Southgate, Albany and Southbury leisure centres have all been judged by Sport England to be ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’

Three leisure centres in Enfield have received ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’ ratings following independent inspections.

Southgate Leisure Centre was awarded an ‘excellent’ rating by Quest, Sport England’s inspection regime for local facilities. Southbury Leisure Centre and Albany Leisure Centre were awarded ‘very good’ ratings.

Edmonton Leisure Centre, meanwhile, has not yet been inspected.

Since 2023 these leisure centres have been operated under GLL’s Better brand under a management contract with Enfield Council.

The Quest assessments included mystery visits and a detailed two-day inspection covering operational and environmental management, customer experience, compliance, inclusivity, accessibility, exercise referral standards and lifeguarding.

The results confirm that the centres are well-managed, welcoming and meeting high standards of service delivery.

The ratings follow recent investment in Enfield’s leisure facilities. In 2024, Southgate Leisure Centre had a £787,000 refurbishment and Southbury had an extensive £2.4m renovation, both of which included new gym facilities.

Since the improvements were completed, customer satisfaction has increased and visits across the three centres have grown by more than 46%, with around 100,000 visits each month.

Vishal Karia, GLL partnership manager, said: “To achieve such excellent ratings in three of our leisure centres is a fantastic tribute to the hard work of our teams at Southgate, Southbury and Albany.

“As these rating shows, our teams are committed to ensuring exceptionally high standards in every aspect of their service delivery and I heartily congratulate them all.

“Quest is all about continuous improvement and that’s the aim of every Better leisure centre – to keep pushing forward and exceeding expectations.”

Sabri Ozaydin, the council’s cabinet member for environment and placemaking, said: “Investing in our leisure centres is a key priority for the council, and we are grateful for the positive feedback from Quest. These ratings show that residents are benefiting from well-run, high-quality facilities.

“It’s a strong endorsement of the investment made in our leisure centres. We are working hard to improve all leisure facilities across our borough including our parks, outdoor spaces and sports pitches. Congratulations to all the teams at Albany, Southgate and Southbury on this well-deserved recognition.”

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.