Report - Hermitage Leisure Centre, Whitwick, Leicestershire - January 2023

[MotionlessMike]

Hermitage Leisure Centre

Hermitage Leisure Centre was designed by architects Gelsthorpe, Savidge & Simpson and officially opened on 30th of April 1981 by the 1980 Olympic gold medalist Sebastian Coe. It finally closed after just over 40 years of use in February 2022 after the opening of the new £22 million Whitwick & Coalville Leisure Centre down the road. North West Leicestershire District Council decided to demolish the old leisure centre due to the fact it was costing £17,500 per month to maintain and secure the vacant building. They also seemed keen to clear the site quickly to ‘prevent it becoming a magnet for vandalism and crime’.

Pool

Filtration tanks and kit

Front desk

Squash court, just in case anyone doesn't know what one of these looks like

Sports hall

Had a right laugh tanking around the gym on one of these with a torch balanced on the basket thing

Obviously more modern pools/leisure centres lack the charm of their Victorian/pre-war counterparts but still a good laugh regardless in my opinion.​

 

[GRONK]

I think I've just fell in love with the ceiling in that place, pic 2 is stunning!

 

[Bikin Glynn]

Another seeming waste of a perfectly good facility, nicely covered.

 

[Calamity Jane]

Nice coverage. Looks like a good explore. But I really don't understand councils, why approve a second one just down the road! This looks just fine. Build build build, we are turning into a concrete jungle

 

[MotionlessMike]

Another seeming waste of a perfectly good facility, nicely covered.

Nice coverage. Looks like a good explore. But I really don't understand councils, why approve a second one just down the road! This looks just fine. Build build build, we are turning into a concrete jungle

Clearly North West Leicestershire Council are flush with cash!

 

[dansgas1000]

That ceiling is lovely, wow! That phone is proper old school aswell, nice report.

 

[MotionlessMike]

That ceiling is lovely, wow! That phone is proper old school aswell, nice report.

Yes I quite liked it too, hides the nasty modern corrugated roof nicely!

 

[Bikin Glynn]

Please tell me u got a selfie riding the dolphin?

 

[MotionlessMike]

Please tell me u got a selfie riding the dolphin?

Regrettably no 😂

 

[2.5 pints]

Nice to see what was, at the end.
My dad used to take me there way back in the 90's - just for a leisure swim, and the odd party.
The lighting in the pool always seemed a little orange looking coining from some floodlights mounted in the ceiling squares .
The Childrens pool was a strip that ran alongside the main pool with the eater in that at a much lower level to the main pool in the m middle there was a water feature which was easy to dam off so you could then release the water all at once - or until you got told off by a lifeguard.
Behind there was a small cafe which had a vending machine that made and dispensed hot chips

There was news about a community group wanting to take it over, which the council wasnt that keen on - having just opened a replacement site

Coalville group wants to turn Hermitage Leisure Centre site into a community venue

A Coalville community group wants to turn the Hermitage Leisure Centre into a multi-purpose venue when it closes next year.

coalville.nub.news

 

[Wally_urbex]

Think I saw a couple of posts of this on fb but it didn't really look very interesting due to the usual 70+ pics of 1 brick. Actually looks pretty decent, nice crisp photos aswell

 

[Bugsuperstar]

The dead white eyes on the dolphin are enough to give the baddest kid on the block the creeps. Nice report man!

 

[Mikeymutt]

Lovely shots mate. I think explores like this look great fun..

 

[Bazza74]

Looks a fun one!

 

[StolenMonkey]

Great pictures, love the filtration kit ones! Brings back some memories as I used to go here as a kid as my dad is from Whitwick, I'm quite close by and there,s a couple of sites in Coalville I want to visit so I may give this one a go too!