The official opening ceremony of the new £15 million Hinckley Leisure Centre, took place on Thursday 9th June on the site of the former council offices on Argents Mead.
Many guests were in attendance to officially celebrate the opening of the site including, The Mayor of Hinckley Richard Allen, representatives from Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council, Olympic silver & double commonwealth gold medallist, Sharron Davies MBE, Places for People Leisure Management, and its team of Pellikaan Construction and Roberts Limbrick Architects.
The facility includes an eight court sports hall, a café and soft adventure play facility, an eight-lane 25 metre pool and a learner pool both with moveable floors. Further facilities include a family splash area, sauna and steam rooms, along with dance studios, a multipurpose meeting room and a Group Cycling studio.
During its open weekend, members of the local community were offered the chance to try out a whole host of activities for free and more than 10,000 people came along to test out the new pools and take a look at the new gym and fitness facilities on offer.
The surrounding space of the new leisure centre has been landscaped with a grassed play area suitable for school and community usage. The previous leisure centre on Coventry Road in Hinckley remained open until the new facility was unveiled earlier this year.
The talk of the day focused on the need to continually improve participation and encouraging engagement in physical activity within the local community. Mike Hall, leader of Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council commented: “We are delighted to officially open the new Hinckley Leisure Centre and are already overwhelmed with the positive response we’ve had so far from the local community. It’s fantastic to have Sharron Davies here to celebrate with us and our new swimming pools have already garnered much attraction from residents and our local swimming club. This new facility will act as a hub for the health and wellbeing for community members across the borough and we are proud that we can offer a wide range of activities for individuals to engage with.”
Places for People Leisure development director, Peter Kirkham explained: “In partnership with Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council we will work hard to improve the health and wellbeing of the local community and this new leisure centre is a step in the right direction. We are delighted to welcome a host of noted individuals to the ceremony and are happy to report that the facility has been delivered both on budget and on time.”
