Helensburgh Leisure Centre

Fantastic experience: Seems that the swimming pool is going for a more "stripped down" approach in 2025

Fantastic experience: Was doing an exercise routine and got pick up by 100mph winds (I’m 5”2 btw) and landed in the Clyde estuary and 15 minutes later I was found dead on the shore near port Glasgow. 10/10 will drown again

Fantastic experience: Not sure why I've not reviewed before, but.... Fabulous centre and chalk & cheese difference from the old one. Yes it gets busy at times, but that's to be expected for a good facility that's really cheap for what it provides. Free parking is a bonus, but I live close enough to not need it, as an ecologist I appeciate the attempt in the car park for a bit of BNG. Staff are all friendly and helpful, and the Wellness app linking with the Technogym equipment is a geat thing for tracking you pogress.

Negative experience: Swimming lessons are rubbish. New teachers every week, don't update their progress on the tablets, never contact you back if you complain. Can't see my children progressing. The only progress they have made is us teaching them at the weekends. Waste of money

Positive experience: Don’t rely on the website if you are not a member and want to enjoy any of the fitness classes on offer. The website is not maintained accurately and two of the yoga classes advertised there did not actually exist and one other was cancelled. Likewise phone ahead if you want to use the pool to check if it is open for public swimming and how many lanes are available to the public.

Positive experience: Decent little gym, not much but you can get a good workout out of it, plenty of weights and main machines Good treadmills and overall not too bad, also has a sauna and a steam room with a good size swimming pool that is usually busy, so bit of a pain in the ass. Could tell you the times when you wont be aloud to use it as you just don’t know

Fantastic experience: Lovely new leisure centre. Great facilities including 25m swimming pool and a second small pool (with moveable floor), sauna and steam rooms, gym filled to the brim with techno gym equipment and free weights, separate fitness studios. Good quality changing facilities (including private showers and hairdryers). Disabled facilities including a pool hoist. Cafe, toilets, meeting rooms, breakout space amongst others. The timetable is also brilliant and offers the different sectors of the community a real opportunity to use the facilities. The staff are friendly and helpful. The plant operators are ensuring that the experience is pleasant with a really good air/water temp balance and a chemical balance in the water that doesn’t sting too much. The lifeguards are actively engaged in their role and the gym staff will happily come and offer advice. Honestly, I am genuinely impressed at this facility. Well done to everyone working there and thank you for a warm and competent welcome every time I attend.

Fantastic experience: Visited the swimming pool with kids. Lovely swim environment and changing/showers all really nice and clean. Great having free to use hairdryers. Shower temperature was very warm was the only thing, We interspersed with the cold shower to cool off :)

Fantastic experience: Lots of parking. Two big pools and a gym. Nice modern building and facilities with a cafe. Beautiful water front location. Well worth the drive to get there.

Fantastic experience: A good place go go swimming. Its clean new and well equipped. There is a cafe. A swimming pool. A gym . A sauna and a steam room too. They have loads to offer on Sundays or Saturday there is a inflatable too. Would recommend

Fantastic experience: Very good parking. Lovely and clean environment.

Fantastic experience: Large leisure center just at the pier, loads of parking, this is a new building which has been open for a while now, there is a cafe in the building, well worth a visit.

Fantastic experience: Great facility with fabulous view of the River Clyde

Fantastic experience: i love coming swimming pool it was a fun Time and i neet a test so just let you i got Down syndrome i was a kid let you all know so thank neet lot of support st the pool

Negative experience: Great location, looks like great facilities, but…… £2 for 2/3 of a paper cup of the worst tea I have had in ages! Come on you Catering Folk, you can do better than this surely!

Negative experience: The gym is indefensibly too small and acutely overcrowded. How anyone ever thought a gym of that size was going to be sufficient is baffling. The changing facilities are dirty. The showers are set at near scolding temperatures. All in all the centre is poorly designed, poorly built and poorly maintained.

Positive experience: After using cafe a few times and recommending to others today we were really disappointed. Soup was served in a paper cup with a wooden spoon that was too small - no china bowl and proper spoon that we had previously. Sandwiches were bought in packets not the nice ones made fresh as before, and all white bread apart from cheese ones No rolls with the soup just a bit of white bread sausage roll on a paper plate and the teas were hot water in a paper cup with tea bag on the side. When we commented we were told that it was a grab and go cafe now and there were plenty of othe nice cafes in Helensburgh!

