Can you keep a secret guys?? Not many people seem to have noticed it yet, but a year and a half…read moreafter the Olympics there's some exciting stuff going on in Stratford again... Yep living near the Park is paying off nicely at the moment - my new local council swimming pool is none other than the Aquatics Centre! It's been open to the public for the last few weeks and I have to say it's a pretty special venue - I still get tingles every time I walk in. It's £4.50 per swim session for an adult and there's an easy peasy online system to book in advance. There are 2 full size pools inside - the Competition Pool for the hardcore swimmers and the Training Pool where they separate the lengths into two 25m sections. Personally I found a 50m pool to be ridiculously long in real life (my superwoman stamina is a err work in progress) so I tend to do laps in the 25m lanes. You choose a pool and a start time online but it's pretty lax once you're in, and you can stay as long as you like. The water is a nice slightly warm temperature and it's usually a uniform 1.2m depth all the way along (though somehow they can change the depth of different sections - the mind boggles!). It's not all lanes - there are also sections of the pool roped off for 'fun' as well as swimming lessons. Also saw signs for a total wipeout stylee 'Splash Time' for kiddies at weekends that sounded like great fun if anyone wants to lend me a child?! The reason it misses a 5th star is that the changing rooms and shower facilities are just not that great. It's spacious yes and there are plenty of cubicles, hairdryers and lockers, but the layout is a little confusing (quite a wander from the lockers to the female showers), they seem to have too many staff/cleaners milling around not doing much, and the showers themselves seem temperamental and need you to wave a hand past every 3 seconds. Is this how Michael Phelps showered?! (*pauses to enjoy the mental picture*) Ahem. Yeah I expected better. So remember to bring your own towel+toiletries, a plastic bag for your wet cozzie (I haven't spotted a drying machine yet) and a £1 coin for the lockers. And please only tell your special friends - the nicest thing at the moment is that it isn't too busy on weeknights! See you there :)

The swimming pool itself is great, most of the time quiet, you can choose your line depending on…read morehow fast you want to swim so that you don't get disturb by other people while swimming. The changing space however is really poor for this kind of aquatics centre - you can really tell you're just meant to come, quickly change, swim and leave. There are few showers and they are quite temperamental. The lockers and cubicles are just not that comfortable to use. So it's a very good pool, but come there for exercise only and not hoping for a full spa experience!

I love this place. I have visited the Lido a few times in recent weeks and have been impressed by…read morehow clean and organised everything is. It is such an amazing feeling to swim in the early morning sunshine- I highly recommend it. The pool is a great temperature too. Remember to bring a pound coin for the lockers!

Splishy sploshy splashy, that's just how my afternoon went when me and the girls decided to don our…read moreswimwear, some of us wearing a little inappropriate outfits (not naming anyone Huddy!) and head on down to the local pool. Who cares if it's a breezy day, we are British after all. We swim n the Atlantic Ocean, a little pool in Hackney does not fill us with fear. Well actually it was the crazy OAPs splashing around that did but that being said this place is awesome. Seriously cool! It's a heated pool so you'd rather be in swimming than hanging about. There are loads of lanes and it's big enough to fit everyone in. they even have a little cafe there so you can sit pool side and nosh on chips and Slush Puppies like you did when you were a kid. It's not even pricey, a few bob a ticket and you can swim for hours. Thank you Hackney Council, I knew the money I paid you was going somewhere!

I love to swim and I love going to Highbury Pool and Fitness Centre. When you are walking to the…read morecentre there are so many trees and overgrowth it feels like you are trying to find shelter in a jungle. As you walk along the path you can barely see the building and then the entrance pops almost out of nowhere. The centre offers more than a pool, there is also a fitness centre. This is a full service facility and if you don't belong to a gym it's not a bad place to join. I go the Highbury Pool strictly to swim. They do have adult lap times if you want to avoid screaming kids. They also have water aerobics which is great for people with knee problems. Since I only use the pool a few times a month for swimming I pay the standard £3.70 fee. If I lived a bit closer I would problem go ahead and join, especially since a month membership with pool access is about £42.

Good toddler pool makes this an OK family pool. The toddler pool has a small slide, not that…read moreexciting for older kids, but then it's not aimed at them. It's warmer than Archway's Fun pool but much less fun. If you want a safe swimming environment for small kids it's fine, but the changing rooms are a bit tatty and cold at times.

This place is only busy because there are so few other options in the area. Unfortunately, the…read morebusiness makes the management arrogant and they offer zero customer service. If they bother to get back to you about any concern you might have about the facilities they will be completely inflexible and unhelpful. They know if you leave they have plenty of other users with little to no other choices. The recent refurbishment has been badly managed with a much smaller choice of equipment spread over 4 floors in 6 different spaces! Even at off-peak times there are queues for equipment because much of it does not even work. Complaints fall on deaf ears and management will not even entertain reducing fees due to the reduction in services. Their only suggestion they can offer is to cancel! They really do not care about the community or their members despite the headlines on their website.

