Stour Centre

Negative experience: They didn't call me back about swimming now have to call back

Fantastic experience: Kids always have great fun here , great value for money

Positive experience: Unfortunately our visit to the leisure pool today was unpleasant as it was so so cold - the pool temperature was not bearable for long, even moving around as much as possible. The air temperature out of the pool was very cold and even colder in the changing rooms. I brought a 2 year old today who was severely shivering in the pool and out trying to play on the children’s small slides in the splash area with blue lips after 20 minutes. We had to leave earlier than we’d have liked. As we were cold to the core, the showers then felt extremely hot so the whole thing was testing to say the least. We won’t be back in a hurry with a small child which is a shame :(

Fantastic experience: Excellent swimming complex with lots of life guards on duty. Very clean and great for kids

Fantastic experience: Jessica from the membership team stepped in to help me sort out a complicated issue that two of her colleagues before had struggled with. I went from being incredibly frustrated to leaving feeling confident and valued as a customer. She was able turn a difficult situation around and restore my faith in humanity, a true credit to your team.

Fantastic experience: Easy signing up Process Rees nd Naomi really helpful

Negative experience: Stour centre has rather good facilities, though it’s a huge shame that they are terribly disorganised - courts are never setup when you need them, and staff consistently have new excuses for not having them ready. Today was the 6th time in a row that our family has turned up for a badminton session to find the courts not ready. As usual, we paid for a 1hour slot only to be still waiting to get on 15 minutes after our start time. We’ve pleaded with the staff to raise this with management though it never improves. We’re not the only ones either, each time there are other groups also waiting and annoyed, and I can’t fathom why this doesn’t improve. Please sort out your organisation to ensure your staff know when courts are booked /need to be setup, as this is super annoying and ruins our session every darn time.

Positive experience: After hearing it had been revamped, I decided to check out the Stour Centre in Ashford. It had been years since my last visit, and I was curious to see the changes. Well, let’s just say it’s had a glow-up… sort of. The soft play area is an absolute winner. If you’ve got kids, this is where they’ll happily burn through their sugar reserves while you get a moment’s peace (or at least a chance to scroll your phone in the café). It’s bright, colourful, and chaotic in the best way – basically, everything kids love and adults tolerate. The pool is still the star attraction, with slides that are the stuff of local legend. Flying down them at breakneck speed remains as fun as ever, though now I find myself worrying about my posture mid-slide. They’re just as iconic as I remember, though the “new look” of the place didn’t extend to these classics – which, honestly, I’m okay with. Why mess with perfection? The rest of the centre is… alright. It’s definitely been spruced up, but parts of it still feel like they’re clinging to the past. It’s cleaner and brighter than I recall, but some areas could still do with a little TLC. It’s a mix of “ooh, nice” and “ah, that’s still there.” All in all, the Stour Centre is a solid family day out. The kids will love it, you’ll enjoy the nostalgia (and maybe a cheeky go on the slides), and it does the job well enough. Just don’t expect a cutting-edge leisure centre – this place is more community staple than futuristic fitness hub.

Negative experience: Really poor, this is the second time I have tried to go swimming here. The first time was a couple of years ago. I checked the pool opening times online only to be told when I got there that the pool was closed to the public so today I phoned before going after looking at the timetable and it showed only schools until 2pm so rang them to check, was told on the phone that it was currently opened to the public until 3:30pm and even checked with them about the schools currently being in. Said it was not a problem and I could swim. So drove there parked and was then told the pool was closed until 2pm. Really need to sort the staff training out. Really annoying as wanted to use the pool for rehabilitation for my back and struggled to get there anyway.

Positive experience: Good when the pool working, and when the staff is on the ball, but toilet barely clean, and safety checks on soft play apparatus not done as the ball drop and ball cannons hasn't functioned since I been there in over a year!

Fantastic experience: The children totally enjoyed the time at the pool changing rooms were clean and the showers hot

Fantastic experience: We like the leisure pool and I enjoy the classes. Staff is friendly and helpful.

Positive experience: The cleanliness of the pool changing areas and showers is now kept at a good level. Thank you.

Fantastic experience: Excellent gym facilities, not too busy at peak times, friendly and knowledgeable gym staff, nice to be able to use a gym with such mixed clientèle and not full of grunting sweaty men hogging the weights areas

Fantastic experience: Great facilities, the stour centre has come a long way since it's refurbishment a few years ago. Massive thanks to Dannii for helping to make the sign up process welcoming.

