A not-for-profit swimming club based in South London says it’s losing roughly £500 a month after a brand new council pool closed just six weeks after opening.
Southwark Aquatics Swimming Club (SASC) has recorded the lowest turnout for some championship competitions in over a decade and has been forced to train its members elsewhere due to the ongoing closure. The club can offer just over half of its usual swimming programme per week after Canada Water Leisure Centre’s pool closed on October 13 due to a maintenance issue.
The eight-lane 25-metre pool is located inside the brand new leisure centre which opened on September 1, 2025 following months of delays. A learner pool with a moveable floor which is located next door is still open as normal.
A statement on the council-run leisure centre’s website reads: “During installation of replacement parts for the Air Handling Unit in December, contractors identified an additional, related issue that must be resolved before the pool can safely reopen.
“We are currently waiting confirmation from our engineers on when this additional work can be completed. As soon as we receive this from our contractors we will share an update.”
SASC is run by volunteers and parents who provide high-level training for competitive swimmers of all abilities who are mostly aged between 8 and 15. Members have gone on to successfully compete at county, regional and national levels. However since the closure, Andy Moore, Chairman of SASC, said the club has lost around 10per cent of its members, while some are also struggling to travel to alternative venues which are located up to seven miles away.
Andy told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “[The closure] is a massive step down because competitive swimming and the athletes that compete are recognised as being some of the fittest and healthiest elite athletes in the country.
“We as a club for many years have competed against other clubs locally. We’ve also competed at county, regional, and national levels. And this year we have the least [amount of] entrants in the county championships that we’ve had for probably over a decade.”
He added: “That’s largely because training is only 50per cent of what you normally do, then obviously the technique isn’t as good as it might be because you don’t have as much time to hone it and stamina isn’t as good because you’ve not been training as intensively. And so those extra sessions that our swimmers need to find, they just haven’t been able to this time.”
Andy estimates the club’s revenue is down by £500 per month, due to some members leaving and existing members paying only half of the usual fees as the club can only offer just over half of its usual programme.
Andy added: “In the way that we’ve structured that, in some instances, we’re actually having to pay more for the pool space that we’ve got because we’re expecting our coaches to travel further. So to compensate them, we’re still paying them for two hours, [even if] they’re working one hour.”
Before moving into the Canada Water Leisure Centre, the club was based at the Seven Islands Leisure Centre for many years. Seven Islands had been in the area since 1965 but it closed to make way for Canada Water Leisure Centre and the boarded up building is now covered in graffiti.
Andy said: “We were hugely appreciative of the fact Southwark Council allowed us to continue to be the principle pool users [at Canada Water Leisure Centre] and as the [main] competitive swimming club that would use these facilities.
“We were really pleased, and the first six weeks went really well. It was good for us as a club because it was attracting new swimmers to the club, but clearly when the pool closed, we had the opposite effect.
“So, we have lost some swimmers. The number of inquiries, although we are still getting some inquiries, is lower. We’re not able to as readily bring in new swimmers. And obviously, as a club, the swimmers are our revenue line to enable us to to pay for the pool space that we use.”
The new centre is part of the multi-billion-pound Canada Water Masterplan from British Land and AustralianSuper which is in partnership with Southwark Council and spans a 53-acre site.
The new leisure centre also features a four-court sports hall, a ‘world-class’ gym with a dedicated functional fitness area and three group exercise studios, which are all still open. Southwark Council has been contacted for comment.
