Can you keep a secret guys?? Not many people seem to have noticed it yet, but a year and a half…read moreafter the Olympics there's some exciting stuff going on in Stratford again... Yep living near the Park is paying off nicely at the moment - my new local council swimming pool is none other than the Aquatics Centre! It's been open to the public for the last few weeks and I have to say it's a pretty special venue - I still get tingles every time I walk in. It's £4.50 per swim session for an adult and there's an easy peasy online system to book in advance. There are 2 full size pools inside - the Competition Pool for the hardcore swimmers and the Training Pool where they separate the lengths into two 25m sections. Personally I found a 50m pool to be ridiculously long in real life (my superwoman stamina is a err work in progress) so I tend to do laps in the 25m lanes. You choose a pool and a start time online but it's pretty lax once you're in, and you can stay as long as you like. The water is a nice slightly warm temperature and it's usually a uniform 1.2m depth all the way along (though somehow they can change the depth of different sections - the mind boggles!). It's not all lanes - there are also sections of the pool roped off for 'fun' as well as swimming lessons. Also saw signs for a total wipeout stylee 'Splash Time' for kiddies at weekends that sounded like great fun if anyone wants to lend me a child?! The reason it misses a 5th star is that the changing rooms and shower facilities are just not that great. It's spacious yes and there are plenty of cubicles, hairdryers and lockers, but the layout is a little confusing (quite a wander from the lockers to the female showers), they seem to have too many staff/cleaners milling around not doing much, and the showers themselves seem temperamental and need you to wave a hand past every 3 seconds. Is this how Michael Phelps showered?! (*pauses to enjoy the mental picture*) Ahem. Yeah I expected better. So remember to bring your own towel+toiletries, a plastic bag for your wet cozzie (I haven't spotted a drying machine yet) and a £1 coin for the lockers. And please only tell your special friends - the nicest thing at the moment is that it isn't too busy on weeknights! See you there :)

The swimming pool itself is great, most of the time quiet, you can choose your line depending on…read morehow fast you want to swim so that you don't get disturb by other people while swimming. The changing space however is really poor for this kind of aquatics centre - you can really tell you're just meant to come, quickly change, swim and leave. There are few showers and they are quite temperamental. The lockers and cubicles are just not that comfortable to use. So it's a very good pool, but come there for exercise only and not hoping for a full spa experience!

A great respite from the London heat. I visited on a weekend and easily found parking on the street…read moreright by the lido. There was no queue and it was relatively painless to get through to the pool. I wasn't able to use a locker however as I only had a £2 coin and reception had no change to provide me with pound coins for the lockers. Luckily I hadn't brought much of value with me so I hopped in and kept an eye on my belongings. It was quite busy with it being a blazing hot day, people had obviously been there sunbathing on the concrete all day! The lanes didn't feel too busy though when I was in the pool swimming. The pool is not heated so it can be a bit chilly when you first get in until you've got used to it. It was a delightful swim, to be swimming outside in England felt very novelty! It was generally clean, but a few things did float by on my swim. The changing facilities aren't the best, with only one small communal female changing area, with just one cubicle for privacy. It would be nice if they had some cubicles by the side of the pool like the Charlton lido, but maybe they didn't feel they had the room. There is a cafe on site, which by the look of it you had to access from outside, but there is a window that serves snacks and drinks. The only seating option when you are pool side is the bare flat concrete, so make sure you have a couple of towels with you so that you can lie out, I also took some flip flops for when I was walking about as opposed to going barefoot. I would definitely recommend this lido and I'm sure I will visit again, although I have now discovered Charlton lido, which is a lot closer to my home. The Art Deco style at Brockwell is much more aesthetically pleasing though!