Negative experience: We have had the worst swimming school experience and we will probably never go back to the stour centre which is a shame. When we arrived we had no idea where to go, it was disorganised. No one asked us about our children’s abilities or even their names, the staff did not look happy or interested in teaching. On the second session they moved my 6 year old in to the bigger pool. I explained fully his ability when they took him in. After half of the lesson he had a lady to help him but she was not paying attention to how distraught he was. He ended up vomiting in the pool. Everyone had to leave the pool and my son was mortified in tears and very stressed. After this terrible experience we tried to talk to someone about what happened as we hoped to resolve the problem by explaining that maybe if both boys where in the small pool they would be happy but we have not received any messages or phone call after calling 7 time and emailing and even going to the stour centre. Today again they said they would call us and they did not. We were also meant to receive swim passes that where only given to us after we asked for them.

Positive experience: Went for a swim here with my daughter. Flumes and lazy river was fun. Although they do seem to shut them very early before the end of the swimming session. Lots of life guards when we went. Just don't think about turning the wrong way in the lazy river otherwise you get told off for swimming the wrong way! Oops!

Negative experience: The sport hall system doesn't make much sence. I was looking to book one hoop on the basketball court but i could only book full or half court. I was going to make a routine of 2 day per week over the winter but £33 for one person for 1 hour for 1 hoop?? is way too much money!!! I'll go look somewhere else thanks.

Fantastic experience: Great affordable family fun. All the staff are so friendly and helpful. Especially in the clip and climb section. The Summer Passport challenge is a fantastic way to get kids active and you get a family swin session for free if you collect the stamps . Highly recommend

Positive experience: Overpriced, limited access and understaffed. Unable to access the lap pool if you buy a ticket for the leisure pool even though they are connected. Not enough staff to have all facilities in the leisure pool open at the same time. On the plus side very clean and helpful staff.

Positive experience: I went to the center to try out their squash courts, wich were a little run down. The center itself was very clean, well equipped and the staff extremely friendly. I would go again, but, not for the squash courts!

Fantastic experience: Great Customer Service when the Pool was shut today due to unforeseen circumstances. As holidaying guests we were kindly issued with a voucher so we could come back and try the pool facilities, which we will gladly do, as we holiday here lot. Thanks to Paul and the rest of the staff who were all very kind. Recommend. Cheers

Fantastic experience: Leisure pool swim 1.1/4 slot 2 adults and 2 kids £23 great fun kids on the slides lazy river jacuzzi and the water jets busy but we all enjoyed it

Positive experience: Despite the fact that there was major investment parts or the centre already looked tired. Reception area is nice, however the swimming pool area needs a bit of a tidy up. They have tried to implement a no shoes rule pool side, which is not enforced and most people simply ignore. Either do it or don't. Also don't expect a quick response to emails, three weeks down now and still no response to my enquiry

Negative experience: Went today and the floors in the changing room for the pool was noticeably disgusting. You're not allowed shoes on, (although people were wearing shoes so this wasn't actually enforced), so there's no choice but to dodge around old plasters and wet piles of other people's hair in your bare feet. Paid about £30 for 5 people for just over an hour, the pool is ok with different zones to swim in and the kids enjoyed the flumes. The whole place needs a jet wash and it seems really grubby throughout, as well as the surface dirt all over the changing rooms. I don't think we will rush back.

Fantastic experience: I'm new to the area (from California) and the gyms back home are top notch. Thought to check out the Stour Centre as I saw a few adverts on Facebook and I was given a tour of the facilities by Dannii. She was very friendly and I loved how much the centre had to offer, way better than back home. It looked really clean and the gym was absolutely massive. I signed up and I am really looking forward to working out again. Thanks again Dannii for making me feel welcomed in the Ashford community! :)

Fantastic experience: Dannii on the sign up desk was fantastic today , so helpful and great fun . She is a star

Fantastic experience: Dannii has been great and very helpful. I now can’t wait to start our new regime. Thanks Dannii on enquiry desk you’ve made our day!

