwear driers. Please review all this.

Fantastic experience: Went to watch the Swimming National finals. It was well presented with large screens and the TV presenter interviewing the winners. It was surprising how small the seating area is and how few spectators were there - they were only using one half of spectators seating area, whilst the other half appeared to be used by other competitors and their teams. Considering just how cheap the tickets are for such an event I found that shocking! Everything about the place and event was good! It was slickly run, and there was little time between the races.

Fantastic experience: A fantastic evening of world class swimming at the GB Aquatics Olympic trials. ‍♂️

Negative experience: Feel like some of the recent more positive reviews are set up accounts. I visited to have a one off swim and my concerns have heightened to wondering whether this pool should even be allowed to remain open. The changing rooms smelt so rancid I genuinely asked myself if I should request medical assistance. There should have been a tigger warning at the doors to prepare you for the rapidly blinking lights (which makes me fear for customers with Epilepsy) strangely I was grateful for the feeble lights ( flickering like the dying legacy of this pool) as without it I’d be swimming in utter darkness. Didn’t use the gym but I’m guessing the review from a few months ago still applies. This isn’t teething issues as I thought it may have been. Whoever is in charge of this building simply can’t run a pool and need to give it up for the sake of the community. After years of happy and joyful usage of the gym at the London Aquatics centre, imagine my surprise to find the gym has now become a massive overstuffed sauna!! It seems that despite the simplicity Better had to offer, at least they didn’t attempt to trap us in a human oven. I’m now suffering from multiple episodes of post traumatic stress visions as I keep recalling the cries of panic of my fellow gym/sauna users as we realised that the gym has become Dante’s Inferno as the gym doors had closed and refused to open. It seems Everyone Active prioritised turning a small and friendly gym into a gym which mirrors its local competitors which led them to the brilliant decision to block the two other entrances to the gym with equipment. Evidently this clear health and safety violation to two possible emergency exits did not occur to the new management. Nevertheless I shall enjoy my trips to a remake of a gym in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert until my membership lapses. Big recommendation please bring ur own water as their water filter machine has been red for weeks.

Positive experience: Amazing facilities let down by shoddy support services. Overpriced food, even for London, which was very poor quality.

Negative experience: Wow, this venue is not suitable for parents with children who are under 2 years old. You are not allowed to use your pushchairs?!??! I have wasted nearly £40 on spectator tickets to the British Swimming Championships. Tried to speak to the team but they were not having any of it, quoting “health and safety” it’s absolutely ridiculous! Such a shame the UK’s premier swimming venue is let down by red tape rules….. if my child was Disabled I would have been treated much differently….

Positive experience: small but compact gym, great pool area. The only downside is the changing villages, which needs some refurbishing. I find the changing facilities pretty run down. A swimsuit spinner will be great to dry swim suits before heading off to work

Negative experience: Simply not worth the money. Poor management, outdated changing rooms and showers. The water fountain filter has a red light for the last 2 months and no one bothers checking it. And obviously complaints are not taken care of.

Negative experience: Update: Human feces in shower area of training pool Do not go here ! I have been 4 Years with Better and nothing like this ever happened. I don't know what Everyone Active is doing to this place. Over the past few months it has become a health hazard, dirty changing rooms (training pool and main pool changing rooms are filthy). Everyone Active must be held accountable this is my local pool and I'm devastated at what it has become. You can see how good the reviews were when Better ran this place. Please everyone write/email complaints to the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) who gave Everyone Active the contract for the next 7 years to run this place. Edward Fane is the Head of Venues, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for London Legacy Development Corporation. Please continue to write to him with photographs of evidence and post on here so people can see how awful this place is. Please save what was one of the best pools in London!! +++++ Total mess since everyone active took over, my £3 swimming lesson with better has gone up to £11 with every active I’ve been coming here for 4 years with better devastating what everyone active has done. Having to pay joining fees aswell when I have been coming here for years. Avoid avoid avoid

Negative experience: Nice pool but swimming experience ruined by poor lane management by staff - way too many people per lane to be able to swim comfortably

Fantastic experience: The best gym ever, I lost my headphones case and asked the first trainer that I saw and he said that he literally found it yesterday and gave it back to me

Negative experience: Since “everyone” took over, it welcomes literally everyone!!! even mice in the changing rooms!!! Not to mention blocked toilets, urinals, not working dryers, dirty walls/floors and stuff floating in the pool. Unbelievable how such a beautiful place go in a such disrepair in less then a month… shame, hopefully this will change soon

Positive experience: The competition pool is nice but the swimming lanes are very narrow... also the gym is super small. However, the biggest disappointment for a member is the early closure during weekends. I understand that the employees must rest and enjoy their weekends too, but that is when more people want to go for a swim and it can get crowded if the pool closes so early...

