Leisure at Cheltenham

Positive experience: The swimming pool is satisfactory, though it lacks features that enhance recreational enjoyment.

Positive experience: Can only comment on the swimming aspect which is always fine. The staff at reception are always super friendly! Only downside for me is it's very inaccessible as a disabled person. Very little seating, none at the kids pool waiting area and the seats at the pools are up steps which isn't ideal if you have mobility issues. Disabled parking spaces are usually full with not a blue badge in sight, crazy when able bodied people come to exercise but can't manage the extra 30 seconds walk

Fantastic experience: Came here for a TKD GTI competition. Nice venue, and lovely organisers of the event

Negative experience: Not greatly family friendly. Soft play is very expensive for what it is and the gate system very rarely works properly, making it harder to get into! Especially if you have a babe in arms. The swimming pools are great and very fun but the changing facilities are abit dirty. Family changing rooms are tiny and you can’t get the door closed or open with the baby change down. The parking however is chaos. There is only 3 parent and child spaces. The rest are very small and hard to safely get children out of car seats. That’s if you can get parked at all. Overall very expensive in comparison to other local facilities and not as good or accessible.

Negative experience: I remember coming here as a child being able to turn up and swim and use facilities, now you have to book in advance and only get an hour for double the price it used to be, covid has ruined this place.

Positive experience: A typical town style leisure centre, facilities ok and no thrills. The spa area is nice, steam room needs a bit of TLC which I believe is planned. The swimming pool is a good size and was not busy. Nb: I went in at 1200 - 1400.

Positive experience: Great place with plenty of free parking for the event, but at £3.85 for a (large?) coffee , I didn't try any of the other refreshments!

Positive experience: The centre is good for the price. Only down side for me is the swim time tables. I would prefer more swim time specially open swim so that I have more options to bring my kids. On weekdays there is only one time available that I can bring my kids and it is not very suitable. And also during the day the swim at the main pool is mostly lane swim, I wish there were open swim options too.

Positive experience: Visited and waited for the session and sat in the corridor while the family was swimming club. Overpriced machines for snacks and drinks.

Positive experience: Changing rooms are usually quite clean, but can get really busy when all the sessions start/finish around the same time. They also don't take cash at reception to pay for swimming, which is quite annoying if it's all you've got on you... Other than that pretty decent pools, reasonably priced.

Negative experience: Can't get though to them waited 15 mins and we were number one in the queue,gave up in the end

Positive experience: Pool needs cleaning. I swam at 9.30am so there's no reason for so much debris at bottom of the pool. You could probably grow penicillin at sides of pool. There's absolutely no reason for not keeping pool spotless

Fantastic experience: Great place, nice facilities, helpful staff. Thanks Lewis

Positive experience: Leisure at Cheltenham's is fantastic. Well-presented and engaging, it deserves a strong 4 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended!

Fantastic experience: Have been going to the gym for over 5 years. Great gym and well equipped, friendly staff and good value for money.

Positive experience: Great pool but at the moment changing is in portakabins, you need a padlock for the lockers and take some crocs or flip flops to walk to pool. We took our towels and bag to poolside and left them under a bench.

Negative experience: Extortion making you wait 40 minutes on the phone before you can cancel your membership

Negative experience: Absolute rubbish phone system. Been on hold for an eternity.

Negative experience: Usually I have a wonderful time at Leisure At Cheltenham however today was very different as I experienced some rude staff members. I went to the spa as usual with people however once i was sat in there a lifeguard and a manager who goes by the name of “Vicky” tells us we cannot be in there unless we are the age of 18. However on the song in the spa it clearly states anyone over the age of 8 can go into the spa as long you are with a supervised adult. (attached picture shows this) After we left we brought it up with the worker named “betty” that we don’t understnad why we couldn’t be int here as we had been told glade information but when we told her she started to get snappy and we asked for the manager. As we brought up the fact about the sign said manager “vicky” brushed it off and said “she didn’t know and will now get it changed”. May i also add multiple times 2 workers there recommended the spa knowing our age. so all in all i have experienced some rude staff member at leisure at cheltenham today.