Negative experience: Honestly I could I would not even give it a 1 star but I am beyond disappointed so here we are I am leaving a review. So couple of months ago in March I had queried about Adult swimming lesson and i spoke to a receptionist who was helpful at that time to put me up on a waitlist as Swimming lessons are rather popular. The lady also told me there is a lack of swimming teacher so they are also actively looking for a teacher so as soon as they are able to do so probably the waitlisted people will finally get to learn swimming. Which I really think you should hire them as soon as possible. So my concern is today 10/06/24 at 11:00 am , i rang the reception to give me any updates on my position in the waitlist she said unfortunately its a wrong department to ask and she would not have any information on swimming queries. Bare in mind its a reception they should atleast have some sort or info , so i also mentioned her to check my position she said its not possible at first and as i told her colleague in past was able to check , so she was like oh ok, but then said oh the system is not working. I figured out may be she does not how to check. So she suggested me to email you but my queries were all unanswered in the pasts via email hence i decided to give a call. Anyhow this is unacceptable and unprofessional to not know anything despite sat in a reception. I myself face customers in a daily basis at work but if i don’t know something i always ask other colleagues or a supervisor. In my case the conversation ended up as system broken, this is not my department so i would not know. What kind of silly excuse is that? Why is she even there??

Negative experience: I've been trying to get in touch with the store multiple times regarding swimming lessons. However, the customer service experience at this establishment has been unsatisfactory. I've experienced delayed or no responses to my emails, and the reception staff seems to lack knowledge about the swimming lessons. One major issue I faced was the lack of responsiveness to my emails. I didn't receive replies to my inquiries, and in some cases, it took over a month to get a response. I'm not interested in a membership, so I tried to get more information about the £32 monthly fee for a lesson, but I haven't received any responses from the store. The delayed email responses and lack of knowledge among the reception staff have been disappointing.

Positive experience: We took our 2 grandchildren ages 2 and 4 to the soft play . The facilities were clean during pur visit and the soft play had a wide range of slides and fun ball pits. Something for all ages. The cafe next to the soft play is convenient to grab a coffee while watching the children play. Highly recommend and better than most soft plays in the area.

Fantastic experience: Great place to work out! Been visiting the gym here for over two years and the recent staff working in the gym take very good care of the place. The cleanliness of the gym has massively improved. It’s nice to see the centre take onboard feedback from their customers to ensure high standards are kept. The gyms equipment is very high quality using the latest Technogym equipment. This is great as the staff can create you personalised workouts to help you reach your training goals. The machines remember your setting when you login. You can also track your progress in the Technogym application. Keep up the good work!

Fantastic experience: Great gym facilities friendly atmosphere and entertainment on the flat screen TVs

Fantastic experience: Dannii on sales was a gem. I visited on Friday and she walked me through the signing and quick tour of the building which seemed in good nick. Highly recommend the current state of this centre, they have worked well to improve the conditions of the building and visitor experience.

Fantastic experience: Friendly staff, lots to do and lovely little cafe too!

Fantastic experience: Dannii was extremely helpful and professional in helping my family and I getting our memberships sorted. Thank you

Fantastic experience: Came for a birthday party and my children loved the play area. Shall return and try the swimming pool and climbing wall. Just a shame to have to pay to park but given the train stations close proximity I understand why but could reimburse inside when paying to use services

Negative experience: How have they taken a leisure centre, sunk Soooooooo much money into it, to make it worse than ever! I don't care if it has a Costa in reception, how abouts cleaning the changing rooms or repairing the shabby common areas?

Fantastic experience: Had good swim with scout troop only issue I had parking ticket which I know I was using two spaces but car park was under water I Appel

Positive experience: The stour center, has a lovely swimming pool. Nice and deep to swimming. Clean too

Negative experience: Absolutely traumatised and never coming back. The manager Sam is vile and inappropriate. I have been holding back on leaving this review but I don’t want anyone else to be exposed to such a degrading situation as I was leading up to Christmas, I suffer with my self confidence as I’m a large guy and it takes a lot to mentally prepare to enter a public place like a swimming pool but had been feeling more and more confident coming to the stour centre in an effort to improve my fitness. That has all now been obliterated from a disturbing conversation I over heard in the changing rooms after my last swim there. I could hear 2 members of staff talking about other lazy members of staff which I understand is often generally part of workplace politics but then one of them began talking about a member of staff that I won’t name as what was said about them was truly horrendous and I can relate to on a personal level. I heard one member of staff saying “I can’t believe……. Is actually a life guard have you seen the size of her I bet if she ever needs to jump in all the water will jump out I suppose that could make a rescue a lot easier” then chuckles “plus if she lost weight she wouldn’t b**** about her bad knee all the time just eat less fatty” the other member of staff said “Sam you can’t say things like that your a manager” Sam then said “it’s only the truth” the conversation then faded as they moved out of the changing rooms I got dressed and left as fast as I could if the manager can speak about a member of staff like that then I can only imagine what he is saying about me I’ll never set foot in there again.

