Greenwich Council has revealed the opening date of the new Woolwich Waves leisure centre.
The borough’s new flagship leisure facility in Woolwich town centre will open its doors to the public on New Year’s Day 2026.
Last week representatives of Greenwich Council officially handed over the completed leisure centre building in General Gordon Square to charitable social enterprise Better who will be taking over its operation.
It will include 3 swimming pools, water slides and a splash zone plus courts and pitches for badminton, squash and football It will include 3 swimming pools, water slides and a splash zone plus courts and pitches for badminton, squash and football
The state-of-the-art centre will be home to an eight-lane, 25m swimming pool, a training pool, a leisure pool with jets, a jacuzzi and two water slides, and a toddler splash zone. All of the aquatic facilities will be fully accessible with pool pods and hoists.
Woolwich Waves will also contain a state-of-the-art gym across two floors, a large accessible changing area, two dance studios, a 30-bike spinning studio, a bootcamp HIT studio and a health suite with a spa, sauna and therapy rooms.
In addition to this, it will have a six-badminton court sports hall, two squash courts, a 3G, five-a-side football pitch on the top floor of the building and a creche, two soft play areas, a party space, and a café.
Greenwich Council leader Anthony Okereke said: “The start of 2026 will see the moment thousands of residents have been waiting for as they will be able to experience for the first time the leisure centre they helped to name.
“It’s not just an exemplar leisure centre any city would be proud to have which is aiming for the highest sustainability measures – it’s also what’s come with it such as the refurbishment of Tramshed Theatre, as well as what’s to come in the form of much-needed future new homes, shops, places to eat and public spaces.
“Woolwich Waves will be at the forefront of improving the quality of life and health of our residents. I can’t wait to see the look on residents’ faces when they visit for the first time. Woolwich Waves is once again proof that we not only get things done in Greenwich, but we get things done to an incredibly high standard so that residents can enjoy them for generations to come.”
January 1 will mark the start of the leisure centre’s soft launch phase with a full launch expected on January 10. This will coincide with an open weekend event. Before the full launch on January 10, Better is hoping to have all of the Woolwich Waves facilities open the entire time but it can’t guarantee it.
As part of the Woolwich Waves project, Greenwich Council is also helping to deliver hundreds of homes contained in several tower blocks—the tallest of which will be 20 storeys—on land behind the leisure centre. Plans to increase the number of homes from 482 to 557 were approved by the council’s Planning Board on November 18. Over a third of the units will be socially rented.
A vacant pub that was originally meant to re-open following completion of the residential project will now be demolished to make way for the extra homes. The Bull Tavern on Vincent Road will now be knocked down despite its locally listed status.
Greenwich Council previously announced it would also be closing and demolishing the 30-year-old Waterfront Leisure Centre once Woolwich Waves opens. The council hopes to sell the 2.25 acre site by the Thames to a developer that will deliver 310 homes in a tower block up to 20 storeys.
