The facilities are now closed for three days to ensure a “smooth transition” to Greenwich Leisure Ltd (GLL)

Southgate Leisure Centre is one of four council-owned leisure centres run by Fusion — Southgate Leisure Centre

A new operator has officially taken over the running of Enfield Council’s leisure centres today (Monday 4th).

Greenwich Leisure Ltd (GLL) has been handed the keys to Albany, Edmonton, Southbury, Southgate, and Arnos Pool leisure centres, plus Bramley Bowls Centre, after a contract with the previous operator Fusion Lifestyle ended yesterday (Sunday 3rd).

The council announced in September that it would be ending its contract with Fusion early after a council report published in May highlighted “a significant number of maintenance faults that have impacted on the availability of the swimming pools”. Fusion had been running the council’s six leisure facilities since 2010.

GLL is a non-profit, staff-owned, charitable social enterprise with 30 years’ experience in the industry, running more than 250 sports and leisure facilities in London and across the UK. It will be operating Enfield’s leisure centres under its recognised brand name, Better.

To “facilitate a smooth transition” and prepare staff and services, Enfield’s leisure centres are now temporarily closed until Thursday, 7th December.

Chinelo Anyanwu, the council’s cabinet member for culture, public spaces and local economy, said: “We have committed to improving leisure and sports opportunities for local people to enable more active lifestyles.

“I am delighted to welcome Better to Enfield so we can jointly work together on the recovery and transformation of our leisure centres and explore ways to best deliver health opportunities to our communities, in spite of the huge financial challenges all local authorities are facing in the months ahead.”

Peter Bundey, CEO of GLL, said: “We are looking forward to start this exciting new partnership with Enfield Council to operate their leisure facilities.

“Our shared vision is to help residents get more physically active in welcoming and accessible facilities that are run sustainably. GLL’s employee-owned organisation offers a different way of doing business and one that offers great opportunities for customers and staff alike.”

The Dispatch has asked the council to disclose how much money was handed to Fusion in order to terminate its operating contract, but has been told that the information is “confidential”.

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