Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has sealed a deal with social enterprise Places Leisure to build and run what it calls the biggest leisure investment the borough has seen for decades. The flagship water and leisure destination on Basingstoke Leisure Park will replace the existing Aquadrome.
The new complex packs a 25-metre eight-lane competition pool, a 20-metre four-lane teaching pool, and leisure waters with flumes. A 150-station gym, three group exercise studios, a cycling studio, indoor Clip and Climb, party rooms, and a café fill out the dry-side offer. Council documents also confirm a luxury health suite, Reformer Pilates studio, and padel courts are being explored as extras.
The facility will rise on a central plot next to Buzz Bingo, which keeps the current Aquadrome open throughout construction. The existing building has stood since July 2002, replacing a 1970s outdoor lido complex, and has been run for 24 years by the Basingstoke and Deane Community Leisure Trust alongside Serco. From 1 January 2027, Places Leisure takes over operations of the Aquadrome, Basingstoke Golf Centre, and Tadley Health and Fitness Centre, ensuring a smooth handover without service interruptions.
A planning application is due in autumn 2026, and subject to consent the doors could open in 2029. The project follows a 2022 public consultation in which residents called for upgraded facilities, more open space, and free activities. A masterplan adopted in 2023 set out the wider vision, preserving the ice rink, Milestones Museum, cinema, bingo, and bowling while bringing fresh attractions to land developed mainly in the 1980s and 1990s.
Cabinet Member for Major Projects and Business Engagement, Cllr Onnalee Cubitt, described the contract as a milestone that marks the beginning of a new era for leisure, health and wellbeing in Basingstoke, one that will redefine leisure in North Hampshire. The leisure park overhaul also includes separate proposals from Great Wolf Resorts for an indoor water park resort at the golf centre site.
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