Barton Leisure Centre

We had a very distressing experience at this swimming pool. When we arrived, there was no lifeguard present, yet other swimmers were allowed into the pool. As a parent, I sat poolside to supervise my child, which is entirely reasonable in the absence of a lifeguard. Despite this, I was repeatedly challenged by a member of staff. Rules were applied inconsistently and selectively. Safety rules were ignored when it suited others, but were repeatedly and rigidly enforced against my child and myself. My child was also told to stop using equipment based on unclear guidance, which we immediately complied with. After multiple confrontations, my child became extremely upset, stopped swimming, and cried, stating that he felt singled out and discriminated against. He is normally a confident and competitive swimmer, yet this experience left him anxious and fearful of swimming. Regardless of intent, the impact on a child’s emotional wellbeing was significant. A swimming facility should prioritise safety, consistency, and safeguarding, especially where children are concerned. Unfortunately, this was not our experience.

We had a very distressing experience at this swimming pool. When we arrived, there was no lifeguard present, yet other swimmers were allowed into the pool. As a parent, I sat poolside to supervise my child, which is entirely reasonable in the absence of a lifeguard. Despite this, I was repeatedly challenged by a member of staff. Rules were applied inconsistently and selectively. Safety rules were ignored when it suited others, but were repeatedly and rigidly enforced against my child and myself. My child was also told to stop using equipment based on unclear guidance, which we immediately complied with. After multiple confrontations, my child became extremely upset, stopped swimming, and cried, stating that he felt singled out and discriminated against. He is normally a confident and competitive swimmer, yet this experience left him anxious and fearful of swimming. Regardless of intent, the impact on a child’s emotional wellbeing was significant. A swimming facility should prioritise safety, consistency, and safeguarding, especially where children are concerned. Unfortunately, this was not our experience.

Generally it fulfil my need of swimming 2-3 times per week in Oxford, with the swimming membership that I have which have increased to a price of £35 per month, where at the start it's <25 as I remember. The most annoying thing is, the staff won't always tick my name off when I attended the bookings, which will only be allowed for "not attending a booking" 3 times, after that I get banned from online booking for a week or so. This happened more often in the Hincksey outdoor pool and also other centre like Ferry Leisure Centre, but it does affect my convenience of using for other pools.