£28m leisure centre to open in New Addington
A new multi-million pound leisure centre will open its doors in New Addington after Christmas.
The New Addington Leisure and Community Centre in Central Parade is nearly completed and will be open for business on January 3.
It has been a long time coming for people in the area and was originally supposed to open back in 2018.
It has cost £28 million, £10 million more than expected when it was approved in 2016.
The new leisure centre includes a large community hall, which can be split into two, with capacity for 300 people, with a kitchen, bar, and storage rooms.
There is a 25-metre swimming pool as well as a smaller learner pool, with a mixed-gender changing room with cubicles for each pool.
And there is a separate Changing Places fully accessible toilet which includes a hoist and adequate space for a disabled person and a carer.
New Addington Leisure Centre will be cashless, with customers paying to swim or use the gym by card only, as well as using a bank card to get a token for the swimming pool changing rooms for 25p.
In the first few months, Better, which will manage the facility, said it will be possible to use cash to buy a voucher to access the gym and pool to help people get used to the idea.
A new gym is fully decked out with modern equipment and separate changing rooms.
Centre manager Nick Englefield said: “My favourite part is the gym. We’ve got such a wide range of stuff that it is going to be open to everyone. It is not just going to target one type of user.”
Upstairs there is a sports hall which will be used for basketball, football and badminton and will be available to be rented by different groups.
And as well as 15 instructor-led classes on offer in the studio gym, members will be able to choose from about 100 classes on touch screen outside, with a virtual instructor in a big screen in the room.
Downstairs in the reception area there will be a cafe with seating. Only healthy food will be served at the leisure centre, including in the vending machines.
Councillor Oliver Lewis, Croydon council’s cabinet member for culture, leisure and sport and New Addington South’s ward representative, said: “I can’t wait for the people of New Addington and across Croydon to get in and start using it.
“For many years New Addington felt that the council didn’t invest in the area.
“But this is a state-of-the-art facility and it is probably going to be one of the best and biggest leisure centres in London. That is what New Addington deserves.”
There are also eight town houses which are being built as part of the redevelopment which front Chertsey Crescent at the back of the leisure centre. These are expected to be completed in February.
The opening times of the leisure centre are 6.30am-10pm.
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There is no mention of charges or discount for Croydon or local senior citizens after all this community is contributing in Councils budget by Rates and income tax.
Senior citizens from local community are not given discount to avail Center facilities.
This community is contributers in Council budget
paying local rates and income tax and deserve.
It is also to encourage this community to improve their health and socialise.
There will be reduction in cost of local NHS budget.
What a load of rubbish, thanks, now we are going to get all manner of yobs hanging around this place as well as the parade, so thanks for that
There are many local community groups who have been using the old centre for years and have been told they can not use the new facility. They have had to go out of the area to use other centers on short notice.
What a load of rubbish they could have spent that amount building more homes instead of that monstrosity
What is beyond my understanding is that they built a new sports centre without a sauna in a deprived area with lots of people with ailments where using an infared sauna could have greatly improved health – old, infirm, ill and sufferers of depression and pain – all of whom could have benefitted. It’s a crying shame. I have paid up membership and I’m not amused as I have had to travel to Thornton Heath to use theirs.
Really sad to see all of these negative comments which also don’t seem to be founded on any facts. There is a Croydon council worker and senior citizen discount for both the gym membership, pool and courts. The comments about “yobs” is quite ridiculous, and in any case at least the “yobs” will have somewhere to cultivate healthy habits if that is what you are so concerned about. I’ve used the new leisure centre and it’s amazing. I’ve attended the classes and it really is such an open environment for all. I’ve met lots of people from around the area and felt such a sense of community as I worked out with other people. It’s honestly such a wonderful environment and everyone is so nice. I can’t believe how much people are complaining about us finally getting something really nice in the area that promotes healthy living. If you actually came down and gave it a try you would be pleasantly surprised. I’m also very glad that they will be using the old leisure centre to build more homes.