Negative experience: Has a timetable on the website but it isn't up-to-date or accurate, so phone ahead to avoid disappointment. Difficult to take children swimming after school as small (teaching) pool is fully booked out 3pm-6pm then taken up by aquafit later. Larger pool also has lanes taken for lessons, meaning less space & not practical for less confident swimmers. Basically pushed to put daughter into swimming lessons as they've made it as difficult as possible to teach your own child. Despite not being very old, some lockers have broken/missing keys, some hairdryers not working. Toilets not very clean either. Food in the cafe is sub-par & not very nice so don't waste your money there.

Negative experience: Great facility just a shame they close pools with little / no / or incorrect details on their app! Another wasted afternoon when app says pool closes as 15:00 but actually closes at 14:30 (21/01/24). Is it really thar difficult to 'notify' app 24 hours in advance of changes to published timetables?

Fantastic experience: The gym boasts fantstic views over the Clyde.

Negative experience: Filthy cubicles, broken lockers, broken showers and to top it all off my sandwiches were stale and my coffee smelt of detergent. Awful for a new facility.

Fantastic experience: I only went there to grab a coffee but I can say the service was perfect, the products are rather cheap and the coffee was excellent!

Fantastic experience: It’s a good gym and it has lots of options to workout on

Negative experience: 3 Showers are broken, one entrance gate broken, spin dryers are broken, sauna is broken, gym is always at maximum capacity and should be twice the size. Definitely needs maintenance. Could decent but it just isn’t. Disappointing but I’ll be looking for another gym to go to.

Fantastic experience: Loved going to the old pool, but the new pool was fabulous, so much cleaner and bright and even had chairs to sit on while you shower. Free hair drier then out to cafe for a coffee and scone at a great price. Can't wait to get bk and take out membership

Positive experience: Gym is way too small and the opening times mean it's busy almost all the time. The only benefit to other gyms is the pool.

Fantastic experience: Best leisure centre around Argyll & Bute and better than any in West Dunbartonshire

Negative experience: Facilities look professional and I enjoyed using the gym (the one time I was able to). Sadly the website is very misleading. I wanted to take out a months membership so I payed for this but didn’t set up a direct debit as I only was available for the one month. Sadly after 7 days they cancelled my member membership. Very annoyed!

Fantastic experience: Cool place for children! very clean and safe. parents can watch how the training is going. trainers are very professional in their approach to children of different ages and with different levels of swimming.

Positive experience: The facility is poor for a new liesure centre with a lot of things out of order showers.cubicles .swimming suit dryers etc.

Negative experience: £7 for a swim only , shocking prices for a council pool . Rip off

Fantastic experience: Worth visiting place

Fantastic experience: Recently joined gym good size plenty of equipment to use there's always gym instructors on hand to ask for advice staff friendly good atmosphere in the gym.

Fantastic experience: I attended for the first time today. Parking was great, reception good and cost however i was not aware i needed a pound for locker. bit awkward when your stripped off for pool. The pool, sauna and steam were excellent. The coffee area is clean and bright but i was shocked at the lack of healthy options and frankly the food was very unhealthy on offer bearing in mind the purpose of the centre is healthy living. Very poor choice and all fat with sugar. This needs to be looked at as i feel it promotes poor eating habits and choices. The staff we also sullen and quite rude to customers. I was told to sit down and another guy was forced to choose a table ....its not huge so it was hardly likely he wasnt going to be found. Overall however an excellent experience and great value for money....take your own snacks!

Negative experience: Who would’ve thought that a swimming pool built in September 2022 would still require a pound coin for the lockers? Nowhere on the website is this information clearly displayed. Nor is it mentioned when you arrive at the place. Given that many people no longer routinely carry cash, largely due to a relatively recent world event, you would think they would make a point of letting people know they need a pound coin to lock their valuables away safely. Instead you find out you need a pound coin after you have paid your entry fee and have changed into your swimmers. Given how new the building is (many people will still be going there for the first time) and that I paid entry by card, you would think the receptionist would ask if you had a coin for the lockers. That would give you the chance to at least nip to a cash point, or here’s an idea, she could’ve charged me an extra pound and given me a pound coin (or even a token that would do the same job). I went back to the reception area where no staff members were around to be seen now. I waited a few minutes to see what could be done about my predicament. Nobody turned up and so I decided to leave and didn’t ask for a refund as my time is worth more to me than the paltry sum of money I would’ve gotten back. All in all disappointing and I would recommend people save their time and money and look elsewhere. On a positive note everything is new and clean looking, but then you would expect that given that the building is indeed new. I have no doubts that within a couple of years it will probably look tired and neglected once again.

