The sauna, steam room and changing rooms at Wavelengths were closed on Wednesday for a long overdue deep clean. Parkwood Leisure are gone, and in their place come Fusion Lifestyles. All council leisure centres, except in Downham and Ladywell, will close at 6.30pm on Friday 14th (tomorrow) for a "smooth handover". It will re-open at 7am Saturday morning.
Fusion Lifestyles will be running Lewisham's leisure facilities for the next 15 years. It is a registered charity and will be paying for the additional facilities to be added to the Wavelengths site (a new gym) now that the library has moved to the new Deptford Lounge. Fusion Lifestyle's facilities usually include a cafe run by Starbucks.
We know one New Yorker living on Crossfields who will be very pleased to hear this news, but the arrival of Starbucks is being met with less enthusiasm on the high street where cafe culture has recently taken an inexplicable upturn, with independent venues popping up all over the place. Wavelengths may see an increase in visitors due to improved facilities and Starbucks are undoubtedly well placed to serve a captive audience throughout the borough, but Wavelengths cafe is unlikely to be a hotspot for high street shoppers.
I do hope that we see some more proactive management at Wavelengths, in particular in the standards of cleanliness. Generally it only improves on prompting, and then only for a short while.
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