Marina Leisure Centre - Great Yarmouth

Dave W.

We made the trip from Norwich to visit as we wanted something a little more than a pool. I was slightly concerned with the previous reviews. But, we decided to go with an open mind.

We were greeted by Emily who said we can do the splash pad, or main pool (due to being busy). We were not sure if our boy would like the splash pad, as he can get a little overwhelmed. Emily was extremely understanding and said we can have a look at the pool from the cafe and if we wanted to go in or not, it isn’t a problem.

We ended up going into the splash pool and had a brilliant time. Cafe was great and the staff was friendly, overheard us asking for a napkin and had a few ready and waiting before I even asked.

Well done Emily and the cafe staff. We will certainly be returning 🙂

S M.

Visited for Aqua play yesterday for my little boys birthday. This could be such a great place, the refurb is amazing but the pools were so cold. We tried to make the best of it as it was my son's birthday, so managed 1 hour 30 but by the end of it his lips had turned blue. The Aqua play area is great but you would expect as it's designed for kids it would be warmer. The kids were shivering within a few minutes and so were the adults. We headed to the middle pool which was much warmer in comparison but after a while we started to feel cold again. Flumes were great fun and it wasn't too badly priced for what is on offer. Unless they warm it up however we won't go again. It almost felt like I was torturing my children instead of taking them somewhere fun, they were that cold!

lee P.

This place is a good example of why councils shouldn’t be let loose on building and running such an establishment.

I visited a couple of years ago after the place was relatively new. It was certainly underwhelming given what was spent on the place, very plain and basic, it’s easy to see this place was built by the lowest bidder.

I returned today with my two children and it’s already evident that the place is starting to get run down. The stairs to the slides have a build up of sediment, it’s evident that these stairs have not seen a pressure washer in months. The glass bannisters on the stairs are all stained with limescale, the pool temperature is far too low and almost half of the hair driers do not work.

Finally, I’d like to raise a safety concern regarding the stairs to the slides. There is a 6-9 inch gap between the stairs and the banister. A child’s leg could quite easily slip down that gap and cause a nasty injury. I’m surprised this hasn’t been addressed since my last visit.

MasonsView A.

Marina centre is really good the swimming pool is really good but cold. The climbing adventure is really nice. The changing rooms are very clean compared to other sports centres. There is also a small water park with a fast and slightly slower slide. Very nice sports centre.

Neil S.

This place is really starting to look bad! It is evident that cleaning isn’t being carried out. The stairs up to the slides have stalactites of human hair hanging off them. The tiles have an orange scum growing on them. It’s not like it’s difficult to remove as it’s easily wiped away as I tried. Same for the changing rooms. Floors encrusted with god knows what. This is the case during quiet or busy periods. I guess as a business you can get away with it when there isn’t any competition!!
Such a shame to let a new building go to ruin due to poor management.

Simone M.

Great place for a swim. Staff are most welcoming, it's just a shame there seems to be a lack of communication, especially when a sudden incident occurs and they have to close the pool. Sadly they fail to notify their customers. Also I feel sorry for the cleaning staff who have to deal with the majority of the general public who don't care a damn about leaving their litter/ dirty nappies for others to pick up.
Oh and doesn't Google know that due to data protection we aren't allowed to take photos 😂

Carly F.

We went as a family here yesterday Sunday 2nd Feb, it was to take our 3 year old to her first swimming pool. Being new I expected great facilities. The spalsjlh pool was fun, but so cold, we could feel cold air conditioning being blow down at us, so daughter was teeth chattering, the water so cold when it splashed on her she got scared of the slide (in summer I can imagine this is great to cool down, bit it sucks when it's the middle of winter)
So we took her to the kids pool, a bit warmer but a meter deep all round, why is there not a gradient, our 3 nearly 4 year old is small and not even a meter tall, she was so scared her feet couldn't touch the bottom, she clung to me and her dad for dear life the entire time, she had a float vest on, but still the fear was there, she kept wanting to just sit on the edge so she was getting cold all the time, when it came to going home she was too scared and cold to move of the ledge.
I took her to the big pool to see her dad and it was freezing!
When I had to take her to the toilet, her first time using a public toilet wiout her travel potty, and it was like I'd just gone out side, it was freezing cold, nothing like being wet and cold and then to go to unheated toilets and change rooms. Considering we paid £9 for each of the 3 adults it wasn't fun at all.
Time to get changed the floor was filthy, the walls were filthy it certainly hadn't been cleaned for days, a place with this turn over should be cleaned on the hour.
And the lockers fair enough a returnable pound, but most of the straps are broken and unusable so we had to use 3 lockers instead of 1 together.

£28 not well spent, the pools are cold, the toilets are cold, the air is cold and the changing rooms and cold and floors are filthy, the free hair dryers are a nice touch, but once again half of them don't work.
Why would they have a kids pool without a gradient it doesn't make sense, the place is new but completely run down.
Oh and the cafe area has a 1 hour queue, the floors and tables are covered in food, and the glass view to the pool is also filthy. How can a business that seems to be raking it in do so poorly on the upkeep? Is it heavily subsidised for residents causelign a lack of investment? Dunno but I doubt I'd be going here again it's run down and disgusting

Suli C.

Lovely set of pools. Appear clean and well maintained.
Main pool, 25 metres long.
£1coin or trolley token for lockers (returned)
Booking for Aqua play. Booking not possible for general swim. Staff are kind and efficient.