For someone who's lived down the road from Brockwell lido for 5 years it is a disgrace I've not…read morevisited sooner. During the glimpse of our heat wave I came here with a friend on a Friday. Surprisingly we got a space in the car park (we know this was pure luck!). The parking is (I think) 2 hours free but it's not very clear whether you have to make a note of that when paying, so we just paid everything... hope they are enjoying getting all that free money Mr Parking God. When we got there the queue was way out the door at about 30 people deep we didn't have to wait too long to get in though. Once in we headed for the lockers which are few(!) And are located outside. There's about 40 lockers for the 100 people there. We walked into the changing room...and quickly walked back out it's very open and smelly. Standard. The pool itself is wonderful and fresh and you don't feel like you're swimming on top of people which is nice (especially as half the pool was closed when we visited). There's a cafe/bar (which is slow serving but worth the wait). The flooring isn't great, you're laying on concrete, bring a squishy towel. Apart from that it's a decent day out for some sun and a swim. Be warned sitting near the deep in. The kids jumping in and dive bombing constantly becomes tiresome. The poor lifeguards, is all I felt for the next few days! They deserve a medal.

Another city pool although this one could use the same funding York Hall had -…read more I imagine at one time this was quite spectacular as a pool - the diving boards are all off limits now and taped up and looking pretty sad - this 70,s building could be amazing -there are minimal shaped balconys wrapping around the pool looking out onto the church grounds now off limits and growing moss!! Fantastic windows - this pool is also used alot. There are numerous scuba diving classes but a separate kids pool for classes. Also for the child friendly aspect there are "family" dressing rooms very handy for the mom with many children of different sexes issue. The busiest time here is lunch time and mornings where there seems to be a bigger number of very fast very serious swimming men -possiby from the city ?? Unlike York Hall there is no luxury spa downstairs - this place is really not in good shape and is quite bare bones A lovely pool just the same if a little shabby.

Took our 3 month old daughter here for her first swim yesterday. It is reasonably priced with…read morefriendly staff. We went to the small teaching pool and used the family changing rooms. The changing area was spacious with nappy changing facilities and lockers very close by. We were allowed to take the pram poolside which was really good. The pool was nice and warm- the baby lasted 25min in the water and was quite happy. Have given it a 3 instead of higher rating as it is quite a dated pool and it was quite dirty, especially given that it was only 10am. We didn't see the main pool so can't comment on that either. I will probably go here again and would recommend to parents to take babies- facilities are so convenient that it is doable with one parent and baby, rather than needing both parents there.

Really upmarket swimming pools here. The concept of comprehensive leisure activities offered here…read moreis second to none.

I'm a fan of unusual & weird places and I would says that the New Docklands Steam Bath is…read moredefinitely high up on this list. I've first heard about this place when I was telling a friend about my wonderful experience at the Turkish "Hamam" in Dalston. My friend listened attentively to my story and then told me about this place in the docklands...I started doing some research about it the very same evening. Let me preface the following paragraphs by saying that I really like going to saunas: I treasure the whole spa-like experience that goes along with it. Yet, I'm not a fan of the high-end spas that have popped up everywhere these days. I prefer the down-to-earth saunas where locals go and where you don't have to save up for months for a single visit. The New Docklands Steam Baths fit this bill perfectly: upon my arrival I already sensed that I had discovered something unique. The bath is located in a very much deprecated area; many Londoners probably wouldn't set foot here. Outside the place I saw many black cabs parked as well quite a few Mercedes. Once inside I found my way to the café-area where the register is. I paid £14 plus a £10 deposit for the locker key. I went to change and dressed up in my bathrobe and my pechtemal (a traditional Turkish towel used in hamams) and then I ventured down into the baths. And let me tell you: it's gritty down there: not in a dirty and disgusting way though, but because of the kind of characters you find there and the way they interact with each other. I first walked around and familiarized myself with the localities: two dry saunas, and various steam rooms with varying degrees of humidity. While doing my online-research about this place I came across an article, in which the author talks about the two main sauna traditions being nurtured here: The Russian tradition of 'Venik' where you first heat up in the sauna and then beat yourself (or each other) with oak or birch branches that have been dried first and then soaked in water. And then there's the Jewish bathing ritual of "Schmeissing", where the men take turns in scrubbing each other down from top-to-bottom. This is done where one guy lays down on a bench in the very hot & steamy room and the other guy lavers him up, using what looks like cleaning mop and it works like a giant shaving brush. The "Schmeissing" seems to be a very ritualized and cliquish undertaking. I was talking to a regular, who mentioned that these guys are a club and meet regularly. According to my source, there's even a pecking order and it's quite hard to become part of this club. The Russians or Eastern Europeans seem to be less organized, but during my visit they would all arrive in pairs or small groups. They would all wear these funny felt hats, which protect the hat from the intense heat. (Note to myself: I need to get one of these!) When I arrived I was reading about the possibility of booking a massage. My inquiry with some of the locals resulted in the following answer: "Yeah, talk to Simon, the heavily-tattooed guy who's relaxing in the steam room over there." Non sooner advised than done. I went up to Simon and he told me that he'd be happy to give me a massage in about half-an-hours time. Deal! I made the best use of the 30 minutes and went into the hottest sauna and beat myself up with oak branches... Turns out that Simon had actually grown up in Germany and so we chatted in German for some time. Then he suggested that I should just relax and let him do his work. It was really a very nice massage and I felt great afterwards. I paid £15 for a thirty-minutes massage. (60 minutes would be £25.) Aside from the Jewish and Russian men, there's a third group of men here: the can drivers (my guess). They mostly sat in the common area, chatting and washing themselves ritually. It's really a funny bunch that hangs out here...including myself! All in all, I find this to be a wonderful oasis of some old-world London. I'm so glad that a place like this still exists. I might not become a regular, but I will certainly be back!

