West Kirby Concourse and Guinea Gap Leisure Centre are set to open following the government’s announcement that gyms and other leisure facilities can reopen across the Liverpool City Region.

Both the gym and the pool at West Kirby Concourse will reopen this Saturday 24 October from 9am, with exercise classes returning from Monday 26 October.

The gym at Guinea Gap Leisure Centre will reopen on Saturday 24 October from 9am, with the pool following close behind – opening from 7.30am on Monday 26 October.

The competition pool at Europa Pools will welcome back swimmers from Thursday 29 October. However, the gym and fun pool will remain closed for now.

Leader of the Council, Janette Williamson said: “I’m really pleased that we are now in a position to begin to re-open our leisure centres, for the health and wellbeing of our residents. Although we cannot reopen all of our facilities just yet as we would like to, we are now able to provide a wide variety of activities again to suit all needs. All I ask is users follow the safety guidance on the Wirral Leisure website so everyone in Wirral can continue to enjoy our fantastic facilities. Our leisure staff cannot wait to welcome you back!”

The Oval and Leasowe Leisure Centres will remain closed for the foreseeable future as the buildings continue to provide essential support to the COVID response, both now and over winter.

All other indoor, council-owned leisure and sports centres in Wirral, including Woodchurch Leisure Centre and the Wirral Tennis and Sports Centre, will remain closed until further notice.

Golf courses, Outdoor exercise classes, West Kirby Marine Lake and the outdoor football pitches at Leasowe Leisure Centre, Bidston Tennis Centre and Guinea Gap all remain open as before.

Strict safety measures have been put in place to keep swimmers and gym-goers as safe as possible and detailed guidance is available here. Users must read this guidance in full before arriving for their session.

Anyone wishing to use the gyms and swimming pools will be able to book and pay for a session online, or by calling 0151 606 2010 from 2.30pm today (23 October). Pre booking a session before arriving at the centre is essential. This is to make sure the number of people using the facilities remain at safe levels. Phone lines are open Mon-Fri, 9am – 5pm.

A reduced swimming programme will be published online today ahead of reopening on Saturday.

As with other leisure services such as Golf and outdoor exercise classes, Invigor8 memberships can be reinstated on request by emailing bookingsandinformation@wirral.gov.uk – however, memberships may take 3-5 working days to reinstate depending on demand but are usually completed much quicker. Casual sessions will be available to everyone and will also need to be booked and paid for online or by phone.