The Britannia Leisure Centre is closed today following a fire in its health suite yesterday evening.

When the fire began, there were over 100 people at the Centre, which was successfully evacuated by GLL staff in approximately two minutes. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank both staff at the Centre and the London Fire Brigade for their swift action, which ensured both the safety of Centre users and minimised damage to this important community resource.

I visited Britannia today with officers to assess the situation. The health suite has been gutted by the fire, but the pool, gym, and sports hall remain largely unscathed. However, technicians are on site today to determine the full extent of the damage to the building. Unfortunately, there may have been damage to electrical cables feeding many parts of the Centre, which now need to undergo extensive testing and potentially repair work. This could take several weeks depending on the level of work required but we are absolutely committed to reopening the Centre as soon as it is safe to do so.

All Britannia staff not currently required at the Centre have been offered redeployment to other leisure centres over the short-term and we will put in place measures to ensure Centre workers are not unfairly disadvantaged while Britannia remains closed for repairs.

All Britannia customers can, of course, use any other Council leisure facilities in Hackney while it is closed.