Negative experience: Rude staff members Lesiure centre is a lovely place however I have met very rude staff members the spa on a sign mentions over 8 years of age are allowed in the Spa with a supervisor. Enjoying my time in the spa until we got kicked out and we went up to talk to the lady at the front desk called Betty she was being lairy we showed her proof she said it don’t matter and called a manager saying “it’s them girls again” I find that utterly rude then they repetitively said it’s our fault not theirs and that’s not the only time with that manger who goes by the name of vicky she would ask us questions like why are we in the swimming area (you have to have a code to get in) so obviously we are allowed in because we have the code. Sort your workers out. Don’t go to the spa unless you wanna be made to be embarrassed

Fantastic experience: Lovely grounds, a nice walk with stunning views of the Malverns and Cotswold Hills.

Positive experience: REMEMBER TO BRING A PADLOCK FOR THE LOCKERS!!! I didn't spot this on the website and wasn't told this at reception. I ended up having to put our stuff by the poolside as who carries a padlock around just in case??? The splash pool and training pool were great and the kiddies had a lovely time. The centre just need to advertise the need to bring a padlock a bit better.

Positive experience: Your organisation of kid's party could have been better. A welcoming direction sign would have been nice. Disinterested reception staff had no clue of set up and had to be requested to open the facilities.

Fantastic experience: This leisure centre was my childhood, the facilities are great!

Fantastic experience: Too my shame, it's been too long since I last visited. Its more modern than I remembered with clean and well decorated public areas. The studios looked well equipped and the squash court we used was very good. There was lots of free parking as well. We will definitely be back.

Negative experience: Facilities are ok. Swimming instructors are poor. Some with very poor people skills. My son has struggled with motivation and taken nearly two years to move between levels. Nobody seems to be the least bit concerned that their teaching leads to such poor performance.

Negative experience: Very poor service. We booked a badminton court for the four of us online. Turned up at midday (the time booked and confirmed by email) was sent to the court to find it was being used by a cricket club. Went back to reception to be told that the manager had moved our booking to 10:00am and so we had missed our slot. No apology, no reason given and we were not notified! Appalling. Staff were rude and unbothered by our ruined day. According to the cricket team, this happens all the time. Wow….

Negative experience: Disgusting to charge £10.50 just to come and use the spa. Absolute rip off

Positive experience: Always fun, the shower/toilets/changing area aren't the best!

Fantastic experience: Very helpful staff and pleasant experience all round.

Fantastic experience: This place made for a lovely leisure experience, where the staff checked me and my friend in smoothly at the counter! The changing rooms are definitely properly sized, lockers are free while secure and entrance is easy through the electronic gates. We relaxed an on and off hot tub, where a sauna and steam room are then able to proceeded into as well as spa beds to put our towels back on!

Negative experience: Awful customer service. Arrived to book in for swimming with four children and was told the price and where to go. I asked how long they would have and the receptionist said an hour. In the pool for all of 10 mins before 3 members of staff told us to get out. There was a miscommunication about what time the session should start. Instead of admitting their error they said they had spoken to the receptionist who said she definitely told us the session time (she absolutely did not, all 7 of us can confirm she definitely didn't). So our 4 kids were made to leave early. We were told the staff had other commitments and couldn't life guard, one of which then sat dossing around with the receptionist until we left.

Negative experience: Soft play small but good to be enclosed where you would enjoy a coffee as the children play however its toi overcrowded, had to leave after 15 mins as it was chaos with too many children in a small area. Coffee place also shut. Staff, couldn't care less if they were there or not.

Positive experience: Only played squash but generally pretty good parking seems to be a issue at peak times though.

Negative experience: Extorniate pricing in the cafe. £2.50 for a can when £1.65 in vending machines (which is also excessive)

Fantastic experience: The leisure center provides pre-bookings, pay on arrival and membership options. Memberships grant access to all facilities, including the wellness suite with a steam room, sauna, Jacuzzi, and lounge chairs. Lane swimming is available with three lanes designated for slow, medium, and fast swimmers. The gym, though compact, is equipped with modern equipment and a dedicated upstairs area primarily for treadmills. Additionally, there is a soft play area with a £5 entrance fee per child Lastly, a cafe located upstairs operates until approximately 1:00 pm give or take

Fantastic experience: Well signposted, easy to park, welcoming reception, enjoyed visit.