All I can say is avoid this place! It's situated in a rough area of London that appears to be a…read moregiant scrapyard - lovely! When you go in it's just as bad. People are rough, unfriendly and the place seems to be occupied by East End ruffians. It could be so good and the treatments could be superb. But nobody talks to you, nobody helps you on your first visit and nobody offers a massage. This place is terrible. Avoid at all costs!

Cubicles in swimming changing area extremely dirty. Clothes left in cubicles whilst owners in pool…read more The floor surrounding the pool dirty also on steps into pool has dirt in corners

As local community leisure centres go this one is clean and welcoming. But then again it should be…read morehaving had a recent 6 million pound refurbishment. Despite all this money it still suffers from the same sort of shortfalls all these places do. For example, there are only 2 changing cubicles in the mens changing rooms (can't comment on the ladies changing rooms without the police being called), and a ridiculously small viewing room for the numerous Dulwich mums to sit/stand with their double buggies and watch their little darlings tread water and swallow most of it, to name but two. You get the feeling that the pool has suffered in order for the authorities to be able to fit more facilities into the one site. It's only this latter point that prevented me from giving the site 4 stars.

A great family day out…read more The Leisure centre offers several swimming pools; a family pool ( with wave machine), an olympic size pool and one with high diving boards. The centre also has a childrens activity area away from the pools and offer crafts and play time while parents wait. The Leisure centre is within Mote park which has a variety of playground equipment to keep the little ones entertained.

Maidstone Leisure Centre is just located outside the town centre in Mote Park, which is about 5…read moreminutes away. The Centre offers several swimming pools, a great family pool with a wave machine and log flume, a brilliant olympic size swimming pool and another with driving boards. If you don't fancy swimming, and have small children, then polar adventure is a great place to take the kids to play, with a large soft play area and ice hill slides. Its also a great place for kiddies birthday parties. The leisure centre also has a large multipupose sports hall a great gym facilities, and a health suite with sauna and spa. Great place for a family day out!

I am so fed up with this gym and would happily fill this up with expletives, the list is quite…read moreextensive with what is wrong with place its ok for them to cancel classes give you hardly any notice but if you do the same they'll happily add debts to your membership and get told nonsense about making it fair for everyone who attends classes I'd understand fines for serial offenders but how about not fining these who show up on time might i add and the centre is closed and then go on to add charges to my account they don't answer their phones either or their emails. Many instructors for the classes don't even arrive on time especially step and zumba.

I am very disappointed because of swimming pool staff especially the manager lady today as she was…read morerude and unprofessional towards special need children, when my 6 years old DS child was not coming out of paddling pool.

Tiller has a fair sized swimming pool, 25m x 10m…read more It has recently been renovated at the cost of £millions and has been brought up with the times. From the outside it still looks old, but inside everything is clean, modern and nice. The gym has lots of equipment and they too run classes and offer personal trainers for people that have a goal they wish to reach. Membership is cheap and there are a range of options for children to the elderly! If you don't want a membership you can turn up on the day and pay for access to the pool

Compare to other gym these gyms are a bit overpriced for…read morewhat you will get. For the money you pay, they should give you more but unfortunately it's not like that.