How disgusting, how filthy, can a council-run leisure centre swimming pool be? Visit Active Lifestyles Stroud, take a plunge and remember to keep your mouth closed, to find out. It's been mentioned amongst fiends in Stroud for many years that the leisure centre is never particularly clean, but it's nose-dived since coming under council control. This is just in reference to the swimming pool. Took my nine year old to an 11am public swimming session on Sunday 21st December, intending to stay in the water for 40-50mins, however, what lay beneath the water meant we swam for just 30mins. Had we known what was under the water before paying, changing clothes and getting in, we would definitely not have bothered visiting. Genuine filth. No exaggeration here. Dirt everywhere, leaves, lots of hair, plasters, hairbands more dirt, throughout the entire pool. Why is it like this? Why is it so bad? Doesn't Stroud and its residents deserve better? But wait there's more. How would you like your swim session to be accompanied by the smell, no, stench of an open sewer? Yes, visit Stroud's COUNCIL RUN leisure centre and you can experience such a depressing thing for yourself. Thankfully, if you stuck to the deep end you couldn't smell it. Pity the little ones and their parents in the shallow end! Stroud District Council, please change direction and provide your Council Tax paying residents with sanitary, healthy, happy facilities.

Good range of classes, which you can actually book on to! However, the phone is rarely answered and they never phone back if you leave a message so don't waste your time with this.

All sorts of pluses as a centre, but the web site and the app are almost entirely unusable. I've worked up more of a sweat going round in loops trying to register than I did at the last visit to the sports hall. Team is always very helpful, but they should not have to field a never-ending set of questions about useless technology.

Filthy and disgusting place. I won't be renewing my membership. The so-called "health suite" more often than not stinks. The changing facilities are poor and are often smelly. The equipment is outdated and takes ages to fix whenever something breaks down. I've also seen some glaring health and safety issues during my membership period so far. Also, the cafeteria is often grubby, with dirty tables and floor. One to avoid. Finally, the staff are mainly very young, which I'm all for, but some of them are simply not mature enough to be working in a customer facing role.

I was genuinely shocked by the condition of this facility. The pool was in an unacceptable state — the smell was overwhelming, and the water contained hair, debris, and even a discarded plaster. This raises serious concerns about basic hygiene. The sauna was no better: a strong, unpleasant odor and mould present in many areas, not just isolated spots. It’s deeply concerning that a place offering wellness services is maintained to such a low standard. I sincerely regret choosing to come here.

The gym does the job but some of the fixed weight machines need an upgrade. Also please provide some proper workout mats, not Yoga rolled up mats. Decor is a bit tired and dated.

Extortionate! Everything’s always closed for cleaning and maintenance every 5 minutes yet the change rooms and sauna always stink. With ample space in the gym there’s always a vital section, used by many for stretching and workouts, closed off for classes.. the machines are constantly broken. Why is it so expensive. The only change that’s been made since the takeover of the council is the colour of the walls and cafe. Oh and the sauna which the public had to organise to get sorted and repaired. The gym section seems neglected while all the attention and funding goes toward the cafe and kids park. Deep cleaning of a gym should be an everyday thing. Not a “let it get dirty to a point it needs to be closed for cleaning and maintenance” . Prevention is better than cure. Do better !

This place is absolutely disgusting and filthy. The building hasn’t been updated since it was built, presumably in the 70s. The pool area is completely neglected. The water is visibly dirty The surrounding area is poorly maintained, the grass is dry and gets into the pool, and people walk barefoot from all over the dirty territory straight into the water. There is no regulation of the number of visitors they let in absolutely everyone who shows up, without any limits. So even if you book tickets, it’s pointless the place gets overcrowded to the point where the pool turns into a filthy mess, not a place for swimming. The experience is absolutely revolting. Don’t waste your time and money we sincerely hope you don’t repeat our mistake.

Been a member for 2-3 years now and nothing's really changed even though recently it went from private to council, the staff are lovely can't fault them HOWEVER they literally have no clue on what to do with problems regarding the app you use to book classes, for weeks now I've had to pay for classes and go in to ask for refunds, £4.40 each time then I get random strokes and bans come out of nowhere which again charges me £3.50 to lift, the changing rooms stink regardless what is used or how often it is cleaned and sometimes it's really bad, I've noticed also since the council has taken over the water in the indoor pool is constantly dirty, you see rubbish, hair, cloudines, all sorts of little bits, the classes are good the management are nowhere to be seen and if you try and ring you will never get a answer! Even emailing them they take ages to get back to you and still don't resolve the problems! Going back to the changing rooms they are a state the lockers have been there for decades some don't work some don't have tags and some swallow your coons, currently there's a bodge job bucket holding up part of the ceiling with this tube of fluid coming from another part of the ceiling where clearly there's a leak and it doesn't look good neither does it look safe, the gym is limited in terms of machines in comparison to other gyms and the prices have gone up since the council have taken over. As for the classes the coaches are amazing, they are very interactive and knowledgeable, all the staff are friendly polite and helpful however it's like they've been trained to just say I'll pass it on to my manager! For me o have no choice but to use this gym, it's close to home I get a concession rate due to my disabilities and I need the pool due to those disabilities. 1 last thing and I think this is quite serious however at the time it was amusing, this evening I left the pool showered and got changed to find myself locked in a closed leisure center and as I tried to exit the alarms went off and I was extremely concerned that armed police were coming or something bad was going to happen, it wasn't good for my anxiety and I had to go on Facebook live to make sure I had witnesses to prove I was locked in and didn't break in, usually the staff are supposed to check if the place is empty and clearly my car was in thencar park and a few familiar members of staff who knew I was swimming are aware I take longer to get dressed and they usually wait and are supposed to wait until everyone has left and it is my belief they are also paid until 22:30pm it was 22:20pm when I went to exit after the lifeguard blows the whistle at 22:00pm leaving me 20 minutes to shower and get changed. I am considering going elsewhere even if it costs more and means I have to travel further as my problems with the app haven't been resolved, the changing rooms smell like a tip, and I've complained about the same thing over and over again getting absolutely nowhere with them. If you can go to another gym I honestly would advise you to steer clear.

Massive downhill since the Council took over the running. I use the sports hall on an ad hoc basis to have a game of badminton with the grandkids. Pre Council booking was really simple and reasonably priced. Now prices have rocketed and booking online the price charged never agrees to the price list on their website. I query this every time and am told they are aware of these issues and it will soon be sorted, but it never is. Also it is now impossible to book 2 courts for the same time.