Positive experience: I use the pool and gym her frequently and the sauna/health suite occasionally. There are other facilities there too. Generally clean and well staffed. I use the monthly membership scheme which cost £37 which is great value and covers everything I need.

Fantastic experience: Had lovely swim with my wife and daughter, then went to the cafe for a drink and a bite to eat. Can’t fault it.

Fantastic experience: Went to watch Extreme Robots. Well organised and a very enjoyable show. The venue was a nice temperature for watching the show. Seating is not too bad, generally good views. Parking a little awkward, I think we were lucky to get a parking space

Negative experience: Do not swim at the weekend - the facility is always over booked with events so parking is a fiasco. The changing rooms are always sopping wet and slippy and stink. The kids pool is cold and the changing rooms are colder. The soft play is tiny and the coffee shop is massively overpriced.

Negative experience: Been a member for a long time but the hygiene standards are just the ultimate low. Sometimes I notice a cleaner to mop the floor in the changing rooms but doesn't make much difference. It needs a few liters of bleach to tackle the problem. I've tried different shower blocks within the leisure center but the issue seems to be the same. Filthy floor and wall tiles both in Gym shower ladies disabled section , yellow grout on tiles, green mould on shower , shower curtain dirty, hair and rubbish everywhere, aircon is blocked with fluffy dust, changing rooms are dirty too. Ladies changing room by pool section is also awful. Needs a general update too, many shower heads in Gym ladies shower just spray on the door but not on the actual body so if you hand your clothes there they get wet and not safe to use the lockers because of the break ins, not enough hooks, short hairdryer cables, no clock to check the time., chipped doors and fittings everywhere. Staff is nice as always so its' 2* .

Negative experience: How this place has not gone backrupt like GL1 I really don't know - the sheer incompetence of their admin means that it is impossible at any time of the day to get in contact with them without being on hold for a minimum of half an hour. I used to drive to GL1 just to avoid the stress, annoyance and cost of trying to book something at Leisure at. They treat picking up the phone as an afterthought if they've got nothing else to do, even when there is a queue of 15 people waiting. Simply not good enough.

Negative experience: Please ditch the wide swim lanes, it’s just carnage and only encourages poor swim etiquette

Fantastic experience: It was Wonderful, the aqua aerobics class was superb .

Negative experience: Monday18/09/23- 7:30pm- As soon as I got through the swimming pool changing room doors- a strong smell of urine and feces hit me- I opened one the booths to get changed and saw this- see picture. we as a family spend over £500 pounds a year in the leisure centre. We have been customers for years and the the cleaning standard is getting worse by the minute, and mismanagement is shocking- the adults swimming pool isn’t managed- people that can barely swim in medium or fast lanes and no one says a thing- but hey the will be ready to charge you a penalty if you are late or miss your slot..

Fantastic experience: First time visiting today (27th August) with my 10 year old as were staying in Cheltenham for a family event. Having read the reviews, I was a bit anxious at the time to get in and the cleanliness. I didn't have to be. Firstly, there is lots of free on site parking. We were checked in straight away and given directions to the wet change area. We were offered the chance to buy a lock for the lockers (£5) but having read up before I knew to take my own. Although this is not a nessecity as you can take a bag poolside where there are seats and benches ample room out of the way and is safe. The changing rooms were clean and warm. With ample cubicles and lockers. In the main pool area there are three pools: a diving pool, a main pool (min 1.4metres) and a smaller pool (max 1.3m) Me and my 10 year old spent time in the main and the shallower pool. Floats are provided. The life guards are friendly and on the ball keeping non swimmers out of the main pool in a friendly but assertive way. The price of £5.50 each is reasonable and comparible to other pools. For that you get 1 hour of pool time. Only negative? The price of the refreshments from the vending machines. £1.65 for a can of Pepsi! Overall, I would recommend this pool for families and those visiting Cheltenham.

Positive experience: Not a bad facility. Gets the job done for most people. The pool and gym facilities are a little lacklustre especially coming from a gym in a bigger city. Hopefully this can fixed with a few upgrades to machines and facilities. Otherwise gym more or less enables you to train all muscle groups effectively. Suited towards the causal to light fitness enthusiasts.

