REVIEW: Swimming Pool, Soft Play & American Diner at Better Bath Sports & Leisure Centre

When you think of leisure centres, you usually think of an intoxicatingly strong smell of chlorine, dirty changing room floors and stark fluorescent lighting. Well… a leisure centre in Bath has done it better… introducing Better Bath Sports and Leisure Centre.

Better Bath boasts a wide variety of facilities including a 6-lane swimming pool, a dedicated kids pool (complete with water slides and a water flume), 120 station gym, four court sports hall, 8 ten pin bowling alleys, an American diner, a soft play, a trampoline park and a partridge in a pear tree.

There are also over 65 weekly fitness classes to choose from if all of the above isn’t enough to pick from (inc virtual classes if you cannot physically attend the centre).

All of this… within a stone's throw of Bath city centre with parking (a rare option in Bath). Wow!

We were invited to come and try it out, as a family of three (myself, my partner and our 7-year-old), the swimming facilities, the soft play and to grab lunch at the American diner.

It took us about 30 minutes to get there from Bristol (it takes us longer to get to some places still within Bristol with the traffic sometimes) and I was delighted that there was on-site parking available as that’s something I usually worry about when coming to Bath as the city itself is not well know for its plethora of parking facilities. 

The changing rooms were bright, spacious, clean and to my delight, didn’t have that *wet and cold underfoot* feel that many swimming pool changing rooms do. There are loads of double and family changing cubicles available, something that is usually a rare commodity.

The pool facilities themselves consist of 3 pools and 1 flume. A smaller pool for teaching, a 6 lane adult pool and an amazing “water park” style child pool that will bring out the inner kid in anyone! The water was nice and warm, the pools themselves were spotless and there was plenty of staff around at all times making sure everything operated as it should. 

We spent over an hour splashing around and helping Ophelia work on her swimming techniques, she had a blast.

Getting changed post swimming is usually my least favourite part but again, everything was clean, tidy, spacious and well laid out. I used the hair dryers and put on my make-up for the day in peace. (they could do with a few extra plugs at these stations if people want to bring in hair straighteners etc…)

Next up was the American diner and soft play as after all that splashing around we were hungry! The soft play was clean, well looked after and great for a wide range of kids. Can’t say I got in it myself as crawling after my kid in a soft play are days I have left long behind me now but we hardly saw Ophelia (always the sign of a good soft play) and she said it was great. 

The soft play and bowling alley are situated in the same room as the American-style diner. The red and white retro booths scream Grease is the word and I LOVE it. You just can’t beat an American diner aesthetic. You can choose from burgers, pizza, toasties or chips along with slushies, coffee and even have a cheeky beer if you so wish.

The only thing I will say is that there isn’t a great deal to choose from if you are veggie and if you’re vegan then the only real food option available is chips (something to make a note of if you do follow a certain diet) but as a veggie myself, I was super happy with a cheese toastie and a flat white. 

After all of that, our 4 hours were up but this is 100% somewhere we will come back to and explore the trampoline park and bowling alley. A great asset and somewhere to spend the morning or afternoon (and then do what we did and spend the rest of the day in Bath itself) as it’s just so close.

It’s great to see a traditional leisure centre offer such a wide range of activities to suit literally every single age and taste. Long gone are the days you have to be a hardcore swimmer or gym goer to fit in. Pop along for a bounce, a yoga session, a leisurely swim or to work on your bowling technique.

Thanks for having us Better Bath, what a great addition you bring to Bath City Centre!

To find out more or to book please visit their website here.

Written by Laura Bennett