Negative experience: Went swimming here for the first time in years, went with my fiancee and she is disabled, we used the disabled shower room and it was filthy, the water couldn't drain away clumps of hair everywhere, food on the floor. Went and grabbed a coffee after had to wait as the staff were having a social meeting and I was deemed unimportant as a customer, the laziness of staff these days is just unbelievable no customer care at all. I'd love to start up swimming again but the facilities just put me off.

Positive experience: Love the swimming pool and kids have great fun. Shame they've removed the cafe

Negative experience: The place is not clean. The pool not available if you come with tje kids to the leisure part of the pool. This place was renovated a few years ago. It does not show.

Negative experience: Soft play was so filthy! They have moved all the tables and chairs so there’s no where to sit and safely watch your child play. Also in imagine they have someone watching who tells older children not to be in the baby area. We would’ve gone to imagine today if it wasn’t closed as they have people cleaning and monitoring constantly. Sometimes they let you in on the door and other times they turn you away for not prebooking online. It’s all just a shambles really.

Negative experience: This gym isn’t really worth the monthly payment. The gum shuts at 8 pm in the weekends. Getting a hold of them via phone is almost impossible. I’ve tried calling 5 times today and leaving a voicemail but haven’t had much luck. I faces the same issue for two whole weeks when I canceled my husband’s membership. I’ve only been able to attend three classes in the last 11 months, as most of these classes are usually canceled last minute. The gym is spacious and clean but other than that I would say it’s been a disappointing experience.

Positive experience: I regularly take my children to the indoor soft play area which is decent. However the seating area is always dirty with food and cups on the tables and floors. The toilets are often dirty too. I don't think I've ever seen anyone clearing up the mess. Its a pity as it would be a much better experience if they keep the place clean. EDIT - On recent visits they appear to have improved on keeping the seating areas clean and tidy.

Positive experience: We love the swimming pool area. Slightly small but still a great place for fun and reasonably priced too.

Negative experience: Swimming great, pools are great for the kids, but the changing rooms were beyond filthy and disgusting. What a shame !

Fantastic experience: Attended Action for Life session. Very caring and helpful instructor. Well worth attending. Continues to be a brilliant inspirational instructor. Still very good.

Negative experience: Just left - I put my baby on the baby changing table in the purple changing room and it broke and my baby landed face first on his face - trip to A&E. It STINKS of piss - it is disgusting, dirty plasters in changing rooms and food. For what you charge this is APPALING

Negative experience: Where do I start, certain members of staff are rude. For the first swimming session of the day the changing rooms are disgusting, food wrappers, hair, and just generally dirty. Turns out that the baby pool was closed, lazy river wasn't open due to staff shortages. Paid £20 to swim, will not return here. I've given this place a few chances and it just gets worse!

Negative experience: No update of swimming lesson portal. My child has been in a same stage nearly 6 months. I think there are no managers in this place to response any emails.

Negative experience: This day was another I was waiting for a badminton net to start the game. Despite booking the court in advance we started playing 10 minutes later and after asking staff twice for a net. Quite frustrating when you pay nearly £20 (+ the car park) for 50 minutes game… and see the staff walking around doing nothing during your time you should playing…

Negative experience: Took 2 months of membership fees after telling me my membership was cancelled. Have since called 3 times and been into the centre once and each time my information is taken, I am told when to expect a response, then I hear nothing. When I call to follow up no one knows what I am talking about, asks to take my information and call me back. I would categorically NEVER recommend.

Negative experience: When you want to come and buy a membership they would do it for you with a lovely smile on their faces but if you want to cancel it they would try to play games on you , it’s my 12th day trying to cancel my membership because I don’t have time to come to gym I have to focus on my gcse and school but they are giving me some email which is not even working and they would act rude and ignore you .

Positive experience: My wife really enjoyed the softplay area and playing with our baby grandson in the baby area and ball pool. They have high chairs for hungry babies too. Parking costs are average and they have a few EV chargers too. I was charging there for 34p/kwh using a 7kw charger. So the same as charging at home for me.

