SPORTS centres across East Lothian will reopen next month.

enjoyleisure, which, operates six sports centres in East Lothian on behalf of East Lothian Council, announced this evening that its centres would reopen on Monday, September 14.

Meanwhile, FES Ltd, which operates the Mercait Gait Centre in Prestonpans, has also announced the centre's intention to reopen on September 14, "subject to change in the event of new Government advice".

In a statement, enjoyleisure said: "Whilst we welcome today’s statement from the First Minister, enjoyleisure is committed to reopening its sport, leisure centres and swimming pools in East Lothian from Monday, September 14, which was the indicative date provided by Scottish Government three weeks ago.

"The safety of our customers and colleagues is our number one priority. We will not make any compromises on this.

"Our sports centres are multifaceted buildings. As such, the magnitude and complexity that is required to prepare our sports centres for reopening in line with the Scottish Government and each official sporting body’s guidance cannot be underestimated.

"We have however, already made significant progress in preparing our centres for reopening by making changes to the way we deliver our services to protect the communities of East Lothian.

"A number of social distancing and hygiene measures will be introduced at all centres, which include increased spacing between gym equipment, distinguishing entry and exiting points, and hand sanitiser stations. Significantly increased cleaning regimes by staff will be implemented throughout the day to safeguard our customers and employees.

"The layouts of the gyms have been changed to enable customers to use the equipment at a safe distance from others. There will be a limit to the number of people allowed in the gym at any one time, along with a fixed 60-minute session time. As always, gym users should wipe down the equipment before and after they have used it, with the products provided.

"All swimming pools will consist of wider lanes and group tanks, with maximum numbers in place and a fixed swim session of 45 minutes plus 15 minutes for changing. Swimmers must follow the lane’s one-way system.

"They will be able to change in the changing rooms before they swim; however, we request that they arrive ‘swim ready’ with costumes on under their clothes to speed up the changing process and get in the pool quicker.

"The capacity of fitness classes will be reduced to ensure people can space out from each other while exercising. All the equipment and the exercise area will be cleaned between classes.

"As a precaution, dry side changing rooms have been taken out of action and customers will be required to arrive dressed ready for their training session. Customer toilets, however, will be available.

"Most (but not all) of our children’s coached activity programmes will be resuming too. Children’s swimming lessons will restart from Monday, September 14, and classes within our gymnastics programme will resume from Monday, September 28. Previous participants will be contacted directly about the resumption and rebooking of lessons.

"Additionally, our sports halls will be available for racket sports and we will be welcoming back some of the local sports clubs who hire our facilities on a weekly basis. Please check with your club for start dates/times.

"All activities will need to be pre-booked in advance. We have been developing our online booking system, and a number of sessional activities will be available to book online. We are also adding a waiting list function for fitness classes and gym sessions.

"Alongside the booking of activities, we will be asking all customers and visitors to provide us with their name and contact details in support of the NHS Test and Protect scheme.

"All direct debit paying members will be contacted regarding the reopening of facilities and provided with details on the new booking and operational procedures in place. We will also advise them of the options available regarding their membership payments."

We regret that not all facilities will be opening immediately. This includes the health suites (steam rooms, saunas and spa pools), soft play areas and squash courts (as they are being used to house other equipment). Additionally, the cafe facilities will remain temporarily closed, although vending machines will be available.

"In the coming weeks, all of our centre colleagues will complete a comprehensive training induction on the new safety measures and cleaning regimes we are putting in place. In addition, they will be updated on the revised operational practices concerning life guarding duties, teaching swimming lessons and delivering gymnastics in line with guidance issued by RLSS, Scottish Swimming and Scottish Gymnastics."

The centre opening times currently scheduled for September 14 are:

  • Aubigny Sport Centre, Haddington: 7am-9pm – 01620 820650.
  • Dunbar Leisure Pool: 6:30am-9pm – 01620 820655.
  • Loch Centre, Tranent: 7am-9pm – 01875 824140.
  • Meadowmill Sports Centre: 9am-7pm – 01875 618997.
  • Musselburgh Sports Centre: 7am-9:30pm – 0131 653 5208.
  • North Berwick Sports Centre: 9am-9:30pm – 01620 820730.

Bill Axon, chief executive of enjoyleisure, said: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our customers for their continued loyalty and support. We are incredibly grateful for all of the messages of encouragement received.

“I would also like to extend my gratitude and appreciation to all enjoyleisure colleagues that have been working incredibly hard behind the scenes.

"Their tireless efforts have been instrumental in getting us to this point, which has included completely redefining our cleaning and safety standards, and reorganising our activity areas to comply with physical distancing at all of our centres and swimming pools.

“Our objective is to welcome and allow as many of our customers as possible, to safely access our gyms, swimming pools, exercise classes, sports and leisure activities.

“I hope by re-opening all our six sites, enjoyleisure is demonstrating to our customers that we remain absolutely committed to meeting our communities’ needs and enable many to be more active, more often with all the health advantages that that brings.

"We are hopeful we will be able to gradually increase capacities in our facilities in a phased manner, thus providing a safe, controlled and well-managed sport, health and fitness offering, which will enable us to methodically re-build the use of our facilities.

“We know that our customers will have a lot of questions concerning the reopening of our facilities. There is a lot to tell you, and we promise we will do so over the coming weeks. Please look out for updates arriving in your email inbox and/or posted onto our website enjoyleisure.com and social media pages."