Jesmond Pool and Gym on St George’s Terrace is to reopen on Thursday 3rd December. However, Newcastle’s Tier 3 status and Covid-19 restrictions mean group exercise classes will not be able to resume yet and will continue to be delivered online.

Simon Leach, who took over the role of Jesmond Pool and Gym in September, says his main goal is getting back to the levels of use the centre was experiencing before the pandemic. “We just want to get people back in,” he says. “We’ve had to reduce the capacity of our swimming lessons so that they’re able to operate safely but once we get through the other side of COVID, we’d like to increase the numbers and the lessons.”

There are fears that many fitness centres will not survive the pandemic. However, Leach says Jesmond Pool and Gym has taken advantage of the opportunity to carry out essential maintenance during both lockdown closures. The pool hall has been painted, the pool tank re-grouted and changing rooms renovated to make them COVID-secure.  

The pool was emptied of water to reduce heating costs. The centre was also able to take advantage of the government’s furlough scheme. According to Leach – a police officer who has been a trustee since 2010 – it’s the hard work of staff and generous donations from the community that have enabled Jesmond Pool and Gym to survive.

It’s just the latest chapter in the colourful history of a local leisure facility which has survived two world wars and the threat of permanent closure in 1991.

Chris Clarke – Jesmond Pool and Gym’s previous chair, who became one of its trustees in 1991 – recalls how the pool had been closed by Newcastle City Council, its windows smashed and boarded up. However, local residents launched a successful campaign to have it reopened and managed by the community. “A charitable company was formed to take over the pool, and it really was an amazing time, because back then it was almost unheard of for a residents group to take over a municipal swimming pool,” he says.

Jesmond Pool and Gym is now operated by Jesmond Community Leisure, a social enterprise and charity, which leases the buildings from the council and runs it as a public swimming pool and fitness centre. Clarke says the reason the pool and gym work so well as a community-run business is due to not only “community spirit” but also “a lot of very capable residents”.

He says Jesmond Pool and Gym has also strived over the last 30 years to keep up with, and respond to, what customers want, including the growing number of students in the local community.

Clarke says he decided to step down from his duties because he didn’t want the project to get “ossified and stuck in its ways” as he and other trustees got older.