Yarborough Leisure Centre

I had my son’s birthday party here yesterday, and he and his friends had a lot of fun, but unfortunately I’m left disappointed. When I had my eldest sons party here 10 years ago I paid £70 for the use of jungle gym room, which had a bouncy castle, soft play things and climbing frames and gymnastics equipment out. There were two staff members assisting, they took care of the music and the kids in general and the whole thing was a big success to the point where a few of the parents who came booked their own kids parties at Yarborough too! The whole thing was easy to book, it was easy to contact the centre to find out information regarding food, drink etc, and I could just get everything set up and not have to worry about the kids as much. The staff also cleaned up after us once the party finished. This time I paid £175 for the same thing, for the same time period. I booked it online but trying to contact the centre regarding anything was a major hassle. Yes there’s still local number to call but it doesn’t put you through to the centre itself, instead it’s a general helpline. I only wanted to know if juice and water would be provided for the children like last time, but nobody could tell me. I was told to email the centre instead but never got a reply. I called the number again a couple of days before the party and was told that the staff would be able to sort out jugs of water, and I could bring squash to add to it. On the day I asked the staff member who had checked us in and shown us to the gym room about it and he had no clue. He had to go and fetch a couple of jugs from the staff room and told me they wouldn’t normally do water. I find this pretty absurd considering that these parties are for large groups of children who will be running around getting hot! The cafe was there so I guess the idea is that you are supposed to spend a ridiculous amount of money on top of the cost of the party to provide numerous drinks for up to 20 kids? But even that was closing about half an hour before the party finished, so I’ve no idea what the staff expects people to do otherwise. Once the juice was finally sorted out, the guy just left us to it, so there was nobody actually attending to the kids entertainment and safety. We had no idea where the toilets were so had to figure that out for ourselves as there aren’t any near the gymnasium itself. There wasn’t as much to do either, the gymnastics and climbing equipment was replaced with a football goal and a couple of balls, but I am glad that I wasn’t having to supervise kids on climbing frames with no staff present! On top of this, the staff member told me that the speaker was Bluetooth operated so I could use my phone to sort the music out. Good thing I had a fully charged phone because I wasn’t aware that I would be the DJ as well as the assistant to the party itself! So all in all I’m glad that there were quite a few kids who couldn’t make it to my son’s party because it would have been chaos! Nobody came to check if we had everything we needed, of if things were all well, nor did someone come along when the time slot was up. Once it was all done with we had no bin to put any rubbish into, I had to go and ask at the reception for a bin bag, which they also weren’t sure if they had, but someone did at least come back to the room to help clear the rubbish up once we had packed up our things (although I’m not sure if they would have sent anyone had I not asked for a bag) All in all, it’s not worth the money at all. Yes the kids had fun which I the only reason I’m giving three starts, but for what I paid it wasn’t worth it. I get that prices will go up over the ten years since my eldest sons party, but £100 difference and not even having the staff help with the party itself is just not good enough. I felt like I paid them to do all of the work myself. I could have taken the same amount of kids to somewhere like playzone or Jump and had a proper party room with staff who are actually attentive to them, and wouldn’t have had to worry about whether they even get something to drink!

· via Google

Great Staff Wonderful clean facilities. Visited whilst in Lincoln for a few days work. Set me up a Pay As You Go (PAYG) member Swam in the mornings (£6.50) and Gym in the evenings (£7.00). Quite reasonable pricing Definitely got my monies worth and far better use of my time than sitting in a Hotel or a Cafe. Oh Pickles (their Cafe in the Leisure Centre is top drawer too!!)

· via Google

I like it here but the app to book activities is shocking I have to log in everytime and I always have to reset my password even though I always reset it as the same things this will happen the next day after I have already booked an activity. It takes forever and is so slow, the layout isn't great and I booked swimming for two people and the app changed it to 7 people so its a load of rubbish. Will not be using anymore as booking drives me insane!

· via Google

A lovely reception area, great. Smelly changing rooms, and nappies left in cubicles. Swimming pool lane ropes are dangerous, lots of plastic broken, others are missing leaving the ropes not easily seen by swimmers.

· via Google