Better - Link Centre Omdömen 62

Manager ashley giles needs to leave he keeps cancling the sessions
He has no experience

Excellent experience

I big shout out to Dan . He’s is doing teaching swimming with children with disabilities. He is very patient and always looks after the children kindly with respect. My child enjoys swimming

My son not impressed much and he has a slow progress. He has been awarded 10 meters swim three times. Last one was 5meters sent on email but 10meters on the swimming ground. I believe they can do better!

hard to book - advertise classes and facilities which they then don't have in the booking system. helpful customer service about membership but not day to day enquiries. Also generally much poorer access to swimming etc than before they took over. Pay as you go probably better to use than memberships

Great service and a really friendly atmosphere. Jackie was especially helpful and made the whole experience even better. Highly recommend!

We arrived this morning to go ice skating, and for the second time we've been sitting in the car (and that's three hours) waiting for the next public skating session because the ice is terrible! When I complained, they said it was too expensive to fix it! It takes 30-40 minutes to get there, so getting home is expensive and inconvenient. I leave a lot of errands, but it's nothing compared to the center's costs (a hundred pounds to fix the ice). They're trying to save money or make money off of visitors, and this isn't the first time I've seen terrible service in Swindon city center (not just on the ice). It doesn't live up to the hype of "feel good."

I had a terrible terrible first experience!! My toddler was disappointed because we didn’t get to swim last Saturday, even though I paid for the class. Apparently we were supposed to arrive at the pool side 10mins before our scheduled time. As once the tutor comes to collect the kids, no matter what you say, no one else enters the pool. We didn’t know this. What an annoying experience. My toddler was looking forward to this day and she was so sad. We just sat there watching the other kids swim till the end. I asked if we could be credited for this class since she couldn’t swim, and nothing has been done to that effect up till now. I felt so sad and disappointed with this service, I deeply regretted that I already paid for a month’s worth of classes.

Monday was our first time. Your info was she needed a hat so before class I went and got her a silicon one. We turn up, there was no one to receive us. A sign says no shoes pool side and all the parents walked poolside in their shoes to sit and watch. I asked what happens and a parent told me that the kids sit on the front bench, parents behind. On time a green t-shirted person went down clearly taking a register. All of the kids except Darcy had already selected armfloats and put them on. Darcy stood out as the new kid. After register they all got in the water except Darcy was was engaged with the instructor who got her a red hat put it on her and arm floats then told her to get in the water which she did and the instructor walked away.. It was very noisy, she knew no one a lot of children were in a small pen,great for 7-8 but not for 20. She found it all cold very splashy, noisy and apparently chaotic. For several minutes this continued and a confident tall 4 ye old was reduced to tears and wanting to get out. Fortunately eventually the instructor noticed, called over an instructor in the pool, from another pen. She rescued a situation thank goodness and my granddaughter with 6 others moved to the adjacent pen and Darcy did what she was told and was able to do as asked and finally enjoy it. As the lesson went on she was clearly enjoying herself.
However, if there were showers I didn't find them. I was very surprised by outdoor shoes, mine and every other adult walking through poolside. My most recent experience with enrolling grandchildren in swimming lessons aged rising 4 was very different in High,Wycombe pool. Organisation wise,hygiene wise and noise wise. This was not a good start had she been a nervous child and I really hope things improve because otherwise I shall have to move her not just pools but managing companies too.
This could have really made her think swimming was never going to be her thing. I speak as someone who as a school kid swam for London and who loved the freedom swimming allowed me.
I really hope things look up from this first experience in the Link Centre pool.

Friendly Helpful from the day that he started

Beginner ice skating lessons. I think the kids that can't skate at all need a bit more help to get off the wall. There are so many kids in the class with one coach that the ones that are really struggling end up hanging on the wall for the entire lesson. Please consider having a class for kids that have never skated before where coaches can hold their hands and give more assistance to gain more confidence. We took our daughter to the ice rink in the week to skate with her, helped to hold her up and build that initial foundation to try and get her confidence up for the beginner ice skating lessons and this helped a lot.

I feel the swimming classes should be around 45 minutes. Thirty minutes seems a bit short, as by the time the children get into the pool and feel comfortable in the water, it’s already time for them to get out.

Really grateful that we have these facilities so close to home. The people that run them do a brilliant job!

Management unquilfied
Rude sexist discriminating
Hates women working
Ashley giles and diane miller need to leave

Avoid this gym at all costs. What should be a place for wellness has become an exercise in frustration and discomfort due to management's utter neglect.

The most glaring issue is the complete failure of the climate control system, which has been broken for over a month. The gym is freezing. We are not talking "a little chilly"; it is genuinely cold enough to be unsafe for proper muscle function and a health risk. Working out in a winter coat is not what anyone signs up for.

Compounding this Arctic experience is their reckless disregard for security and basic insulation. Despite countless complaints from members, the external doors are constantly left propped open or broken, letting in blasts of cold air. They have single-handedly made the broken heating problem worse and created a massive security flaw. Telling staff does nothing—it's clearly a policy of indifference.

Unsurprisingly, this culture of neglect extends to the locker rooms and showers, which are never consistently clean. Moldy grout, clogged drains, and a general lack of sanitation are the norm.

The bottom line: Management is collecting full membership fees while providing a sub-standard, unsafe, and frankly miserable service. They have shown they do not care about member safety, comfort, or basic hygiene.

Save yourself the trouble and the shivers—look elsewhere.

Inclusivity, welfare and experiencing new things: it was one of the best days of my life

I have rung the Link Centre number now Better's generic number it seems. there is no ability to talk to a person. I sent a query to the website asking how to upload my eligibility document and fort the same advice as before i.e. go to manage my membership webpage. There is no option to upload that.

I think I had this problem before adn can't remember what happened. Certainly sometimes the staff at the Link find they cannot help either although they are generally very helpful.

Considering membership provides you with cash this wilful stupidity in not havingn option to talk to someone seems incomprehensible

The staff were very welcoming and all seem to enjoy their work.
Also were very kind to circulate the news my wife who had been going tobthe link swimming for a long time had passed away.
Rgds peter

On his first swimming session on 12 Oct'25, a swimming cap was not provided to my kid saying that they were in short supply. However, another kid who arrived later than mine was provided the same, which indicated preferential treatment. The showers were also not functional at the Link Centre, Swindon on 12 Oct'25.