Leisure centre visitors in Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough have been as likely to wear hard hats as swimming costumes in recent years.

All three sites have undergone lengthy projects to refurbish or replace council-owned facilities.

Those in charge probably wish they too had hard hats to protect themselves from the flak caused by soaring costs and delays. The nine-month delay refurbishing the former Harrogate Hydro meant it reopened two days before the end of the school summer holidays.

But finally there is something to cheer.

The new Harrogate Leisure and Wellness Centre has already attracted almost 2,000 members. It has an eight-lane pool and diving boards, a well-equipped gym twice the size of its previous incarnation and three plush exercise studios.

The pool at Harrogate.

One of three studios at Harrogate.

Elsewhere, the partially-open Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre will eventually provide Ripon with a gym and pool on the same site; Knaresborough is weeks away from a new leisure centre and the gym at Pateley Bridge has been refurbished.

Mark Tweedie, managing director of Brimhams Active, the council-owned leisure company that runs the sites, admits the delays have been frustrating but says the benefits of the £46 million investment will soon be felt across the district. He says:

“We will have an estate that will be the envy of North Yorkshire. The investment that’s gone in is unprecedented and significant.”

Harrogate Leisure and Wellness Centre is certainly a cut above the average council leisure centre.

Monthly membership, which provides unlimited access to gyms, pools and classes at all Brimhams sites, is £44.95. That isn’t as cheap as Pure Gym or Coach Gyms but they haven’t got pools. Gym-only Brimhams membership is £33.

Mr Tweedie argues they also don’t have the same focus on community health as Brimhams, which he says is “reinventing conventional leisure services to a more impactful, person-centred health and wellbeing service”.

To underline this, the rather soulless ‘leisure and wellness’ moniker has been slapped across the names of all its sites.

Sinkhole saga

But although Harrogate is fully open, work continues elsewhere.

Ripon, which was the first to reopen as the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre in March last year, appears locked in some sort of sinkhole groundhog day of never-ending work on a “void” beneath the old part of the site, which remains closed.

The Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre

Remedial work is expected to continue until spring. Mr Tweedie says the centre is “looking to reopen the first floor gym in April next year” with the ground floor studio following in summer.

In the meantime, customers will continue to use the temporary gym in the car park and attend group classes at Hugh Ripley Hall in the city centre.

Knaresborough has been less troublesome than Ripon and Harrogate, although it might not seem like it to residents who currently have nowhere in town to swim since the old pool closed a few weeks ago.

How the Knaresborough site will look.

Delays meant the seamless transition from old pool to new site didn’t quite happen, but from November people will have access to a six-lane pool, a fun pool with a slide, plus — for the first time — a studio, gym, steam room and sauna.

While others get upgrades, the beautiful Starbeck Baths feels like the forgotten ugly sister. Rumours abound the Victorian pool will be closed and Mr Tweedie’s comments don’t provide much succour:

“The council is reviewing all its leisure sites at the moment. That’s a natural process because it’s just been formed as a unitary council. It will ask for evidence on how its sites perform and the opportunities for development.”

Starbeck Baths

The audit will be followed by a strategy. Does he think Starbeck Baths will still exist in 10 years?

“That’s a decision for councillors. But what I can say is there has been no feedback to me about planning to close Starbeck.”

Membership figures

Brimhams, which employs the full-time equivalent of about 160 staff and has a turnover of £8.4 million, was set up by Harrogate Borough Council in August 2021. But it has been run by the new North Yorkshire Council since April.

Mr Tweedie says Brimhams “was set up to be commercially effective but also to deliver better health outcomes for the community”.

The council currently provides a £1.7 million annual subsidy, which is due to reduce to £1.2 million when the new centres are complete.

The early commercial signs at Harrogate are encouraging. Membership was 600 when the Hydro closed. The new site has 1,800 members — above the 1,750 target for the end of the month.

Ripon, which has less gym competition than Harrogate, has 1,200 members and Nidderdale has 700.

When we last interviewed Mr Tweedie staff shortages was a huge issue but he says this has eased.

Mark Tweedie outside the Harrogate site.

Brimhams is the only council-owned trading company in North Yorkshire. A private company called Everyone Active provides services in Ryedale and Scarborough; Richmond Leisure Trust runs facilities in Richmond and a charity called Inspiring Healthy Lifestyles oversees sites in Selby. The former district councils in Craven and Hambleton ran leisure sites.

Brimhams is due to take control of Selby’s services, which includes Selby Leisure Centre and Tadcaster Leisure Centre, in September next year.

That decision appeared to be a vote of confidence in the Brimhams model but uncertainty remains about how leisure services will be managed long-term in the county once North Yorkshire Council has completed its review.

But in the short-term, it’s all about growing membership — and getting Knaresborough and Ripon sorted.

