London Pools Campaign: London Borough of Hackney

'Non-Muslim' father banned from London pool - Telegraph

webteam — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 05:36:47 GMT

"A father has described his anger after he and his son were refused entry to their local swimming pool because they weren't Muslims.

David Toube and Harry, five, were turned away by staff from the men-only session.

The council has now admitted that workers at Clissold Leisure Centre in Hackney, north London, made a mistake and offered the family an apology.

Mr Toube, 39, a lawyer, said they visited the baths at 9am on Sunday.

'I arrived at the pool to discover that they were holding what staff described to me as 'Muslim men-only swimming",' he said."

(Via 'Non-Muslim' father banned from London pool - Telegraph: .)

The Jewish Chronicle and the Clissold story

webteam — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:53:07 GMT

As the Jewish and Muslim groups have maintained gender-based swimming in the borough's other pools throughout the four years that Clissold was closed it would be interesting to know whether the people complaining have swum at all in Hackney's pools in that time [LINK]. The main point that this 'complaining' shows up is that with too few pools in a borough the community is divided and condemned to squabble over programming. This Website has long taken a dim view of the ubiquitous 25 metre tank and 'teaching puddle' setup but this shows that even two 25 metre tank centres can be too few for a community.

"A Hackney swimming pool which recently re-opened after a four-year closure has been criticised for instigating a segregated swimming policy to accommodate religious Jews and Muslims.

The policy, which means that Clissold Leisure Centre's training pool is open to women only between 10.45am and 12.30pm every Sunday, was the subject of heated debate at Hackney Council.

Local resident David Toube complained after his wife was not allowed to bring the couple's five-year-old son into the pool as a result of the policy.

He said: "Why should a public institution subsidise the expression, in a public place, of the gender apartheid practice mandated by a small religious minority?'"

(Via The Jewish Chronicle: .)

Single Sex Swimming, Religious Minorities and Anti-Discrimination

webteam — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:17:27 GMT

The comments with this article include some absolute gems.

'This morning, my wife, five year old son and I thought it might be nice to go swimming in the newly re-opened local swimming pool, Clissold Leisure Centre. We got to the pool at 10.30, to be told that:

- the main pool was too deep to be safe for a five year old;

- the 'training' pool was women only between 10.45 and 12.30 every Sunday;

I got angry. I nearly swore. I rarely get angry at people who are doing no more than implementing a policy, because it isn't fair on them. I apologised.

Not to worry, we thought. I'll go in the main pool. My wife and son will go to the training pool. However, that was not permitted. My son, being of the male gender, was not allowed in a women-only swimming session.

I asked why this policy had been put in place, in a way which prevented families swimming together, at a peak time, on the one day of the week during which both mothers and fathers were likely to be doing family things. What reason was there for barring very little male children from the training pool? Why schedule the single-gender swimming session right in the middle of the morning, so that families which arrived at (say) 10.15 would only have half an hour before they were chucked out? Why not schedule it for early in the morning or late in the evening, or on a week day?

Apparently, the policy had been set by Hackney's Equal Opportunities officer. However, there was a paddling pool open at 11 in which he would be allowed to splash around. No use for learning to swim, we discovered when we got there. The pool was absolutely filled with families with toddlers, many of whom had been chucked out of the training pool in order to make way for the women only swimming session. They stood around for 10 minutes, dripping in the corridor, before the paddling pool was finally open.

While in the paddling pool, I met a woman whose husband was a Hackney councillor. She was also rather angry. I suggested that this was a classic example of an equal opportunities officer trying to cater to an illusory problem, and in doing so, simply feeding the xenophobic prejudices peddled by the Daily Mail.

Apparently not, she said. There were fierce battles in Hackney Council over the issue. The main movers for prime time single sex swimming were the Hassidic jews. She was not racist, she stressed: but they had the advantage of being able to run an effective community-based letter-writing campaign, and of organising politically around the issue.'

(Via Harry's Place Single Sex Swimming, Religious Minorities and Anti-Discrimination: .)

(Via Clissold Leisure Users' News Single Sex Swimming, Religious Minorities and Anti-Discrimination: .)