Positive experience: Used the baby pool with my 9 month old son. Water was clean and warm, the floor is very tactile so no slipping, although the tiles in the changing area felt slick when wet and I was worried I would slip when carrying an infant. The pool has loads of different sensory areas to explore and discover, though some equipment wasn't working properly and had scummy deposits though not where baby was likely to come into contact. Disappointing the cafe seems to always be closed.

Positive experience: Booked for table tennis for an hour, table was ready on arrival, nice cafe with a good selection of food, we ordered 3 sandwiches which did take 30mins to make, so some improvements on speed would be great, but was worth the wait.

Fantastic experience: Great clean leisure centre, very friendly staff

Negative experience: I thought businesses meant to get better as time goes buy not Cheltenham leisure centre you phone them up and no one answers and last time i went you only need a coin for the lockers but now they charge you 5 pounds for a pad lock answer the dam phone lol

Positive experience: I've joined this centre for the lane swimming. The pool itself is fine (though in my view, it works better to have four lanes including an extra fast lane as well as a fast one, as in my long experience, a lot of people overestimate how fast they can swim). What I have found so bizarre since I joined is the app and booking system. I was told when I joined that I should use the app, but the app just... takes you to the website? And the website itself is horrible, easily the worst one I've had to regularly book swim slots on. It's so finickity trying to find swim slots. My last centre had designated sections for different activities, so booking swimming with them was a breeze. Hopefully the app is a work in progress and they plan to finish it at some point...

Fantastic experience: Went to Cheltenham comic con with family absolutely amazing at the leisure centre thanks again everybody brilliant day out.

Negative experience: Nice pool. Disgusting changing rooms. They were so filthy I had to have a shower when I got home after I’d already had a shower at the pool. Sadly I won’t be returning

Positive experience: Pretty average hence the three stars.. something rather "flat" about the whole facility.. cafe shut during the weekdays for instance.. a shame as the potential is there

Positive experience: Although we come here a lot and enjoy the activities I'm often disappointed with the poor standards of cleanliness in the changing rooms, and the service in the cafe. We visited on Monday and it said closed all half term which is a big shame for visiting famies. The prices are increasing all the time so it would be good to see these problems ironed out to match the rising prices.

Fantastic experience: Love using the courts here. The staff are very friendly and the facilities are well maintained

Positive experience: Nice place, but… The spa needs refurbishing and the gym gets way to busy due to its small size

Fantastic experience: Fabulous facilities and always have spaces for parking even on busy day....would definitely recommend...

Fantastic experience: Good set up, friendly staff and the changing rooms are regularly cleaned. My daughter loves the splash pad but it is a shame about the timing of the sessions right over lunch time

Positive experience: Free Carpark Young lady at reception helpful and a fighter. Loaned me a padlock Thanks Changing area and lockers ok (bring a padlock Pool average adequate Spa area has been in need of refit for years

Positive experience: Reception were friendly but the pool was ridiculously full. Too busy to be enjoyable. Changing rooms were dirty and I was surprised they were mixed (i.e. not male and female). Personal preference is always for split.

Negative experience: Joined in November 2022. No induction offered, jacuzzi spa broken (out of service) and remained so until end of my subscription in early February 2023. Steam room frequently cold and foul smelling, mould/mildew around shower tiles in the spa. Generally unpleasant experience. The classes on offer may be useful but I didn't try these. If you are thinking of joining for the spa area, look elsewhere.

Negative experience: Membership on their terms and completely, shockingly unfriendly to disabled people. This facility is actually no longer available for the community, its private, and you have to squeeze in to suit their private hire clients. Zero stars for customer service - not even a telephone number on their website, support-phobic, then even if you make an effort and pop down there's loads of errors. Very first visit greeted me with a fine!! Then discovered I was meant to brought a padlock, but actually was unable to swim safely as you have to book a lane, not ideal if you are disabled and using the pool for hydrotherapy support. Or you can use the kiddie pool. Lovely. If you liked training in a COVID environment, or you're 5, then you'll love it. Now awaiting 'investigation' to determine if I'm 'allowed' a refund. Cheltenham Trust has lost the plot!

Negative experience: We went for Splash & Swim session with my 2.5 year old. Water in area for babies/toddlers was very cold which is unacceptable. We've been here many times and it has never been this cold before. My child was shivering cold. If they have any technical problems people should be warned before session as noone want their child become ill.

