Southend Leisure & Tennis Centre

This is the main swimming pool in Southend. Apart from the dirt, the smell and the broken showers, the main problem I have is figuring out when I can actually go for a swim. They rarely stick to the advertised timetable and never put any important information, such as emergency closures, on their social media feeds. If you point any of this out, you're just completely ignored.

As for the cleanliness of the pool. Always wear earplugs when you visit here. I caught an infection which ultimately resulted in permanent hearing damage. You have been warned.

Had an issue with my account. Was told I would receive a phone call on 5 different occasions, but had nothing. I sent two emails and a letter of complaint, but still nobody came back to me. Terrible customer service. The front desk advisors don't have a clue and clearly don't have enough training.

Where do I begin?

The showers are mouldy and greasy, the toilets are disgustingly filthy, the gym is overheated and smelly, and the swimming pool water is murky, greasy and overheated.

In fact, it's so bad that a lot of regular swimmers wear earplugs after catching ear infections.

The timetable is poorly conceived by people who either don't know what they are doing or don't care - I strongly suspect both.

In any case, the timetable is purely academic as it's subject to change without notice - which happens with alarming frequency - and if you have a membership you don't even get a refund.

Staff are generally lazy and rude.

The new pool manager is both rude and aggressive!!

I have cancelled my membership as Fusion Lifestyle don't deserve my custom.

Fusion Lifestyle are the United Airlines of leisure centre management.

Having worked on a farm I was struck by the similarity between swimming at garons park and sheep dipping. The timetable boasted, full pool 'public swim', only to be greeted by one lane closed for scuba diving lessons and a further two closed for triathlon training, leaving all the swimmers crammed into what was left. This resulted in a pool so packed with people that swimming became impossible. Why are the management so bent on making profits that they would lie to their customers?