Negative experience: I never really thought I would do one of these. 2 stars for the staff they are simply the reason the centre is still a centre to be honest. It used to be good, but the constant rule changes keep hindering it, and the management simply lacks the intelligence to make rational worthwhile decisions. Now, I paid for a year's membership last August with the terms and conditions, not mentioning the right changes to the membership I had bought. Recently, they removed the ability to book courts free of cost for members. And the prices were around £16.65, for an HOUR AN HOUR of badminton. Safe to say, the place is now desolate. Barely anyone that used to go actually pays the extortionate fee. Not to mention the insulting benefit of getting 10% off when booking the court. What is the point when it literally used to be free? Being the only leisure centre in ashford means the management thinks people can be charged whatever. Do they not realise we are in a cost of living crisis, do they not realise how the accessibility of exercise is important in this modern day. To think I used to put up the funky smelling showers or the disgusting floors in the pools, only to be scammed. There is no point

Negative experience: My daughter has been swimming at the stour centre just over a year, she's a sensitive little thing and honestly it has been hard work getting her into lessons as she has been worried and anxious, so it's not entirely their fault - we were impressed up until a few months ago when it was clear that all sense of organisation has gone out the window, teachers constantly changing - i appreciate staff holiday and leaving etc but the last few months have been awful. The last lesson my daughter went to the rude woman told my partner "I should be at a bbq right now" so clearly didn't want to be there and also said she was in the wrong group as she couldn't do something she was supposed to. THE TEACHERS PUT HER IN THAT GROUP. The online portal hasn't been filled in since April? Just a long line of problems, so rather than giving our daughter the confidence she needed this has MASSIVELY set her back. We have pulled her out now because the lack of consistency isn't helping. Just to say Karen the swimming teacher is amazing but unfortunately that is the only positive thing I have to say.

Negative experience: General cleanliness of the facility is absolutely disgusting. Changing rooms are filthy and the smell of urine was so strong in the toilet it was burning my nose. I won’t be retuning.

Negative experience: I went to the fun pool and it was grim there was scum mark running around the lazy river that you can scratch off and we got told it’s hard to clean and there was mould in the shower cubicles and the jacuzzi’s were freezing and wasn’t working the floor was grimy with mould on the floor I’ve been going there 4 years while being on holiday, it’s gone down hill majorly and I can say it felt like a fishing lake was more clean than the pool I will never be returning again

Negative experience: Amazing staff minus 1 exception Pools barely open Changing rooms are filthy Overpriced Waited 10 minutes for a drink as the 1 exception walked passed twice and couldn't even acknowledge or apologise for the wait Disgusting this centre should be thriving such a shame

Negative experience: They changed the membership so you have to pay full price (-10% discount) for racquet sports. Up until then I would tolerate the somewhat chaotic set up (e.g. repeatedly having to ask for the table tennis table to be set up, despite booking in advance). Most of the staff seem uncommitted for which I blame the management. Maybe the same management responsible for effectively pricing me out of the place. Oh and the classes were shambolic too. Turned up several times last year for pilates and no instructor. Just me and the other punters.

Negative experience: Generally the centre is in a pretty poor state, with buckets all over the place because there are many leaks that otherwise cause puddles on the floor. That might be difficult to resolve but the disgusting state of the gym changing facilities cannot be excused. Often there is only cold water for showering, but honestly I only use those facilities if I absolutely have to. A dedicated cleaning service is sadly missing, as seem to be any kind of reasonable standards. It’s grim….. Membership is really frustrating, they’ve reduced what you can access within the membership levels yet again, despite the prices going up quite a bit in recent months. My suggestion if you did want to get a membership would be to only opt for monthly so you can cancel if no longer happy as being locked in for 12 months where you pay up front does not mean you get what you paid for. Some of the staff are outstanding but they are let down by the appalling leadership and decisions being taken. There are better options locally in my opinion and I will personally be taking those up ASAP.

Fantastic experience: Good sized gym and swimming pool. Clean and well maintained with good equipment. Friendly and helpful staff.

Positive experience: Great to go swimming. I wonder if there is a plumbing issue as some toilets are out of order and smells which are common not just one off.

Positive experience: Writing a review for the gym: Standard prices for the gym is a little bit expensive. However, the student discount makes the price more fair. I found the gym to be focused primarily on legs and cardio, but it does have decent machines and weights for upper body and strength training

Negative experience: The swimming pool area was grimey - the pool floor was dirty and the leisure pool was so crowded that we couldn’t even swim. The jacuzzi wasn’t properly working(3 of the jets weren’t working). The lazy river was closed due to “overflow of people” - they kept the slides but closed the lazy river to help the congestion- spreading it out would be a better idea.

Fantastic experience: I went swimming with my child, the pool was great, good value for money. You need to bring a pound coin for the lockers. The changing rooms were a decent size and there were options for families, couples, and individuals.