Negative experience: Really disappointed with visit to the cafe, don't know if it's changed management or something, but the coffee was awful and in takeaway cups now, only paninis as a hot food option. Cake was still good and tasted homemade though.

Fantastic experience: Great kid swimming facilities best to go in the week if you can as it does get busy

Negative experience: Dirty, unsafe, rip off. The centre treats members terribly despite ever rising fees. Swimming is the worst. Barely any lane swim slots especially with full length pool and those that remain are over full and lethal. Life guards stare into space. No matter how many feedback forms submitted no one listens. Only thing that keeps this place running is that there is no other indoor pool over 25m around here. Management should be ashamed of the way they treat their members.

Negative experience: Such a shame that this lovely 70s facility is so very and consistently filthy in the wet changing rooms, showers, with Health and Safety issues. Often only one LG on to do everything. A reflection of poor management, with zero customer service skills and a plethora of defensive excuses, denial and nastiness. A 'no can do' attitude. All the lovely / good staff and Life Guards leave!

Fantastic experience: Great place. Seems like the water is hot one day and cooler the other... Might just be the weather outside

Negative experience: Make sure you take food with you. We were there for competition this weekend and stopped for lunch at 12 noon. How disappointing to go to the cafe and find there is no hot food nor sandwiches. Asked lady behind counter if they were doing more and her answer was NO, she certainly needs a customer care course. If they know they are holding an event with near a 100 people would you not think to cater for them.

Fantastic experience: Parking there but full so we used the rugby parking over the road. Extreme Robots... very nostalgic, no Craig Charles Kids loved it.

Fantastic experience: My son and to watch robot wars brilliant venue will be back next year

Fantastic experience: Great place for swimming with the kids, diligent and friendly life guards and fantastic to be able to use the diving boards. Overall clean and pleasant experience.

Fantastic experience: Great place. Not too busy, good size pool, and great diving boards. Need to take a padlock for the lockers.

Fantastic experience: Great leisure centre with a massive array of facilities and activities, with a good online booking system

Negative experience: We had two badminton courts booked for today, we've had them booked for 10 days. They've been cancelled due to an "admin error", and they should have been blocked out. We've had just 6 hours notice that they both need to be cancelled. We've got a group of 12 going, luckily I wasn't in the office today or we'd have still turned up. Why was it only found at 12 on the day? Surely, if the slots need to be booked out it'd seem a little strange that badminton courts are being booked when they shouldn't be. If we'd been told a few days ago it'd be completely fine, it's absolutely unacceptable to wait until 6 hours before it's booked to tell us it can't go ahead. Beyond that, they're not willing to refund us unless we provide our card details over the phone, even though we booked and paid online. Their system allegedly cannot handle refunds. What payment processor in 2012, let alone 2022, can't automate refund requests?

Fantastic experience: Nice and warm water in splash and teaching pool area for the past weeks so all happy here

Positive experience: Great facility but -2 stars for recently considerably turning down the temperature in the baby pool (unpleasantly low after previously being slightly/needlessly too high) and the changing room gents toilets being closed in our last visit (doesn't bear thinking about the implications, really).

Fantastic experience: Big leisure centre with swimming pool, gym and Group Exercise studios. Offers classes such as indoor cycling, body pump, yoga, aqua. Has virtual classes with a screen and live classes with an instructor. Also had badminton and squash courts and a small soft play for children/toddlers

Positive experience: Went to check out gym on a day pass. Has some good upper body kit but leg equipment is a big let down, machines do not lock in pivot points, you slide in the seat regardless of adjustment and you have no choice but to use lower back which is no good. I was a PT for over 12 years and this defo put me off joining.

Fantastic experience: Splash and swim. My 3yo loved it. Good facilities and price

Positive experience: Lots of shops such as Marks and Spencer and John Lewis as well as many smaller, more specialised outlets. The ones on the bottom of the Promenade tend to be expensive. I thought that The Ivy's prices were over-the-top for what was available but the young tend to not care about cost. During business hours the likes of Marks and Spencers and Cavendish House have better value food. Pittville Park (on Northern edge of town has fenced play area for children on Eastern side of road with walks around lake while the Western side of road has much larger boating lake, "pitch-and-putt" golf, fishing and pleasant walks, dogs are welcome but clean-up after them. Cheltenham has "poo bins" but ALL bins are used for dog waste as well as ordinary litter.

