For the best part of three years, Altrincham did without its leisure centre. Swimmers found pools elsewhere, lessons were rearranged around other towns in Trafford, and a building that had served generations sat behind hoardings while a £20m rebuild slowly took shape.
When the doors finally reopened on 26 August 2025, there was a palpable sense of relief that Altrincham finally had its leisure centre back.
A year on, the centre is throwing those doors open again - this time for a free birthday open day this Sunday 20 September, 11am to 3pm, with no booking and no entry fee.
What local residents quickly discovered after the rebuild was not just a retiled swimming pool and a furbished sports hall, but a complete reimagining of what a leisure centre ought to be - and Sunday is essentially an invitation to come and test that for yourself, with free swims, gymnastics tasters and a meet and greet with Olympic gymnast Becky Downie.
"The vision was to create world-class facilities that are genuinely affordable and genuinely accessible," says general manager Craig Lomas. "Those three things usually pull against each other. We were determined they didn't have to. This is a community building - it should feel like one, whoever you are and whatever you're here for."
This Sunday's open day at move Altrincham
A year in, the numbers are doing the talking. The gym has just recorded 100,000 door swipes. Fitness classes have hit 50,000 attendees. There have been 50,886 booked swim sessions on top of the lesson programme, and 25,740 through the gymnastics hub. The centre now has 5,545 members – and over 50,000 pay-as-you-go customers.
Biggest of all is the swim programme, which has recorded 118,248 attendances over the year across lessons running from parent-and-baby classes through to competitive squads. It remains, Lomas says, the single most important thing the building does.
"Teaching children to swim is a life skill, not a leisure activity," he says. "It's the reason a facility like this exists in the first place. Seeing the pools full of children who couldn't swim a year ago and can now - that's the measure of a good 12 months."
A gymnastics hub finding its feet
The gymnastics hub was one of the headline additions to the rebuilt centre, and demand has consistently outstripped what the programme could offer. The limiting factor was never space or equipment – it was coaches.
That changes this autumn. move Altrincham has entered into a partnership with British Gymnastics and is now a recognised training provider, having put a cohort of volunteers and coaches through a full programme over the summer. From 20 September, the number of places available on the gymnastics programme will double.
"Gymnastics coaches are in short supply everywhere, and they're loyal to the clubs that trained them - rightly so," says Lomas. "So we decided to train our own. Becoming a British Gymnastics training provider is a real endorsement of the quality of our facilities and our coaching, and it means we can finally open up the spaces that families have been asking us for. If your child has been on a waiting list, now is the moment to look again."
Junior membership more broadly has been one of the year's quieter successes, with dedicated after-school times giving young people a supervised, supported space of their own.
"Parents want somewhere their teenager can go that isn't a bedroom and isn't a street corner," Lomas says. "Those after-school sessions are staffed, structured and safe, and the young people using them have taken real ownership of the place."
Recovery isn't a luxury
Downstairs, the Cove Spa has become one of the building's most distinctive features: a Himalayan salt sauna, a dry sauna, an aromatherapy steam room and experience showers, spread across enough stations that it rarely feels busy even at peak times. Crucially, it is open to pay-as-you-go customers as well as members, at a price point deliberately set low.
"We don't see recovery as a luxury - we see it as part of training, and part of looking after yourself," says Lomas. "There's a perception that a spa is something you save up for and visit twice a year. The Cove isn't that. You can come for an hour after a workout, or come with a friend and take your time. Both are absolutely the point."
Upstairs, MOST bakery has given the centre something leisure buildings have historically lacked: a genuine reason to linger. Fresh bread and pastries, proper coffee and a space where people meet before a class and stay long after it.
"You come in, you train, you have a coffee, you talk to someone," Lomas says. "That's a community hub. And I'd say this to anyone reading - you do not have to be a member to be part of it. Nearly 50,000 pay-as-you-go visits in our first year tells you that's not just a line. The café, the pools, the Cove, the gym - you can use all of it without signing anything."
The birthday party
Sunday's open day is free throughout, with family float sessions in the pool, taster sessions in the gymnastics hub, arts and crafts, a bouncy castle and cake at the end of the afternoon.
"It's a thank you, really," says Lomas. "To everyone who waited for this building, and to everyone who's made it what it is over the past year. Come and see what's here - most people are surprised."
move Altrincham's first birthday open day runs 11am–3pm on Sunday 20 September. The centre is at Oakfield Road, Altrincham, WA15 8EW. Visit twmove.co.uk for membership options, class timetables and more information.
New members can take 50% off for three months with no joining fee – code movenow.
move Altrincham, Oakfield Road, Altrincham WA15 8EW. Visit twmove.co.uk for more