Negative experience: One star given for the lovely staff and excellent fitness classes... the problems at this sport centre are not their fault. They often appear understaffed and overworked, in my opinion. I'd very much like to know who the senior managers are and why they continuously choose to ignore complaints. Zero stars for the filthy floors, sweat stained equipment, stinky/dirty showers & rotten changing facilities in both the gym and pool. Often, I had to shower in cold water as no hot available. I took photos of the dirt, yet 2 WEEKS LATER the same filth plus more was there. I couldn't shower in the gym, due to the rotten smells, opting for the showers in the pool area, which are slightly less of a health hazard. After complaining several times, I was told no cleaning team exists and management expects the staff to clean, which obviously isn’t happening. I'm guessing staff don't have the time. In my opinion, very poor management. Absolutely disgraceful

Negative experience: To be honest it could do with a good make over its looking rather sad rust flaky paint broken windows unorganized staff, we try to go 2 or 3 time's a month with special needs children and there's too much delay between closing the Flume's and opening the river a lot of the kids are autistic and just can't handle the waiting. I know they are following the rules. Rusty patches here are their. I bet the owner hasn't been there for years. I would be quite ashamed. Anyway it's a clean pool for the kids .

Negative experience: Good place but doesn't really keep up with cleanliness, the managment need to inspect more often, some changing rooms distinctly nott cleaned in weeks, the showers are creepy with age related dirt, fittings eg shower fittings loose and dangerous some don't even have a hook to put a towel on, again this is the responsibility of managment which is sadly lacking. the staff are very good, helpfull and always smiling. Like them a lot..

Negative experience: Very disappointed in our treatment by staff when we wanted to take my grandbabies (aged 1 & 2) swimming. We were turned away quite rudely by the staff member on the reception. My non verbal grandson had the worst meltdown as he wanted to go in the "splash-splash". With such poor customer service, we shall not use the stour centre pool again.

Positive experience: We went swimming. Luckily checked before we went as still have to book, there are timed sessions. Pool is OK, not very big, our 9yo and 12yo enjoyed the slides. Changing rooms clean. Don't forget £1 for locker!

Positive experience: Love the amenities here. Always loads to do from the climbing wall, swimming, football, karate, roller skating to soft play. My big grudge is the cleaning of the loos in the swimming area always needs addressing. They usually smell rotten…. Plus you’ll be lucky to find a ticket machine in the council car park that works so I waste time each week. You can pay online but member get a refund when paying on the machines.

Negative experience: Locker security very poor. There's no keys in the locker anyone can access your locker . One of my brother just lost his gym bag from inside the gym from inside the locker and in the bag he had his car keys (BMW) which was also stolen. Really poor security in lockers.

Negative experience: Visited the soft play area on Saturday which was absolutely disgusting and we won’t be visiting again. A child had wet themselves in the play area which i and multiple people stepped in, it wasn’t cleaned up for over half an hour because no one (and I mean no one ) was around for any of us to tell about it. Not a single member of staff was seen in the area by me until they had been alerted to the incident. There was rubbish piled high on every table, nothing was clean and no tables were available for us due to this. We had to grab a spare chair and pile 4 people’s belongings, coats, drinks etc onto it which wasn’t easy. We truly had an awful time and will think twice about booking other activities in the facility now if this is how badly it gets when it’s busy. Ps the female toilets were unpleasant too and had no toilet paper available. It is quite clear the young ladies working on that day were given too much to handle at once and the soft play couldn’t operate safely. May I suggest reduced capacity and more staff. So so disappointing.

Negative experience: Today myself and my two year old daughter went swimming with my brother and sister-in-law with my 2 month old niece. We did the toddler swim advertised at 0-4 years. The session is for 1 hour and only a very small section of the “leisure pool” is used. Therefore this swim is rather expensive as most of it you can’t use like the rapids or part of the pool.. After a very grim change to get into the pool, (very dirty floors to changing area and really smelly).. we went to the pool.. I struggled putting my towels anywhere as there was dirt and chewing gum even at the poolside… but we got in for some “fun”. The pool was FREEZING! After around 10 minutes my daughter asked to go and get changed because she was cold. My niece ended up going blue. Now we asked what the temperature of the pool was which they said was 29.7c… even for a toddler this is slightly too cold as it should be above 30. For babies under three months a pool should be Atleast 32c. Therefore the session advertised is being mis sold. We got changed and went to reception to complain, the girl behind reception was lovely and the two other girls that checked the temperature and spoke to us (I believe one was a manager), they were all lovely, knowledgeable and helpful. They checked that the baby was ok and gave us a free large hot drink which they did not need to do! But very appreciated!. They themselves could not do anything about how cold the pool was but did give us an email to complain but please be mindful when taking small children that this pool is not the temperature it should be and there is no heating on in the building so it’s impossible to warm up! Please sort out hygiene and the safety of your guests.