Clissold Leisure Centre To Re-Open

webteam — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 03:05:13 GMT

"Four years, countless consultancy fees, umpteen broken promises and many millions of pounds later, Clissold Leisure Centre in Stoke Newington is finally re-opening this weekend.
For those who've not followed the saga, here's the story in brief. In 2000 the Centre opened amidst a brass band's worth of pomp and publicity, the very model of a modern, major, New Labour endorsed Lottery-funded Millennium project. Come early 2004, the facility was closed, having accumulated a staggering 59 serious defects - everything from warped floors to a leaking roof to a badly thought-out changing 'village' that promptly alienated Stokey's Muslim and Hasidic Jewish communities.

The elegant building seemed doomed, a notion not entirely dismissed by Hackney council's constant goalpost-shifting when pressed about a possible re-opening. However, on 15 December the Centre will finally be welcoming the public through its doors again.

The building is now in the hands of GLL, who run a number of fitness centres in London and - auspiciously - masterminded the successful renovation of London Fields lido in 2005. Londonist had a tour round the building this week, and we were mightily impressed. The 25m, 8 lane pool is set up for sporting events as well as keeping fit - ideal for those 2012 hopefuls to get some practise in when the Olympic-sized pool at the aforementioned London Fields gets too chilly. The fitness rooms look very modern, with ranks of all-new equipment, and the floor throughout is sprung to give those ankles a rest. Throw in a couple of squash courts, a sports hall with pull out bleachers, a health suite and a cafe, and you realise that there's enough here to interest even the most un-sporty types. The building's sleek design is reflected inside, with plenty of natural light filtering through and giving the place an inspirational air. We were also assured that issues surrounding the changing 'village' have been addressed.

The membership fee, normally £35, is being waived during December. Whether that's a feeble apology for the years of closure, or a carrot to entice in locals who scarcely believe that the place will be open, it's still a bargain. With regular adult membership at £37.50 per month, it's bound to be popular. We just hope that it stays the course this time round.

Clissold Leisure Centre, 63 Clissold Road, N16 9EX. Opens at 9.00am, Saturday 15th December.

Photo by the author"

(Via Londonist Clissold Leisure Centre To Re-Open: .)

“It’s no secret... it was a fairly chaotic managerial arrangement.”

webteam — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 18:46:20 GMT

"From Building:

Hodder soon encountered the sort of problems that go with local government work. ‘In the early days, there was a constant change of personnel at the council,’ he recalls. ‘Tony Ellison, the chief executive, left, the [in-house] project manager changed. There was a tremendous lack of continuity.’

Kim Wright, director of community and leisure at Hackney, admits: ‘It’s no secret. There was no overall political control and it was a fairly chaotic managerial arrangement.’

But the real difficulties started in 1997 when Sport England, one of the scheme’s co-funders, designated Hackney a priority initiative area, which meant, according to Hodder, that there was money available to take the budget to £10m. However, what should have been a boon for the project quickly became a poisoned chalice.

‘That prompted Hackney, not unreasonably, to rethink the brief,’ says Hodder. ‘I felt there were things that we could improve … the size of the gym facility could be bigger, there was no spectators’ facility. There was quite a lot of public consultation that led to changes – for example, to the changing rooms because of the Orthodox Jewish community.’

There was debate, too, over the scheme’s two 25m swimming pools. Some felt that there should be a single 50m Olympic pool – an idea that was dropped – but one of the pools was stretched from six to eight lanes.

These were substantial changes, but Hackney was keen to start work on site as soon as possible, partly because it had been advised that this would save on VAT. However, tenders for the project came in at £13m, £3m higher than anticipated. The design team and the council came up with a compromise budget of £11.5m, but in the meantime Gleeson, the contractor, was being pushed to get started.

more »

'"

(Via Hackney, Council of Chaos “It’s no secret... it was a fairly chaotic managerial arrangement.”: .)

another anniversary, but good times are just around the corner ...

webteam — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 01:15:28 GMT

Clissold Leisure Centre, the leisure centre that was only able to remain open for 20 months after construction, is set to open imminently after the expenditure of an estimated further £13,000,000 by Hackney Council. According to swimmers in Hackney this takes the total cost of the centre to well over £50,000,000. The original Clissold Baths, that were on the site, closed in late 1995 or early 1996. Watch the countdown!

Clissold Leisure Centre to reopen

webteam — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 17:23:50 GMT

"The Clissold Leisure Centre in Hackney, London, is to reopen next month after nearly four years of remedial work."

