Leisure centres in Exeter are one of the most talked about topics in the city.

And for Exeter Swimming club, perhaps the city’s most popular sport, its hundreds of members have found taking part challenging over the past few years.

Exeter-born Liam Tancock is one of many successful stories from the club, who admit the past few months and years have been a struggle because of the lack of swimming facilities in Devon’s capital.

The club regularly use the facilities at Middlemoor, the headquarters of Devon and Cornwall Police, but still have to travel out of Exeter for other opportunities to use pools.

Jo John, head of Exeter Swimming club

The pool at Riverside Leisure Centre is still closed two years on from the devastating fire, which leaves Exeter's main pools at Northbrook and the Pyramids.

Public consultation will take place this summer over plans to transform the future of leisure and play facilities.

The plans could see a new community sports village built at Exeter Arena which would include a new leisure centre, a swimming pool, and a virtual ski centre and a new community health and wellbeing centre which replace the existing Wonford sports and community centres.

Video Loading

But Northbrook swimming pool, as well as the Northbrook Approach Golf Course, are both proposed to close.

Jo John, Head Coach at Exeter Swimming Club, told Devon Live of her frustrations at the lack of swimming facilities in the city, and the proposed sports village is something that they would welcome.

Exeter School swimming pool
Exeter School swimming pool

She said: “A centre of excellence arena is what we have been driving for, which is where you can have all the sports in one area, somewhere where you have enough land to have this which prevents families to travel around the city.

“To me, that’s how we should be looking at it. That’s a really good forward looking view and we would support that.”

Exeter does not currently have a 50m Olympic sized pool, which is crucial in developing swimmers, and Jo explains that swimmers in Exeter have to travel to Tavistock, Plymouth, and even out of Devon to have access to these pools.

“We use the Mount Kelly pool and another in Plymouth,” she said.

“We go there every Sunday evening but it is not enough.

Liam Tancock, a former member of Exeter Swimming Club

“We are the second biggest county in the country, but from January until August, all of our racing and training should be done in a 50m pool. But we don’t enter Devon county competitions because of it.

“We are really struggling on a day to day basis. We’ve got over 500 members trying to squeeze that in when our top swimmers need at least 18 hours a week.”

Jo praised Middlemoor for allowing the club to use their facilities, and says without them, the club would not be around anymore.

She added: “We are very, very fortunate that we have a good relationship with Middlemoor.

Video Loading

“We wouldn’t have a swimming club if it wasn’t for them.”

Swimming in Exeter is one of the most popular sports in the city, and a recent tournament saw more than 700 travel to Millfield School in Street, where they have a 50m pool.

Jo questioned how viable the planned St Sidwell’s Point, which would have a new 25m, eight-lane pool inside, would be.

“There is not a pool in Exeter that can be used for competition,” she said.

“We are meant to be the capital of Devon.

Video Loading

“The new pool will be really difficult for us to access it. Traffic in Exeter is not great.

“It is actually cheaper for me to have membership at David Lloyd and not go into city centre."

Jo said the lack of swimming pools in Exeter is a big worry, especially for children.

She said: “There is a big health agenda to get people active. Not just swimming, but sport in general, what it does for children, the life skills it provides.

“We took 34 swimmers to PortAventura, with children between 11 and 18 and it was great. They all worked with each other.

“It’s a set of life skills the majority of children in this country don’t have.”