Glowing industry reviews for two leisure centres in Northumberland

Ashington Leisure Centre and Berwick Sports and Leisure Centre, which are operated and managed by Active Northumberland, were rated as ‘Very Good’ following the mystery visit to each centre and a two-day assessment at each centre.

The scheme looks at the operation of the business (such as maintenance, cleaning and health and safety) the people (such as customer experience and the team dynamics) and the purpose (such as how the facility plans to improve, and how it engages with the community surrounding it).

Mark Warnes, chief executive of Active Northumberland, said: “Our teams have worked extremely hard to gain this nationally-recognised accreditation, which demonstrates how committed we all are in providing a quality and valued service for our customers.

“Out of the 59 sites that have undertaken the same assessment as we have, Ashington is sitting fourth nationally and Berwick 12th – which is a fantastic achievement.”

Areas that were particularly commended during the assessments included the health suite at Berwick, which was said to be one of the nicest, if not the nicest the assessor had seen in a community leisure centre. The staff on duty were also said to be extremely helpful.

The assessor noted that the Active Northumberland team appeared to place a high priority on providing consistent quality customer service. The overall condition of the facility was very good, but the standards of cleanliness and hygiene throughout the facility during the unannounced visit were exemplary.

At Ashington Leisure Centre, team members were said to be knowledgeable, very welcoming, friendly, and professional.

There was a wide and varied range of activities for all abilities available across the facility programme and there was a real community feel to the programme.

Again, as with Berwick, the level of cleanliness and hygiene throughout the facility was said to be exemplary.

The centre was also praised for its inclusivity with good access, blue badge parking, automatic doors, lifts, low level desks, accessible equipment and changing facilities all noted.

Coun Jeff Watson, the county council’s cabinet member for healthy lives, said: “The rigorous assessments carried out through Quest challenge some of the best leisure centres in the UK and I’m delighted the teams at Active Northumberland have achieved a ‘Very Good’ outcome.”