Fantastic experience: The cafe is great! They do gluten free sandwiches, always happy to help and very friendly

Positive experience: Good leisure centre.... All new and shiny

Positive experience: It looks the part but the actual gym is a prime example of someone sitting with a tick box wishlist & not considering where it all is going to go! No sign of any staff on duty & it was chaos. Functional fitness area, that will be the space in the corner, next to sit up bench, don't bring a friend though as there's only room for one mat!

Fantastic experience: From the outside in the darkened evening, it looks really good and very inviting

Negative experience: New gym: potential missed. Positive note- good temperature and beautiful views. Sadly the new gym hasn’t hit the mark. Considering the vast population of Helensburgh the gym is far too small. Specifically, the free weights area. However this might be an unfair statement because I believe the downfall is due to management of the place. I’m an avid gym user and spend 5 days a week weight training and frequented hundreds of gyms over the years. The biggest issue is the customer gym etiquette which needs to be clamped down on by staff before an accident happens. 90% of customers do not re rack their plates from the machines, highly frustrating and rude. Again, common gym etiquette that staff NEED to sort out and start warning gym members about. Many gyms dish out warnings for this and can result in gym bans due to safety. The dumbbell rack is a riot 90% of the time, again, due to poor etiquette- members need to put weights back in the correct order and refrain from putting heavier weights back on the top shelf- which may result in an injury. The gym at peak periods is like a youth club, young kids unsupervised in the free weights. An accident waiting to happen. This really needs clamping down on as soon as possible. Groups of kids leaving weights everywhere, standing in the free weights chatting and being totally unaware of the other gym users actions- especially when you’ve got the odd bloke trying to chest press 58kg a side with dumbbells only to be banged into by a teenage girl playing around with her pal. Dangerous. Staff are nowhere to be seen and something needs to be done. Kids under the age of 18 should not be allowed in there without supervision. End of. Paying nearly £40 a month family pass for a gym that is borderline dangerous and completely free for all with barely any staff supervision. Take a leaf out of the classic bodybuilding gyms you’ll find in the likes of Dumbarton. Gym etiquette needs to be clamped down on in there and stop letting young kids in with no supervision. And no rules enforced. Also it would be great if staff could not hoover around peoples feet especially in the free weights area and especially during peak around. Cleanliness is not more important than safety. Finally the music is absolutely terrible and I feel like I’m in a doctors waiting room. Yes, I am aware that the gym needs to cater for all ages but I can’t imagine any age group being motivated by nation radio during their workout. The gym had a good idea, poor execution. More rules and more clamping down on members will change the place for the better, for the well-being and safety of the members- especially if you want members to return.

Positive experience: Could do with a little more space in the free weights zone but it's a great gym and family friendly

Negative experience: I phoned 10 times and they did not answer

Fantastic experience: Visiting family here in Scotland from America and the staff have been very accommodating; very lovely facility with friendly, helpful and kind staff. Very affordable and well equipped. Terrific.

Positive experience: Un pueblo muy bonito

Fantastic experience: Good sized pool and gym facilities, staff extremely friendly and welcoming. Doing a great job of looking our for both users and staff during the covid pandemic

Positive experience: It's the only pool locally, let's be honest it's 20 years overdue a proper upgrade, it's just a pitty the council couldn't run a bath and the town is full of people who want to have a say on things they don't even use, once a certain generation die off the place will evolve and fulfill it's full potential!

Fantastic experience: Very clean and smelling fresh

Fantastic experience: Lovely little learner pool for the little ones, with a great teacher in Graham.

Fantastic experience: Closed due to covid

Fantastic experience: Skate park Helensburgh

Positive experience: Nice place

Negative experience: Needs a good clean or better complete refurb. Won't be back.

Fantastic experience: Nice swimming pool

Fantastic experience: Very good.

