Stinging attack on hygiene at Newbury pool

Hayley Whitaker, who works at the Cambridge Research Institute, visited Newbury just after the New Year and said that, although the pool area was all right, if she had seen the shower area beforehand she would never have gone for a swim.
She said that walking through the changing areas made her feet black from dirt, and that the conditions were as bad as anything she had seen.
“The shower area was totally and utterly disgusting – just filthy dirty. I understand that in the current financial climate not everything can be new or replaced but there is no excuse for not cleaning. Most of what I witnessed could be sorted with a large bottle of bleach and a scrubbing brush. The shower area had not been cleaned for weeks, it was thick with black mould –- not just one or two ingrained spots, it was everywhere, black gooey and thick Aspergillus niger”.
She added: “This is a health hazard, particularly for asthma sufferers. I could not touch any surface, including the ceiling, without getting black mould on me. There were missing ceiling tiles and those left were filthy dirty. The floor clearly hadn’t been cleaned for weeks either and the area around the benches had thick slimey dirt on the floor.”
Northcroft Leisure Centre manager, Rose Metalli, said that Parkwood Leisure and West Berkshire Council took customer care very seriously, that they were aware that the current changing area had degraded and that the condition of the changing room fabric was beyond its useful life.
She said: “Following the comments from Dr Whitaker, the staff at Northcroft undertook an immediate deep clean, which has been followed by a more stringent overnight deep clean of the changing area, while the centre is closed to the public. This is part of an ongoing deep clean regime in addition to the regular cleaning schedule in order to ensure standards are maintained.
“Conditions during the period of Dr Whitaker’s visit were further exasperated by vital work to repair the steel structures which support the roof of the swimming pool area. The decision was made to keep the swimming pool open to avoid inconveniencing customers further during the holiday period. There was some disruption within the changing area which may have resulted in particularly poor presentation on the day that Dr Whittaker visited.”
She said that minor repairs were due to take place before a £400,000 refurbishment of the pool, due to be made by West Berkshire Council.