The Venue Leisure Centre

"Public pools are my ocd and I really don't enjoy swimming in public pools. I went for my daughter who fortunately isn't like me. The pool was mostly ok. There was debris on the floor of the pool, but fortunately, I couldn't touch it. The open showers were basic and there were only a few, I discovered the group ones, which allowed some privacy. It was obvious that the floor area was cleaned regularly and the toilets appeared to be checked and cleaned. Overall, we had a good swim and I would recommend heading there as it is ok for a public pool."

"Took my one year old grandson there yesterday. We were very pleased with the facilities. Ok, the tables weren't cleaned but I'm fine with wiping it down (with little ones, you come attached to wet wipes). However, the issue I had was that the children weren't separated. There were older children playing with toddlers, and the parents seemed to have set up camp inside the play area, sitting on the floor, ignoring their children's behaviour. There was one little boy determined to push other children down, etc and the parents were too busy chatting to see. My daughter never left her toddler's side, after hearing other children telling him to go away "this is our station", etc. Most other soft play centres have age limits and I think this should be imposed."

"Recently refitted gym is very nice. The Egym is worth checking out, you can lose time in there very easily. The pool could do with a spruce up and the showers in said pool area are sometimes very cold, but it's still a great facility to use. Any issues can be reported to reception and the lovely staff sort things out very quickly and efficiently."

"Borehamwood leisure centre is filthy, we visited the soft play area which is thick with dirt and grim. Most equipment is ripped and damaged due to older children playing in the younger partitions. The food café has a health rating of 3 but think this is a little too high due to surfaces where food is served not being clean. I have attached images of the area where you can sit and watch your children play whilst eating. It was difficult to capture the glass as my phone created a glare but it is greasy from top to bottom clear signs of never being cleaned with food splattered all over it. You can just about make out a small motion of a cloth wiping across the glass where the tables are placed. The floor is black with food spillages rotted in, a mop has never been wiped over the floor. I'm surprised this part of the centre is still open given this is where children play and food is consumed. Overall the centre has great potential, the struggle of finding staff that actually care and take pride in their jobs is real and across all industries but this really comes down to the operations manager not doing regular checks. (In another note maybe a little customer service training for the reception desk wouldn't go a miss) I would have given this feedback direct to the manager but the staff working didn’t seem to know who the manager was. Fingers crossed the establishment improves before someone catches something from the filth."

"A great leisure centre in Borehamwood with first class gym and full-size swimming pool. Very friendly staff. Well-run facility and very clean changing area. A nice sense of pride in providing health services to the public."