Positive experience: Most enjoyable time. Helensburgh nice place to visit lots of shops good variety reminds me of how a good day out can be pleasureable

Fantastic experience: Great place

Fantastic experience: Staff really friendly and welcoming

Negative experience: L hiver à17h30 un samedi , c est fermé !

Fantastic experience: Used the gym very friendly atmosphere

Fantastic experience: Nice pool temperature just right keeps you fit as well. Staff pleasant and helpful if you need any help.

Fantastic experience: The new facility is excellent.

Positive experience: Nice place to relax with the family.

Fantastic experience: GOOD PLACE TO LIVE

Fantastic experience: Very friendly staff, good place

Fantastic experience: I liked it. Very simple and not crowded. Children liked it too.

Fantastic experience: Great Showers, Very Friendly Staff

Positive experience: Visited Helensburgh, for a couple of hours, did not use the pool. Some nice shops here especially if you are interested in spiritual items, like me. As it was raining ☔ while here I decided to go for a drink and a coffee at Witherspoons. Once you have your coffee you can then have free refills, as many times as you want. Great idea

Positive experience: The town looks a little poorer but l suppose lots of towns look like that.

Fantastic experience: Great place, friendly staff, best around!

Positive experience: lovely day

Fantastic experience: Très belle piscine !

Negative experience: The pool is randomly closed. Lockers dont accept modern £1 coins so you have to get a token -great fun trailing wee ones back n for. Changing rooms are small and the few larger ones for families are usually reserved by way of other customers leaving clothing despite signs saying not to -so no enforcement. Staff are lacksy daisy about this and other issues. One hair dryer has been broken for over a year and recently the communal area has smelt similar to a urinal on several occasions. Last straw was watching our 5 year old being taught nothing or even being supervised by the swimming instructor. She was left to do her own thing. We raised a complaint and after 2 months heard nothing. She is now at The Meadow Centre in Dumbarton and bsck on track learning to swim. Sadly we were not the only parents with this complaint and i have urged them to sound their voice as well.

Positive experience: In this place the pool is adequate three easy access parking for disability people

Positive experience: Cold and wet, good exercise

Positive experience: Pool and a gym

Positive experience: Friendly warm pool grandson likes it

Positive experience: excellent for all the family to enjoy

Fantastic experience: Great swimming instructors and good facilities would recommend

Fantastic experience: Great workout

Fantastic experience: I love visiting Helensburgh especially love the fish and chip shops lovely and the beech my wee dog loves it and great for a lovely walk I tend to go when it is a bit quiet like non Bank Holidays and occasionally a Sunday evening during the summer some great wee cafes as well

Fantastic experience: The staff seem like a good wee team, and make sure you're looked after. Has separate shallow pool so it's perfect for wee ones learning to swim.

Fantastic experience: Lovely day out with kids beautiful place to visit

Positive experience: Needs some investment and improvement

Positive experience: Surprisingly busy. Free parking and good atmosphere.

Fantastic experience: Great public swimming pool on the Helensburgh seafront.

Negative experience: Sauna was not working facilities are inferior to those in the West Dunbartonshire pools

Negative experience: Half the pool shut every day. Not in accordance with their supposed timetable. Don't allow any kind of fun in the pool whatsoever. No slides. No waves. No fins. No nothing. If you like sharing a lane with five other people you'll love this place. Pool is disgusting. I don't think they've ever cleaned it. Unisex changing rooms. Oh and if you're a pensioner you pay more. Enjoy.

Negative experience: Only passed by

Fantastic experience: Great little pool suitable for small children (has a baby pool which is very warm) and older kids can use the bigger pool.

Positive experience: Nice pool

Positive experience: Staff are lovely. Pool a good size but looking a bit tatty.

Fantastic experience: Great kiddy pool and lovely Lifeguards. Changing rooms clean and open

Negative experience: I just went a drive with my friend great day warm summer fate was as good as it gets lovely place to go to

Positive experience: Go regularly for lane swimming early morning. This session is popular and can get busy.

Positive experience: Excellent staff. Can't wait for the new Leisure Centre to be built.

Positive experience: Great Staff warm small pool good changing room and showers... Only downside is often full booked for lessons and parties

Fantastic experience: Great place, best swimming club I have ever been to! Lovely staff and altogether clean.

Positive experience: Lovely clean pool

Positive experience: Simple pool but due an upgrade

Positive experience: A good local facility, but nothing special.