Five £24m leisure upgrades are open, from Roehampton's new gym to Battersea's padel court. Putney's pool change is paused; Tooting and Balham have no dates.

Five of the upgrades promised in Wandsworth’s £24m leisure centre deal are now open. The latest is a refitted gym at Roehampton Sport and Fitness Centre on the Alton Estate. The council announced it on 3 September, alongside a new gym at Wandle Recreation Centre. (Wandsworth Council)

The largest single piece of the programme has not started. Putney Leisure Centre is due a £9.5m overhaul, and no start date has been published. Its most contested part, a plan to split the 33-metre pool, was paused in June after more than 1,000 people signed a petition.

What the deal promised

Places Leisure has run eight of the borough’s leisure, swimming and sports centres under a new contract since 1 October 2025. The contract runs for at least ten years, with an option of five more.

The council agreed to invest £18.3m and Places Leisure £5.7m, a total of £24m over four years. That window closes in September 2029. (Wandsworth Council, June 2025)

We checked all eight centres against the plans the council published when it signed the deal. The graphic below shows where each one stands.

Table of Wandsworth's eight Places Leisure centres showing five upgrades open and the promised works at Tooting, Balham and Tooting Bec Lido with no dates published
What has opened at each centre, and what the council's June 2025 plans still promise, as of 10 September 2026.

Open now

  • Putney Leisure Centre: a toddler soft play for children up to five, opened on Friday 5 December 2025. (Places Leisure)
  • Latchmere Leisure Centre: a refurbished gym with new Life Fitness cardio machines, Hammer Strength equipment and an EGYM fitness hub, unveiled on 21 January 2026. The council had costed the new fitness suite at £350,000. (Wandsworth Council, January 2026; October 2025)
  • Battersea Sports Centre: a padel court, open since Monday 25 May 2026, with more than 95 bookable slots a week. (Places Leisure)
  • Wandle Recreation Centre: a £1.2m gym and wellbeing suite with 20 stations, opened on Saturday 18 July 2026. (Places Leisure)
  • Roehampton Sport and Fitness Centre: a full fitness suite refit, with new machines, redecoration and better air handling. Places lists new cardio machines with 16-inch touch screens, a bigger free weights area and an EGYM hub. (Places Leisure)

The Wandle gym is the one built for a different kind of user. It has 10 Innerva power-assisted machines and six EGYM smart strength machines, meant for beginners, older residents and people managing injury or long-term illness.

It is also the base for Places Leisure’s referral programmes:

  • exercise referral
  • cardiac rehabilitation
  • neurological rehabilitation
  • cancer prehabilitation and rehabilitation

Still waiting

These are the improvements the council listed in June 2025 that have not yet been announced as started. Neither the council nor Places Leisure has published a date for any of them. (Wandsworth Council, June 2025)

Centre Promised in June 2025
Tooting Leisure Centre Group cycling studio, soft play, community events room and a health suite; work on the reception, café, gym, pool and changing rooms
Balham Leisure Centre Health suite, reformer Pilates studio and group exercise studio; work on the gym, cycling studio, reception, changing rooms and pool
Tooting Bec Lido Splash pad, pool pod and an events programme
Wandle Recreation Centre Four padel courts, new catering and sports hall inflatables
Latchmere Leisure Centre Sports hall inflatables and water play features
Battersea Sports Centre An improved health and fitness suite

Places Leisure says padel courts are the next phase at Wandle.

Putney: a £9.5m plan with no timetable

Places Leisure’s own page for the Putney works puts the investment at £9.5m. It lists:

  • a much larger gym with new equipment, including EGYM smart strength machines
  • a larger group cycling studio, a new reformer Pilates studio and an upgraded main studio
  • an indoor splash pad for children
  • a refreshed café and reception
  • a new changing village with nearly double the cubicles, private showers and a Changing Places facility
  • 11 family changing rooms
  • a new health suite replacing the existing spa

(Places Leisure, Putney Leisure Centre developments)

The page gives no start or finish date.

The pool is where the plan stalled. Places proposed dividing the 33-metre main pool into a 25-metre pool and a separate teaching pool, with work due to begin on 1 July. Swimmers who wanted the full length kept started a petition on 2 June, addressed to the council and Places Leisure. It passed 1,000 signatures two days later. (38 Degrees petition)

The petition’s organisers recorded on 4 June that the work had been halted. They published a statement from the council’s Cabinet Member saying changes “would require further discussion, and we would make sure the community views were fully heard”. Some signers had also objected to moving the sauna and steam rooms.

Places Leisure confirms the pause on its Putney FAQ page. “Following feedback from members and stakeholders, we have agreed with Wandsworth Council to pause the planned pool closure while both parties undertake further engagement,” it says. (Places Leisure, Putney FAQs)

It says any future change to the pool will follow four principles:

  • no reduction in lane swimming sessions
  • more opportunities for community use
  • more swimming lessons
  • greater access for community groups

It does not rule out a shorter pool, and no new closure date has been set.

What it means for you

If you use Roehampton, the gym is open. The centre is at Laverstoke Gardens, off Danesbury Avenue, SW15 4JB. It opens 7am to 10pm on weekdays and 9am to 5pm at weekends. Its soft play is shut for maintenance and reopens on 14 September. (Places Leisure)

Roehampton’s published prices start at:

Membership From, per month
Gym £21
Premium £61
Premium, ages 16 to 18 £29
Premium, ages 19 to 25 £35

Some Wandsworth residents can join free, including foster carers, families receiving free school meals, people on Universal Credit, asylum seekers and care leavers. The council’s Access for All scheme gives discounts of 50 to 100 per cent across the eight centres. (Wandsworth Council, October 2025)

If you swim at Putney, the 33-metre pool is open as normal. Places says anyone on a swimming lesson programme will have their membership frozen automatically if the pool does close in future. Its FAQ page is where a new date will appear first.

If you use Tooting, Balham or the Lido, nothing has been scheduled. The contract gives the council and Places until September 2029 to deliver.

For more ways to spend a weekend in the borough, see our guide to things to do in Wandsworth.

Sources