Negative experience: One of the most bad experiences I have in this place. I did apply for job as lifeguard i do have experience as lifeguard for many years and im qualified as padi diving instructor so they ask me i to be qualified in here in uk i said that’s okay. We start the course and for the instructor Anis his not professional at all no clarification for all the technique we are dining no video showing nothing even he didn’t touch the water. The instructor keeps put me under the pressure front of everyone to make me embarrassed and keep call me by my name hey Mohamed you can not do this clearly do it again ( just me )More then hours with no stopping swimming and some of guys are fasting some they get very tired and they left pool after half an hours .Then I told him front of everyone you can do debriefing and explain to us more his getting angry because i said you keep embarrassed me and you make me not comfortable you need to stop. He start say I know what im doing im instructor for 20 years I don’t need to jump to the water and more and more . And For sure he can not give up he keeps repeat how come i do argument with him special is free course. He went to the manger and the manager come over to me and he ask me what happened I explain everything and i said to him he don’t do his work professional and he keeps embarrassed me the manager he gets understood where i come from but he ask me to Apology to the instructor in break times and I didn’t because i did nothing wrong . After the break they ask me to go home because I don’t said sorry if you think you giving free courses and you can do whatever you want and treat people like that way sorry that is not me . And what you been done your not professional people . shame on you . I give all of you respect and im more qualified and more experienced and been you treat like that . Lol FREE FALESTINE

Negative experience: I have a membership at CopperBox Arena (one of Better gyms) which has been closed for a few days to allow for renovations, so all members have a UK-wide access to all Better gyms for the time being. Since I knew that London Aquatics Centre had a Better gym (or, as it turns out now, it used to), I went there today. I asked a lady at the reception, while showing my app and the digital membership card, if I could use it there, and she replied with: ‘What are you doing? We are not with Better anymore. What are you even here for?” This is a direct quote, no exaggeration. I calmly asked since when that’s the case and she replied slightly more politely, yet how come it’s okay to talk to (potential) clients that way for no reason? I left the centre feeling like someone poured cold water on me out of nowhere. I realize I’m not a member so probably finding that out let the receptionist feel like the way she spoke to me didn’t matter, and technically she gave me the right information. But kindness and politeness matter as well, especially since some people do sports to help alleviate daily stress.

Negative experience: We had an awful experience during our child’s first swimming lesson since Everyone Active took over. We don’t recommend letting these incompetent teachers anywhere near your kids. My daughter almost drown as they took her to the 25 metre deep pool (her first time ever) to test if she could swim 5 metres on her front and back for stage 3. She can swim 5 metres but she can’t thread water so she ended up almost drowning and needing rescuing once she achieved the 5 metres and to add insult to injury, they say she didn’t pass to stage 3 because she can’t be in the deep pool! With such a huge amount of space in the training pool, why does stage 3 need to be taught in the deep pool! Especially as stage 2 now have a very very small area (c.5x5m) in the training pool to practice in. Needless to say we decided not to continue her swimming lessons with Everyone Active. Better was better for us :)

Negative experience: I've been a member of the Aquatics Centre for a few months, using both swimming and gym facilities about four times a week. The overall design of the building on the outside is timeless but the wood that surrounds the top of the building needs some urgent treatment as it does appear to be rotting on the north west side. More often than not, the 50m pool is unclean. I don't mean dirty per-sé, but mostly just dirt around the edge of the pool which does make me wonder how often it's cleaned. The cleanliness of the changing rooms has definitely gone downhill since Everyone Active took over. I'm not sure why, whether this is because of increased demand or just odd cleaning schedules but there's hairs everywhere in the 50m changing village and it's just not pleasant experience at all. Beyond that, there was a really long period of when the swimsuit dryers just didn't work - and whenever questioned, they just refused to say when or even if it's going to be fixed. It seems that it's fixed now though, somewhat, but it is frustrating for the pool to not have a swimsuit dryer, which one could argue is a key machine in running a swimming pool venue, for more than a month. The venue constantly holds events. Which wouldn't be an issue but Everyone Active has failed to notify members of early pool closures and even refused to provide refunds and credit despite the fact that... well, I haven't been able to use any pools at all. Although - sometimes they will give notice, but only a few hours beforehand. Which is a shame because if you, as a member, would do the same, they'd charge you £4 (unless you cancel four hours in advance but hey try predicting what exactly is going to happen in four hours). I can give props for the gym renovation, plenty of decent equipment. The problem is though, being in the gym feels like you're in in Satan's armpit in hell because there's effectively little to no air conditioning, for one reason or another. Bring a towel because, good lord, you will sweat and so will everyone else. The gym will also frequently run low on sanitation hand towels and sanitation spray. Ehhh. Anyway, I've pointed out these issues a while ago but nothing has changed, so I can't recommend the membership here for now. I was hoping the issues were just teething issues but they clearly aren't. Oh well, shame.

Negative experience: reading these reviews and now decided to wait until this place is up to a standard. I was regular a few years ago. It always had issues but feels like it just became a more rude and dirty / unkept place. Shame on management / owners to let an olympic venue to go down further. Be kind as staff is not an option it’s a must especially in health places where people try to relax

Negative experience: Been coming here since it opened to the public in 2012/2013. Started out nicely, then someone along the way got the brilliant idea to use less chlorine to clean it. Now, it is absolutely filthy. Black mould marks round the side of the pool. Hairballs and plasters on the pool floor, same ones for weeks on end. And the price goes up and up. What an olympic legacy...

