Brio Northgate

The pool is a huge fun pool, with a water slide and a large shallow area so kids can have fun. There's a good size viewing balcony. There are small slides for under 5s and little seating areas in the water. There were a lot of people play fighting in the pool, which I personally didn't like as you kept having to make sure you avoid them. The changing rooms are also large and there are 4 family changing rooms, but you can't then access the hairdryers etc from them, you have to go into the single sex changing rooms, which is tricky for father and daughter to do. Instead of lockers, they have a basket system where you put all your clothes and towels in a basket, hand it over, and get a wristband. There is a second more traditional 25m pool for swim lessons and kayak and various other training things. The cafe has been refurbished and also has a lot of seating areas. There isn't always a member of staff to serve you. You have to press a silent button and wait in hope, between 1 and 5 mins, for someone to appear and serve you. The sports hall is well kept and multi purpose, I saw pickleball and trampolining when I was there. The gym is upstairs, which I didn't see but was very popular. Parking is next to the arena.

The pool is a huge fun pool, with a water slide and a large shallow area so kids can have fun. There's a good size viewing balcony. There are small slides for under 5s and little seating areas in the water. There were a lot of people play fighting in the pool, which I personally didn't like as you kept having to make sure you avoid them. The changing rooms are also large and there are 4 family changing rooms, but you can't then access the hairdryers etc from them, you have to go into the single sex changing rooms, which is tricky for father and daughter to do. Instead of lockers, they have a basket system where you put all your clothes and towels in a basket, hand it over, and get a wristband. There is a second more traditional 25m pool for swim lessons and kayak and various other training things. The cafe has been refurbished and also has a lot of seating areas. There isn't always a member of staff to serve you. You have to press a silent button and wait in hope, between 1 and 5 mins, for someone to appear and serve you. The sports hall is well kept and multi purpose, I saw pickleball and trampolining when I was there. The gym is upstairs, which I didn't see but was very popular. Parking is next to the arena.

It is a cheap experience for families, which is certainly a pro. It has small slides for smaller children and a flume-type slider for older children and adults, so it's a great place for kids. The water is fairly cool, although heated but it isn't 'cold'. The changing rooms are quite a poor standard - all hooks have been snapped off the wall and there are no cubicles - it is open plan changing rooms. There should be at least a couple of cubicles for those who wish to use them. There are family change cubicles but the queue for these is always rather large. During the casual swim, the lifeguards were not enforcing the swim lanes, which is an area 'cordoned off' from the family pool to allow people who wish to swim lengths to do so. It probably makes more sense to do away with the swim lanes during the casual swim if it isn't going to be enforced. This in turn means people can spread out more in the pool as it feels very cramped particularly at busy times. Overall I recommend. It has it's issues but it is a CIC so isn't purely about profit. Parking is free for customers for up to 3 hours.