Greenwich Leisure Limited take over Lewisham leisure centres
Lewisham Council have ditched an oft-criticised operator of leisure centres in the borough and chosen Greenwich Leisure Limited – who trade as Better – as their replacement.
Fusion Lifestyle came in for heavy criticism over a number of years for their handling of Lewisham’s centres.
GLL however have not been without problems themselves. They took over Bromley libraries and a number of strike actions followed which only ended in February 2020. Insiders tell me they made some fundamental mistakes with that bid.
In fact, staff members complaining of poor management is quite a regular theme when it comes to emails sent to this site. Understaffing and staff members being stretched thin are two complaints.
Users of leisure centres such as Woolwich have also complained of poor cleanliness for some time. In February a serious incident occurred when an overhead pipe fell in the pool.
In 2019 some hefty price increases were introduced.
Better have long struggled with declining membership numbers in Greenwich borough. Greenwich Council recently gave the company £800,000 to continue operating. In recent months notices popped up on the Greenwich website about allowing them to operate for a peppercorn rent at a number of sites including Plumstead Centre which recently opened and overrun its budget.
Whether this was always the case or a recent change was not mentioned on the council website. If anyone has more information leave a comment or email in.