Positive experience: Awful online booking system ! Toddler splash area is a great addition to a nice family / children's pool but it can be really chilly at times with the air conditioning. Pool water temperature is OK.

Fantastic experience: First time for a swim there. Well organized and helpful staff. Slight problem with no locker key but took my kit with me into the pool area.

Negative experience: I've booked 4 Tickets for Halloween themed splash sessions for today, thinking it will something great for my kids. As a great beginning of Halloween weekend. Unfortunately when we get there we were disappointed. Their 'Halloween theme' starts and finish in reception... Please don't expect anything else than usual...

Negative experience: Definitely there are some decent facilities... What has to do with managing and running the place, is a disaster. 1. Example: to go for a swim, you have to change your shoes prior entering in the changing rooms area. To do that you have to switch your shoes /cover, outside this area (on the hallway) where you are allowed with outside shoes. My dilema is: What's the point in getting on the swimming flip-flops before going in the changing rooms as long as you will have to walk through a "contaminated area"? 2. I have been asked to pay twice for my daughter swimming lessons because they were unable to store correctly this information. Luckily after a bit of research I found the proof of my payment.. 3. After giving me a membership card(to avoid waiting on a queue at reception to enter ) this card never worked. When all these issues addressed to the reception lady, she didn't bother to apologise . If there would be a bit more responsibility or awareness can be a 5* .

Positive experience: Splash and play is fun but the baby/family change cubicles are not very big

Fantastic experience: I've never joined a gym before. The joining process was very simple, the staff were kind ans helpful, and the price seems reasonable. Looking forward to trying some fitness classes and the gym but today I just had a swim. The pool is very well kept, was not crowded at 1.30pm and the water was a perfect temperature. Will update this review when I have used more of the facilities.

Negative experience: Staff very unhelpful can’t be bothered attitude the place could do with a good Clean better off going else where

Positive experience: Good leisure centre with fairly good staff. Range of facilities include diving pool with boards, gym, small but not very good cafe, small pool, mainly for younger children, lessons, splash pad for younger children and lane swimming.

Positive experience: Visited here yesterday for the first time. We used the splash pad. My little boy loved it!! Only downside to it would be that we found the water was too cold! We also weren’t made aware that you needed a padlock to be able to use the lockers in the changing rooms. But other than this it was a good experience and I would recommend!

Positive experience: Great centre but the gym is a bit lacking, always feels slightly understaffed, court 1 is in need of some repairs too and maybe painting as the black hand smears make it look like something out of a zombie apocalypse

Fantastic experience: Always lovley and clean always remember to take a padlock tho for lockers

Negative experience: Got my membership blocked from making future bookings and the online platform says I owe them £4 for non attendance but I checked in using the self service machine. They won't answer emails to correct it. Changing rooms always filthy, covered in other people's hair. Jacuzzi constantly out of action.

Negative experience: Rubbish online booking facilities which frequently don't work. In person booking isn't any better. They never answer the phone either. If you're lucky enough to talk to one of the reception staff in person, they are always polite and helpful... as much as they can be when they're trying to work a rubbish system too!

Negative experience: Excellent toddler splash session until a child emptied their nappy! Obviously not the center's fault, however the female and male member of staff (wouldn't call them life guards!) spent more time flirting with each other than watching what was happening in the pool! Good job there was no child in difficulty in the pool as the they wouldn't have even noticed for sure!!

Fantastic experience: Lovely food and great service. The perfect Sunday lunch with friends.

Negative experience: We travelled 30 mins to this swimming pool for a booked swimming session. My 4 year old son so excited to go swimming with daddy and for me to sit and watch. We got to the swimming pool to be told I couldn't watch, no valid reason as to why ,( no covid restrictions in place ) off cause, I was allowed to sit the the cafe and spend money in there facilities, not stupid are they!!! but not allowed to sit and watch my son. He was totally devastated, ruined his experience. Shocking service also . Made up rules i can only assume or the receptionist would of made that clear on booking!!!!!