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Angry swimmers are transforming pools after half-eaten food and grimy tiles were seen in a newly renovated recreation center.
Chiefs spent £7. 5 million to modernise Ashford’s Stour centre last year, but visitors say hygiene issues now deter them from going to the premises.
A woman who has been in the pool since the 1970s says she has never noticed her so unhealthy.
Angela Cowland, of Hythe Road, said: “It’s been blank during my visits in the past, but they deserve to hold it with normal whites.
“Cleanliness is the maximum with Covid around.
“The locker room assistants would triumph over that because that’s what we had years ago. They had other permanent people watching over us and the old Ashford pool. “
The 57-year-old, who has fitness issues, says she was discouraged from visiting the site after seeing negative Facebook posts, adding images of a half-eaten croissant and cookies on the floor.
She says that given her medical situation, swimming is the ideal form of exercise for her.
“I have two leaks in my central valve like asthma and diabetes,” Cowland said.
“I can’t train too much because I only have one damaged kidney, but the water helps you stay cool when you do a gentle workout.
“I’m disappointed with what I’ve noticed and can’t wait to hear how they take care of this so it remains fun for the audience. “
Another Ashford resident, Paul Ryan, who worked at the city’s Covid centre on Victoria Road, says he fears thinking about what a bacterial pattern would show.
“Covid is gone,” he said.
“It’s disgusting. If they used a bacterial tampon, I’m afraid of what they would find. “
“It’s been like this for two weeks. “
Ryan says the staff told him there was only one cleaner for the center.
He added: “Sure you would have a team?
“When my other party complained, they sent two rescuers. “
The father takes his daughter to weekly swimming lessons, but now plans to replace the pools.
“I hesitate to take my daughter there,” she said.
“If I have to take him to Hythe or Tenterden, so be it.
The centre, which opened in 1975, underwent a £17 million overhaul in the mid-2000s but was modernised last year.
The most recent renovation saw 115 workers lose their jobs as the site closed for a year.
Despite the reopening of the main pool in July last year, the recreational and learning pools were closed again until the winter, while the paintings continued to fix the defects of the tiles.
In response to hygiene concerns, a spokesperson for Freedom Leisure, which manages the premises on behalf of Ashford City Council, confided to visitors that cleanliness is very important to the company.
“Public health and protection are of the utmost importance to us at the Stour Centre and all the amenities we operate on behalf of Ashford City Council,” he said.
“We are aware of the domain that has been highlighted and continue to work hard to verify that it is blank and in good condition.
“We are also in more permanent responses that will prevent recurrent rust marks on the steel handrails in the pool. “
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