(Via Leisure Opportunities News Clissold Leisure Centre to reopen: .)

Clissold's costs continue to spiral.

webteam — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:11:21 GMT

From 'not the Clissold Leisure Centre'

"This week's issue of the Hackney Gazette features the following as a "news" story. News? It all sounds too familiar to us. (Must be a quiet month, we think).

THE final bill for repairs and improvements to the trouble-torn Clissold Leisure Centre is expected to be £13 million. The building work is scheduled to finish next month.
The latest estimate hikes Hackney's spending on the flagship centre in Stoke Newington to £44 million - four times the original budget.

Hackney Gazette

Regular readers will remember that Clissold Leisure Centre closed nearly 4 years ago to remedy major 'issues' with its use after only 22 months of 'incident-rich' use. Locals claim that the total bill for the centre including legal and consultants fees topped £50,000,000 quite some time ago but the true costs are shrouded in secrecy and, they say, muddle. The original baths on the site (25m and 100ft pools) closed in 1995.

London Fields Lido opening delayed to October

pool@... — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 17:27:05 GMT

From Hackney Council's website

Due to the discovery of large quantities of asbestos on the site and the very poor state of some of the old buildings that we have refurbished, there will be a delay to the projected late-July opening date. The London Fields Lido will however be open for swimming from the beginning of October when we will look forward to welcoming residents to the Capitals only heated outdoor Olympic-sized pool.

Kings Hall, Hackney reopens

webteam — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 17:49:23 GMT

Please be aware that the swimming pools (25m and learner) at Kings Hall Leisure Centre, Hackney have now been refreshed and re-opened following the serious fire at the building.

Access is from a temporary reception in the rear car park whilst work is undertaken to rebuild the central section of the building.

A revised pool timetable is in operation and full details are available via the GLL web site.

GLL staff have been working hard with LBH to get this limited service up and running as fast as possible and we are pleased to have achieved it within four weeks of the fire.
Mark Sesnan
Managing Director
GLL (Greenwich Leisure Limited)

Smoke on the water

webteam — Wed, 24 May 2006 02:35:28 GMT

Smoke billows out of Kings Hall leaving Hackney residents without a swimming pool and reliant on an aging lagoon pool in Shoreditch.

The 109-year old building with only one divided tank remaining of its original three 33-yard pools was closed yesterday when a fire in the health suite nearly destroyed it completely. We are told water and smoke damage has affected many areas but the pool areas, some of which have had gyms built over them, are unscathed. It is hoped that the building will be reopened soon as this is Hackney's only swimming pool and serves nearly 200,000 people. Hackney's leisure stock was recently the subject of a change of contractor with Leisure Connection leaving to make way for the ubiquitous GLL who, we are told, have made many noticeable improvements in a short space of time.

The pool is well overdue for an upgrade with an unpopular refurbishment in the early 90s and a tank closed and covered immediately prior to Leisure Connection being awarded the contract in 2002. This act made it a difficult building to run as swimming baths in some people's eyes. It would be a pity now if work to remedy those errors was started in haste and without effective planning. London Fields Lido and Clissold Leisure Centre projects were both supposed to be completed with Clissold originally scheduled for reopening in February and the Lido still scheduled for a July opening but both projects are, reportedly, giving cause for local concern. "When pools close in Hackney they stay closed", said one local swimming teacher today.

Kings Hall in Hackney 'ablaze'

webteam — Mon, 22 May 2006 22:38:34 GMT

We have no information except from bystanders but 'a significant fire' is still blazing at "Kings Hall" and it seems it may be closed for some time.

Swimmer in the depths of despair over dirty pool

webteam — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 17:54:25 GMT

'ONE of the only pools open to the public in Hackney has been slammed for dirty conditions in both its changing rooms and swimming facilities.
King's Hall Leisure Centre in Lower Clapton Road has been attacked by one swimmer for being lax on cleaning after she found a tampon in the swimming pool and grime in the changing rooms.
Claudia Rymer, 46, of Lavender Grove, Dalston, had taken the leisure centre up on an offer to join for four weeks for £20. She asked for her money back after seeing the conditions in the swimming pool.
'I was disgusted to find the tampon and had to remove it from the pool myself,' she said. 'I pointed it out to the lifeguard, but he just kicked it into the corner of the room.

(Via Hackney GazetteSwimmer in the depths of despair over dirty pool: .)