This is a great place to come swimming. After a ridiculous saga, it was finally reopened a couple…read moreof years ago and it is this relative newness that makes it so shiny and nice. You don't worry about verrucas and kids weeing in the pool here, unlike at North London's other, older and therefore grimier public pools. I like to come early on a Saturday morning (provided I haven't been out too heavily the night before) as it's usually pretty quiet and you can get a good pace in the fast lane without hitting too many people's heels. The changing rooms are also big and clean although my favourite thing about the pool is that it's near enough to my house that I can stroll home for a post-swim shower.

King's Hall is a quality leisure centre located close to Hackney Central. Although I walk past it…read moremost days, I didn't even know this place existed until not long ago. There is a full range of facilities on offer such as a 25 metre swimming pool, a health suite and a sports hall. There are also 5-a-side football competitions and group exercise classes on offer. I went in to enquire about swimming prices, and the staff were all really friendly. It would cost you 4 pounds per trip to the pool, or 26 pounds for a month of unlimited access. I guess you just have to way up how much you would use it. Not being much of a swimmer, I will probably fork out the 4 pounds every now and again. It's nice to know it's there though.

As the photo shows, this place does not look like your typical leisure centre. Where I'm from…read more(Essex, don't judge me on that fact alone), swimming pools, sports centres, etc all look like big ugly square boxes. These square boxes have big windows on many of the sides so that as you walk past you get to see fat kids running, bombing, diving, petting and all those other things that the posters tell you not to do. And these kids are fat as you have to go to the cafe straight after for chips. Lots of chips. Anyway back to the subject in hand....the outside really makes you wonder how such a fancy but small fronted building in the middle of a regular busy road in Hackney can fit in a swimming pool, sports hall and gym in it. But it does. Everything in the building is clean, smart and tidy. Just the type place you want to come and spend a sweaty hour or two. The staff are really helpful and friendly too. Only down side is the pool is a little run down looking. But if you let your goggles fog up just a little bit, you don't notice a thing. It's not bad, it's just not what you'd find in a 5* hotel. And I haven't found anything dodgy floating in the water, so that's a big bonus! And there isn't a cafe or vending machine to be found, so you dont have to worry about undoing all of your hard calorie burning hard work by the sweet smell of chips. This pool is going to become my second home (new swim membership novelty has yet to fade) so come watch me swim, this week a pool in Hackney, next week the Channel. See you all in Calais

Forgot I was allergic to water. The water burned. Not a pleasent experience. Accidentally swallowed…read moresome water. Am now patronised from ankle down.

Park Lane Leisure Centre is set between Muswell Hill and Crouch End Broadway, and offers a wide…read morerange of leisure facilities. They have a gym, and hold fitness classes of all types, I have a few friends that take the classes here, but have never taken any myself. My friends have been going for quite a while so they must be quite good. I do however go to park lane for other reasons. In London, you do not get many out door pools, probably due to our great climate. There are a couple that I know of, one being in Hampstead Heath, and the other at the Park Road Leisure Centre. On the weekends, especially during the summer holidays as a teenager, I was here all the time. It is a great place for youngsters to meet and socialize and get some exercise. On those sunny days it was great and was the highlight of my week. The outdoor pool is only open from may to September, and if it is raining during those months, they also have an indoor pool, so no need to worry.

This pool is only 5 minutes away from my work so recently I have started doing one swim in the…read moremorning and one swim in the evening each week. If you're an adult I definitely recommend going in the morning as the whole pool is lanes and there is plenty of space to swim. In the evening there are a lot more swimmers and if you want to really get your pace up it's difficult as you are constantly having to slow down so as not to hit the person in front of you! Good lockers (the ones where you get your £1 back) and its only £4 to swim which is really decent. Staff are friendly, changing rooms are clean and the pool itself serves its purpose very well! If you have really high standard for your swimming pools I wouldn't recommend this one as it really is just a basic, functional public swimming pool but if you literally just one to get in for a quick half an hour exercise before work then it's a big thumbs up!

So they refurbished and remodelled the changing rooms recently - definitely an improvement but not…read moreenough for another star...the reception area remains functional and basic...guess the budget didn't stretch that far...

Currently closed for a refurbishment that was long overdue. Great pool to learn to swim in for…read moreyounger kids and used by Anaconda Swimming Club. The deep end is deep enough for learning to dive. We miss this pool as was a handy place for training or just a quick local swim. Good showers changing room basic. No doubt they will be updated as part of the refurbishment Edit: Pleased to say this has now reopened as from Saturday 4 February 2012 although Anaconda no longer use it. Not been back not sure we will be back as all the kids have outgrown it.

From the owner: Enjoy the state of the art gym, studio. swimming pool and tennis courts in the heart of the City of…read moreLondon. The centre is brought to you by City of London Corporation, in partnership with Fusion, a highly experienced sports and leisure organisation. As a registered charity, Fusion continually reinvest to improve and develop what's on offer in your community. So why not make us your first choice when you want to get active?