Negative experience: What was meant to be memorable in a good way, turned out to be memorable in a bad way. Wife and I took our 2 month old to the toddler splash (advertised as ages 0-4) which was first time swimming with our baby. Getting in the pool was cold even for us! Baby was even less happy when put in the pool. The temperature of the pool was provided on request at 29.7C at that time. Now bare in mind it's pretty expensive for an hours swim, we gave it 15 minutes for the baby to get used to the temperature in order to attempt to make the most of the time. Over the 15 minutes, our baby went a blue/purple colour so we decided to jump out and call it the end of the session. As we were leaving, we were approached by a member of staff requesting us to leave the pool area due to concerns about the babies temperature (she was looking very blue at this point). Having had a look at the recommended temperature for babies, it should have been 32C at least. We went to reception and made a complaint and were told management had requested they turn the temperature down to save money. Therefore, it's false advertising and a service was mis-sold. If the temperature isn't appropriate for the advertised age then it shouldn't be sold at all to the affected ages. Second to this, the changing area is disgusting. Balls of hair and gunge in multiple areas, chewing gum by the pool side, toilets absolutely stink. It needs a clean! You've also got 1 member of staff handling the reception desk AND the Costa coffee area. The place appears to be run by 17 year olds, not an adult in sight and so complaints are futile. We were instead provided with an email address I have no doubt will be ignored. This experience should have provided some nice memories but has been tainted. I was always taken here as a kid and we have great memories. Sadly, my child won't have such memories with the same place as I certainly won't be coming back any time in the near future. TLDR; May this serve as a warning to parents with babies. The pool is not considered safely warm enough for children under a year old.

Positive experience: Booked a family swim session. Pool is fine - flumes, toddler pool, toddler play area. Changing rooms a bit smelly with the staff in there seemingly just hanging around. That being said, staff in the actual pool area great and attentive to ensure safety.

Negative experience: They seriously need to do something about the swimming pool changing rooms. They absolutely stink and are pretty dirty! There’s a nasty fishy smell in all changing areas and the floors are filthy. Also, I don’t understand why they never open all areas of the leisure pool when you pay full price to get in there. This place has gone downhill massively.

Positive experience: Facilities are good, including the pool and softplay but maintenance seems to be lacking. The mens urinals are waterless but must be seldom cleaned as the stench is rancid. Baby change facilities are in dire need of improving. A freestanding oversized egg holder in the disabled loos is pretty poor for baby changing (which is out of order when we visited).

Negative experience: We had not been to Ashford swimming pool for years but I have got to say it was not a good experience. Its over priced , can't use both pools anymore. They have made leisure pool shallower . The smell from the toilets was unbearable u could smell them when going round the lazy river. The changing rooms where dirty . We won't be going back there are much cheaper and nicer and cleaner pools around . Such a shame

Positive experience: Soft play is great. Nice and spacious, lots of different things to play with for all ages. Only downside is its not overly clean. The tables are often left dirty with minimal staff attendance. There used to be staff around when this first opened who would interact with the kids and be there as a ppint of contact, but the novelty of that soon wore off and now the soft play feels neglected. The soft play itself is also quite dirty/sticky at times. However, my kids love it here. The staff are friendly, helpful and polite and the cafe is reasonably priced.

Negative experience: It's ok however the changing rooms are bad and smell awful the toilet's are poor and every time I try to call about anything including if my children are due back for swimming lessons no one seems to bother answering the phone. Yet when I walk in there is about 4 members of staff just sitting chatting so honestly if u have another sports centre or pool to go to then go to that and not the Ashford one .

Negative experience: It's a shame about the Stour Centre really as it promises so much but doesn't deliver on almost everything. Much of the staff at the Stour Centre are all young students who couldn't give monkeys about the service they're there to provide. Half the time we see them loitering around, dossing and generally not doing something useful like settings the courts up for badminton. Every week almost without fail I have to ask the front desk to send someone to set the court up (even up to 15 mins into the session). £3 extra for additional people to play badminton with me when I pay over £500 a year to be a member is an absolute joke. The swimming pool is often cold and they have weird rules about opening it all up to the public. For example they don't open the lazy river until 3/4 of the way through the session for seemingly no reason. The soft play is good but is in dire need of a deep clean. The amount of dust and dirtiness which is visible is actually quite impressive. I can't see how they haven't sorted it. Gym is decent but on the whole not worth the now £50 a month they've increased it to. There is definitely many members who feel the same as I.

