Burnley Leisure to close its sports and cultural facilities tomorrow

Burnley's St Peter's Leisure Centre, the Burnley Mechanics Theatre, Padiham Leisure Centre and Prairie Sports Village will all close tomorrow due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
Burnley MechanicsBurnley Mechanics
Burnley Mechanics

Mr Anthony Preston, chairman of Burnley Leisure Group, which runs the facilities, made the announcement this evening.

He said: "In this emerging situation we have tried to continue to operate as near to normal as possible with extra measures in place to protect the public and staff the best we can.

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"With the imminent closure of schools and colleges we feel now is the time to act and ensure we are supporting our Borough and the rest of the country in encouraging social distancing to get Covid 19 under control.

"We will be working towards a full closure of all Burnley Leisure facilities by 1pm on Friday March 20th. These facilities are St Peter’s Leisure Centre, Padiham Leisure Centre, Prairie Sports Village and Burnley Mechanics Theatre.

"This closure will include our entire bar and bistro facilities in these venues. However Towneley Golf Course will remain open, but the shop will be limited to four customers at a time for booking to assist with social distancing advice; Towneley Bistro 197 will close to the public from Monday March 23rd.

"We are receiving many queries about bookings and activities. Please bear with us as we respond because we have several staff self-isolating or in the ‘at-risk’ category.

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"Burnley Leisure is a not-for-profit charity with deep commitments to the health, wellbeing, sport, social and cultural life of the whole community, young and old. Our range of venues and services are central to the lives of thousands of people. Together, we all contribute to the deep civic pride and community spirit of the borough of Burnley.

"We therefore ask for your continued support so we can continue our wide range of important community work in future, ensure we retain our dedicated staff and have our fantastic facilities ready to open as soon as possible. We appreciate your support and generosity at this challenging time.

Mr Preston went on to say that anyone who is a gym member will have their fees reduced by 50% from April. If you have trampolining courses or swimming lessons you will be credited and booked onto future courses.

Direct debit and annual memberships can also be frozen, while any other clubs who use our facilities will be contacted directly to discuss their bookings.

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All shows at the Mechanics for March and April have been re-scheduled. If you have a ticket for a performance during this period, Burnley Leisure will be in touch with you in due course; and will then review for shows in May and June.

He added: "We are retaining our staff to ensure they still get some income during our closure. Staff will still be working hard in cleaning, training and delivering a programme of online content, outreach work and advice.

"We are creating printed survival guides for the elderly who are self-isolating and we be mailed out or delivered to our at risk groups in the community. Our staff will keep in contact in coming weeks through You Tube , Facebook , Twitter and email. We will work the best we possibly can in this situation.

"We have a timetable of outdoor work-outs planned but it is unclear if we will be allowed to deliver these updates will be sent out via our website and social media. We have been giving out free skipping ropes that people can use at home and will be posting some online workouts to support this. #skip2keepfit

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"We have gained access to over 90 free Les Mills online workouts for all our group fitness users.

"Burnley Leisure staff have made ourselves available with our vehicles to support Burnley Council and local voluntary groups caring for the community. We are working with local schools to provide a free holiday club to children of key workers, NHS staff and 999 workers during the school holidays.

"We ask that you support us during this difficult time and be patient with any questions you have. We are working hard to support the whole community whilst also ensuring our staff and facilities are 100 per cent ready to open as soon as it’s safe to do so."

Any booking query can be emailed to [email protected]. You can also access information and links to our online work-outs and support via the website www.burnleyleisure.co.uk

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