Northgate Arena

The place looks a million % better and definitely worth a visit. We hadnt booked and the lady at the front was very helpful. She went out of her way to help salvage a bad situation. Great to see EXCELLENT customer service from a lady called Emma. Thanks for helping me and the boys.

· via Google

The newly refurbished facility is amazing. My son absolutely loves the pool and could spend all day there. My only issue is that during the half term break there are no under 5 sessions! It can be a bit daunting taking a little one swimming and having that time slot really helps. I think during the kids holidays there should be at least 1 under 5's session. It's a lot safer for parents to take their toddlers when the big kids aren't splashing about.

· via Google

The new pool looks good. However the booking system is so defective it never allows me to book swimming for my children. Turning up without booking is frustrating due to the rigid start times and staff saying to "book online"! I preferred the old way of doing things where we could actually spontaneously for a swim without having to book and pay many weeks in advance! We regularly travel to Wrexham Waterworld instead, despite living in Chester! Wrexham waterworld is warmer, more fun and better slides, including rapids but its a 50 mile round trip! Really Poor Show from Northgage, it used to be a great, family centred place now become too impersonal and "online" due to their corporate overlords.

· via Google

The pool is a huge fun pool, with a water slide and a large shallow area so kids can have fun. There's a good size viewing balcony. There are small slides for under 5s and little seating areas in the water. There were a lot of people play fighting in the pool, which I personally didn't like as you kept having to make sure you avoid them. The changing rooms are also large and there are 4 family changing rooms, but you can't then access the hairdryers etc from them, you have to go into the single sex changing rooms, which is tricky for father and daughter to do. Instead of lockers, they have a basket system where you put all your clothes and towels in a basket, hand it over, and get a wristband. There is a second more traditional 25m pool for swim lessons and kayak and various other training things. The cafe has been refurbished and also has a lot of seating areas. There isn't always a member of staff to serve you. You have to press a silent button and wait in hope, between 1 and 5 mins, for someone to appear and serve you. The sports hall is well kept and multi purpose, I saw pickleball and trampolining when I was there. The gym is upstairs, which I didn't see but was very popular. Parking is next to the arena.

· via Google