Read more:

• Ripon leisure centre halts price increase due to ongoing work
• Harrogate Hydro delay will see no change in £13.5m project budget, says council

Nidderdale Pool and Leisure Centre in Pateley Bridge has been renamed Nidderdale Leisure and Wellness Centre.

Harrogate Borough Council, which runs the facility, also revealed today The Hydro in Harrogate and Knaresborough Pool will be known as Harrogate Leisure and Wellness Centre and Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness Centre when they re-open.

It is part of a move to rebrand council-run leisure facilities in the Harrogate district with a greater focus on community health and wellbeing.

Mark Tweedie, managing director of Brimhams Active, which is the council-controlled company that operates the facilities, said:

“Through our new pioneering strategy Brimhams has committed to revitalising and reinventing conventional leisure services to focus on what people want and need to optimise their health and wellbeing whatever their starting point.

“Changing the names of our facilities symbolises this, and this investment is another example of the serious commitment to support the communities we serve.”

Signs have been installed at Nidderdale Leisure and Wellness Centre showing the new name.

The new signage

The rebranding has already started at other facilities in the Harrogate district, including the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre, Fairfax Wellbeing Hub, Knaresborough Wellbeing Hub and Jennyfield Styan Wellbeing Hub.

Harrogate Leisure and Wellness Centre and Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness Centre are due to reopen this year after multi-million pound investments.

Read more:

• Further delay to installation of temporary gym at Ripon leisure centre
• Harrogate council company to run leisure centres in Selby

Swimming pools in the Harrogate district have received a national accreditation from Swim England.

The Water Wellbeing accreditation aims to transform community swimming pool into places for health, wellbeing and rehabilitation.

The award has been granted to Starbeck Baths, the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre, Knaresborough Swimming Pool and Nidderdale Pool and Leisure Centre.

Brimhams Active, which runs the facilities, carried out changes to ensure all pools are accessible, inclusive and inviting to the local community in order to achieve the accreditation.

Mark Tweedie, managing director of Brimhams Active, said: 

“I’m delighted that through the hard work and dedication of the Brimhams Active team, with the support of Swim England, we have achieved Swim England’s Water Wellbeing accreditation at our facilities.

“Inactivity and the determinants of poor health adversely impact on thousands of people in our communities. Our mission is to help address this by supporting people to move more, live well and feel great, and to do this we are creating an inclusive, holistic, health and wellbeing focused service offer.”

Read more:

• Harrogate leisure chief defends Ripon pool location amid ground stability concern
• Harrogate swimming club seeks sponsor to keep head above water 

As part of the accreditation, exercise referral instructors have received training to deliver Swim England’s aquatic activity for health programme, which allows the team to deliver pool-based group exercise for people living with long term health conditions.

Meanwhile, swimming will be able to lead adult swimming lessons for people with health conditions, and all customer facing members of the team have had additional customer experience training, with a focus on inclusivity.

Andrew Power, Swim England’s water wellbeing specialist, said: 

“Swim England have been supporting Brimhams Active this past year across a number of key areas, in order to maximise the long term sustainability and growth of their aquatic assets.

“It has been an absolute pleasure to work with the Brimhams Active team at all levels, who have shown total commitment to the accreditation process and have gone beyond what was expected of them in doing so.

“I look forward to seeing the impact of this work and benefits to the local community, particularly around improved health and wellbeing for years to come.”

The Hydro in Harrogate will close for nine months on April 8 to undergo an £11.8m refurbishment.

The leisure centre and pool is to get a two-storey extension as well as a new entrance, cafe and reception area.

There will also be new diving board equipment, a new fitness suite and the changing areas will be upgraded.

Members will be offered reduced rates to use other council-run leisure facilities in the district, as well as the opportunity to participate in group exercise sessions at the nearby Jennyfield Styan Community Centre.

The current £38.95 monthly charge will go down to £32.

A computer generated image of how the Hydro will look.

Mark Tweedie, managing director of Brimhams Active, which Harrogate Borough Council set up last year to run its leisure facilities, said the plan was to reopen the pool first in nine months time.

The other facilities, including the new fitness suite, are expected to be ready three months later.

Extend opening hours

Mr Tweedie said the refurbishment would give Brimhams Active the opportunity to redeploy staff at its other sites, which could enable some to extend their opening hours.

However, it will leave Harrogate without a council-run swimming pool for the rest of the year.

Brimhams also operates the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre in Ripon, Knaresborough Pool, Starbeck Baths and Nidderdale Pool and Leisure Centre in Pateley Bridge.

It also operates the Turkish Baths in Harrogate, Fairfax Wellbeing and Community Hub in Harrogate, Jennyfield Styan Community Centre and Little Explorers Day Nursery at Harrogate Hydro.

Look for a full interview with Mark Tweedie about leisure services in the Harrogate district on the Stray Ferret this weekend.