Wandsworth council swimming price madness Post Reply

[Mum2Monkey]

Hello,

We went for a swim at Latchmere with my one year old and three year old. The price was double what it was last month. Apparently 0 to 8 year olds are now charged at adult price, before the child price kicks in at aged 8. Absolute madness given the big push on keeping kids healthy.

I challenged this with the manager who told me this is correct and to check the website (which now has pricing for under 8s removed) and that Wandsworth council have told them to implement the policy. After I said I was going to call the council, she told me about a child swim card - which the council have told them not to publicise - but which means you pay the adult price for the first under 8s swim and then the over 8s child price after that. So that is what we did - pay the adult price to get the card

I usually find Wandsworth council to be relatively sensible, so am somewhat disbelieving that they would sign an outsource contract that means all under 8s have to pay an adult swim price unless you can discover the magic swim card - and even then to have to pay the adult price to get it. I guess I hope it is the contractor making a quick buck, rather than council incompetence. But just in case I am not the only one who got caught out - I thought I would publicise the magic under 8s swim card

Would also be interested to hear from Wandsworth council as to whose bright idea it was to only begin child prices at aged 8 and charge adult prices for under 8s. Must be the only council in the country to have come up with such a ridiculous policy (but the Latchmere website does seem to confirm this by the absence of an under 8 price)

[boonkoh]

Check out the Streatham Leisure Centre swimming pool. Very modern (only built last year) and they have children pricing.

They also have an ice skating rink, if your kids fancy giving it a go!

[windmill26]

We stopped going to Latchmere after they scooped out poo from the swimming pool and they told people that was OK to go back in!
We couldn't do it but some other people had no problem with it.

[TLS]

The places for people website suggests under 8s are free at the majority of their centres. Although I see that at Putney paid swimming kicks in at 5 so I would have expected Latchmere to be consistent with that. I would ask for confirmation from P4P (rather than Wandsworth) as it does sound very odd indeed to charge a higher rate for under 8s than over 8s.

[atbattersea]

This doesn't sound right at all. But they keep switching the pricing and concessions at Wandsworth pools.

Here's what I think should happen, unless they have changed it yet again. Some time ago (perhaps six months) they were giving out free child cards. At Latchmere you just signed up on a sheet and they gave you a card - this gave free swimming for under eights.

I thought this was specific to Latchmere, but later found out (when visiting Tooting) that the card could be used anywhere in the Borough. I realised this when they told me at Tooting that I could buy a child card for £2.00 (that gave free swimming for under eights).

I also bumped into a friend at the weekend, and I'm sure that he told me that he'd been offered the same deal at Latchmere, just this past Sunday.

They do seem to want to keep it a secret though - no idea why.

The other weird thing about the pool pricing is that if you go to Latchmere at the weekend, when they are queuing out the door to get into the pool you can get concessionary pricing. But if you go to Tooting or Putney, which are virtually empty, you cannot!?

[pepper]

hey, we had the same situation. Two alduts and two children around £15, so we were shocked. They told us about the cards for kids, cost £2 each, so the kids can go for free, so now we less then £10..... the soft play upstairs is expensive as well, £4 for child.... a bit too much for the small place to play. I think it should be extra £1 for tickets swimm plus play....

[atbattersea]

Just for the record, I swim at Latchmere quite a lot, and while the changing rooms can get quite smelly (although not since the refurbishment) I've never seen any cockroaches there.

[NYE31]

We stopped going to Latchmere after they scooped out poo from the swimming pool and they told people that was OK to go back in!
We couldn't do it but some other people had no problem with it.

Poo & cockroaches???

OMG, one of the those would put me off but both?

[Mint Slice]

We've been regular users of Latchmere for over 3 years and, while there was a drain smell and cleanliness issues when we first started (we've never seen cockroaches), there has been a noticeable difference for a long time, with the refurbishment making the place a lot nicer to use.

It sounds from the comments that some people haven't been there for a long time, maybe you should give it a second chance and then you'd be able to comment from a more recent experience.

And as far as I can make out, under 8s do swim free at all the borough's pools.

[atbattersea]

And as far as I can make out, under 8s do swim free at all the borough's pools.

I believe this is true, but you do need to register/buy the card for £2.00. And the staff at the pools don't seem to publicise this.

[windmill26]

Mint Slice
We use to go to Latchmere at least twice monthly and I can tell you that they use to have a cockroach problem (same as Tooting).We stopped going because of it .We went back few weeks ago because we knew that it was been refurbished and that was the scoop up poo day! Even more I told my child swimming instructor about the poo incident and she told me that unfortunately it happens very often there.She takes her gran-kids to other swimming pools in the borough and she lives in Battersea so Latchmere is her local pool.

[Mum2Monkey]

Since they have refurbished, I have found it to be far cleaner - hence why we started to go again. I have experienced the poo incident too - although on that occasion they do close the pool. To be fair, I have also experienced at Putney and tooting. So seems to be a problem anywhere where little kids swim and their parents don't use swim nappies (properly)

Still annoyed about their charging though!

[rooting4tooting]

We use Putney pool (tooting = cockroaches and poor staff). We have a wandsworth card for our eldest (now 10) accepted for free entry every time. Our 5 year old isn't paying yet but I understand from 5 they should pay. Don't know how much.
Does Wandsworth want healthy kids? maybe they did and now maybe they don't.

[danijeanne]

Children under 8 are definitely free. We got cards a few weeks back just fill in a form pay £2 then they are free until they are 8!

[Latchmere LC]

Thank you for your comments regarding Latchmere Leisure Centre.

As an organisation we have committed to allowing all under 8’s to swim free across all of our facilities. We do charge a nominal admin fee of just £2 for 5-8yr olds in order to administer their usage, however, there are no further charges for the year once this is paid.

We can only envisage that there has been an error and misunderstanding on this occasion and I would welcome Mum2Monkey to make contact with the myself in order to review exactly what has happened in this instance, so that if there has been an incorrect charge applied we can resolve this.

As part of Wandsworth Borough Council’s £3.5million investment in their leisure centres we are delighted to share that the Wetside changing village, Dryside changing rooms and Gymnasium development works are now nearing full completion and would urge those of you yet to visit to come down to the complex and see the very positive changes to our facilities.

If there are any specific issues that anyone would like to discuss please make contact directly with the complex and ask to speak to one of the management team, who will be more than happy to go through these with you. Please call on 020 7207 8004 or email enquiries@latchmereleisurecentre.co.uk.


Thank you

Ed Lane, General Manager.