Positive experience: I love the pool. Staff are really nice. But the changing room/shower is nightmare. Same as in other reviews, the shower is tight. No hooks at all for your towel/personal stuff. You have to run between showers and lockers in the unisex area(where male cleaners, parents of kids are all around staring at you). Not to say there’s no locker in the female changing area. The mess in the baby diaper changing room is disgusting. You should have more regular cleanings. I’m not sure if it’s the convention that you should shower at home after swimming. But I feel it doesn’t meet the standard of a venue which hosted olympics and should be the highest standard.

Fantastic experience: Amazing. Really would like to say a big thank you to Nigel. Really help full guy. Really friendly and took great care of me while I was coming out of the changing rooms. I had a hip replacement 4 months ago and I have been using the pools to help with my recovery from the sergury. Due to wet floors (Nigel putting out wet floor signage) around the changing rooms and lockers I was walking very slowly with my cane for support on my way out. Nigel spotted me with my waddle ambling along. He asked if I was OK. Showing concern then slowed his pace to stay with me by my side as I walked out he was making small talk as we walked but I know he only did that to make sure I was ok. And I am incredibly greatful to him for taking so much care for me. Its the small things that mean the most. Thank you Nigel you made my day.

Positive experience: Love the 50m pool but £7.85 for a swim is a bit steep!

Positive experience: I love this swimming pool. It’s a great place to swim for both, if you are a beginner or advanced swimmer. But the water in the shower is boiling hot! We have raised this problem several times at the desk but nothing has happened. Maybe at some point it got better but it’s back to hot now. They say it’s an independent company who cares for the Water and although the swimming pool informs them of the problem they don’t do anything. How is this possible?? This is the best swimming pool in London I can’t believe they can’t sort it out for more than a year now!!!!! Also, the place is cleaned very well, several times a day, which is great, but unfortunately not the pools! I can see so many disgusting things in the bottom of the pool floating around. I would expect more from an amazing place like this. If this two things were sorted it would get 5 stars.

Negative experience: Terrible experience with these two guards, I paid for the swimming but I didn’t go in the water immediately because I felt the water a bit cold for me and a bit unwell, so I sat on the side to watch my baby in case she needs help. They kept asking me if I don’t go in the pool, I need to go out now, their attitude were so poor, didn’t want to listen, just used the high voice to ask me go, even I said I would go in the water when I feel better, I already paid for this. But now, the man kept arguing with me until I must go! That was terrible attitude of them! Is that hurting someone if I feel not ready to go in the water immediately and sit on the side? Ps: I and my family just went in for 5 minutes, and I just sat there for 3-4 minutes!!!! What a joke!

Negative experience: Before starting, I’d like to to preface that I am a Member for more than a year so this is not the first time that this situation happened with specific member of the staff. This Sunday afternoon me my husband and 2yo son went as usual to the pool. I showed out tickets to reception as always and the lady started saying that I had to have the barcode to scan (I’d like to say that I go to this swimming pool every week 3 times a week) when you book online you receive only email with no barcode. She kept insisting that she needed the barcode instead of looking at my booking. I kindly explain that from the confirmation email there is not barcode. Eventually she looked at my ticket and said that we were not allowed to join the pool as our “slot” was expiring in 15 min ( I am aware of the police of the slot time)but very kindly once again I tried to explain that we had some issue with the traffic and road closure due to an accident on Stratford High Street and the football match and if we could please go in as my son was impatient and I really needed to toilet too ( I am 9 months pregnant plus my little boy a bit frustrated already for the situation) the pool was closing in the hour time so we would have had all the time for swim and leave on time. Anyway she mistreated us, she completely ignored what I was trying to say and didn’t let us in. As said before it’s not the first time that this lady is rude to the customers. I think that when you work as receptionist you should show a bit of kindness and understanding especially in situations as our. She could let us in as we paid for our session and still had some time left or be kind and explain that unfortunately we couldn’t. But once again she choose the be very rude and I want the refund as we had to pay the tickets for no session.

Negative experience: This is honestly by far the dirtiest swimming pool I have ever seen. The changing rooms and sanitary facilities are so dirty that we decided to leave immediately before entering the pools, even though we had already paid. It seems that the facility has not been cleaned since it opened in 2012. The architecture is impressive and worth visiting, but unfortunately it is not sufficiently maintained. If you decide to go swimming anyway, you need a £1 coin for the lockers.

Negative experience: My entire family was screamed at by the lifeguard for no reason. Don't know her name but it was 1.50pm on a Wednesday. Family pool is a joke. Can't use half the pool or do anything. Don't swim there. Dont go on parents backs. Don't swim the wrong way in a lane with 0 people. Don't do handstands. Don't smile. Don't laugh. There's a way to tell people the rules. You don't scream at children. Rude woman screaming at everyone. My ears still hurt. Never coming back. Never! GLL better sort it out because that was abuse. Absolutely disgusting way to speak to people trying to enjoy the family pool. Get a life. Your job pays minimum wage and you're not paid to scream at children. Remember that next time you decide to raise your voice at a child. Minimum wage.