Impressive Leighton Leisure and Community Centre tops out
Tuesday, 1 July 2025
Work is underway on a superb new leisure and community centre in Leighton Buzzard where residents will enjoy modern sports, fitness, and community facilities.
The community and leisure complex is on track to open next summer (2026) and includes many high-quality amenities. This represents an investment in the town by Central Bedfordshire Council in excess of £30 million.
This large site will create modern facilities, there will be increased capacity to cater for a range of swimming options for all age groups either in the eight-lane, 25-metre swimming pool complete with spectator seating, the 17 metre by 10-metre learner pool with a movable floor to adjust depth for swimming lessons and the separate, shallow pool, called a ‘confidence water’ for very young children.
The substantial 150-station state-of-the-art fitness suite will offer a huge new gym, in addition there will be two squash courts, a dedicated spinning bikes studio and two multi-use exercise studios for a variety of classes and activities.
Community and support spaces include:
- a large café, open to both centre users and the public
- flexible community spaces
- two Changing Places facilities for disabled visitors
- serving hatch from the café to the exterior, to serve users of the outdoor pitches
- changing facilities for people using the adjacent outdoor sports pitches
Councillor Steve Watkins, our Executive Member for Leisure, said:
It’s great that work is underway on this new community and leisure centre - which will provide up to the date leisure facilities for the surrounding area. The Leighton Leisure and Community Centre will be yet another great addition to our already brilliant leisure offering across Central Bedfordshire, and I look forward to attending the opening next year
The existing sports hall and squash courts at the Tiddenfoot site are integral to Cedars Upper School and have serviced the school and the community for many years. Once the new leisure centre is open, these facilities will remain open and available for residents to use and enjoy.
The existing Tiddenfoot Leisure Centre will also remain open until the new centre is complete to ensure residents have continuous access to leisure facilities.