Positive experience: Friendly staff never had a problem . Nice centre with plenty to do but the cleaning is an issue especially in the pool changing rooms .

Fantastic experience: Great centre, great gym classes- love the 9.15am choice, my kid loves the pool. The gym has all the latest kit. Clean- very clean! And well maintained! If I was to be pushed to say anything that was a negative it would be that i wished they did a 9 30am /9.15am hiit class. That would be amazing.

Negative experience: Can't get hold of anyone on the phone. Do wonder what the point of having a receptionist, with a phone line, if they just watch it ring. Maybe some training on how to pick it up would be a good idea. Just wanted to try and book something, can't, so not going to bother.

Negative experience: The swimming facilities are dirty and very disappointing. The teaching quality is non-existent, they couldn't care less about your kids (no progress was marked on my kid's portal for 6 months). I have been there for the last 3 years, and my kids have had more progress in one term at the new place than they did during the last 3 years at the Stour Centre. The whole system is either to rip you off (ie: paying continuously for lessons until they are too old) or there is just no accountability at all in the management. I wouldn't recommend this place for swimming lessons.

Negative experience: Left this place soon after they opened the refurb. Customer service absolutely sucks. They have a fancy card scanner machine that has never worked and no one seems to be bothered to fix it. Instead, you have to wait in line behind families of swimmers to just have your card scanned to use the gym. I don't have much time during my lunch hour to work out in the first place and I spend more time waiting in line to get in than actually working out. There are usually always 3 staff members behind the counter, but only 1 helps customers, and the other 2 are either on their phones or stocking shelves??!! On several occasions, I have had to ask them to get off their phone and come serve customers. Their marketing is borderline harassment too. Even after you sign up, you get persistent texts and emails asking you to join. When you call the centre, no one answers. You would think that a centre that is obviously crying out for memberships would at least hire staff to answer the phones. The way this centre is managed is absolutely disgraceful. I left this place for good - for a much cheaper gym with much better customer service. I don't see this gym being open for very long. It is always empty - I wonder why!!

Positive experience: Good place to work out, we’ll furnished gym and excellent instructors for group classes! Large amount of parking on site and well located. Good facilities with even a cafe on site. Friendly reception staff who are able to answer any query put to them with a well informed answer. Would recommend the Stour Centre as a workout location

Negative experience: Walked in for swimming. Reception desk told me I HAVE to book online and they cannot book me in, in person. Nowhere does it state online that I need to prebook. There is an option shown online to book over the phone - which goes through to the reception desk, who was standing right in front of me. Go figure!?

Negative experience: Couldn't book a squash court online. On Saturday was told at reception the system was down and lady suggested to phone in to make bookings. Tried phoning today and listened to the phone ringing till the call cut off at least three times. What to do now? :-(

Negative experience: We used to love swimming at the stour center but the last two times the pool has been cold. Our family were shivering, it was not a good experience. Don't think we will be coming back until the temperature has been sorted out. Really sad as we will miss it.

Fantastic experience: Grateful to have the facilities available and the staff are friendly. Very fortunate to have this leisure centre in the community.

Fantastic experience: Had a lovely day with family here. We went to the 3.30pm slot and the kids had the best time. It's not the largest place, so losing your kids isn't an issue! Nice and secure (if parents shut the gate) so no danger of kids wandering. Good cafe, the lad with the dark hair and glasses was super helpful and funny, he needs a payrise!

Positive experience: Only my visit and used the leisure pool and really enjoyed my visit, will definitely be back also received a lovely email response to a enquiry

Negative experience: They shut the slides after the 45 min session. Not enough staff to have them open the full session time. We dont all want to swim round the lazy river which lives up to its name! The lockers had dirty nappies in the ones we opened randomly! Feel not value for money

Negative experience: Not impressed. Apparently now you have to spend an hour doing extensive research as to when you are allowed to swim, which I did, only to turn up and be told that the website was wrong and the pool was closed because it isn’t the school holidays like that was the most obvious thing in the world. Not only that, but it costs £5.90 to go for an hour in the leisure pool, which based off numerous reviews online and from acquaintances, is dirty and restricted. Overall absolutely awful and would recommend going anywhere else. Swimming should be an open and cheap sport. Like it is at any other establishment.