Woolwich Waterfront leisure centre to be demolished next month
Image: Looking into the now empty smimming pools and slide
The Waterfront leisure centre in Woolwich is set to be demolished in October according to signs on the building.
It was replaced by Woolwich Waves which opened at the very start of the year with Greenwich Council opting to sell the land. In fact, the old centre closed on the very last day of 2025.
The application to demolish was made back in May.
Waterfront dates from 1988 and saw a 1990s extension on the Thames-side frontage. This housed a bar, café and was an area where membership sign-ups were undertaken in the 2000s. They did for me, anyway,
Perhaps it wasn’t a great success as it wasn’t really used in the years leading up to its overall closure.
The centre’s former car park was around 15 years ago to Berkeley Homes, and now houses towers which still aren’t fully complete after all that time.
A sizable lay-by outside is now complete. With the Waterfront being sold that’s four large areas sold by the authority with Callis Yard and Riverside House over the road, and the car park site before the centre itself.
Development
The Waterfront site will see towers according to the local authority’s draft Local Plan. It lists the site as being suitable for 310 homes.
Hopefully redevelopment will once again open up views of the river from Hare Street, as well as bring the Woolwich foot tunnel back into prominence.
Waterfront centre surrounds the Victorian structure and hampers direct access from the town centre as once exited via Nile Street and then Ferry Approach.
With ever more homes and transport options on either side of the river improved access is a must.
Woolwich of course now has many more options and local homes compared to the late 1980s, while over the river cranes can now be seen rising in order to assist the construction of hundreds more homes on part of the former North Woolwich station. The SL2 route also begins at that point offering a limited stop route to various town centre, railway and tube stations across east London.
With either side of the Thames growing in population and transport, the foot tunnel should become more a feature south of the river once more.
When taking photos of the area in advance of demolition you can’t miss out of the famous slide which briefly left the main building.
Generations of kids have enjoyed – and been slightly terrified – of it for nearing 40 years. The wave machine was top notch too.
So thanks to the Waterfront and those who designed and operated the centre for years. many people have a lot of fond memories of the place.
Still, onwards and upwards. Let’s see what arrives in years to come.
What a waste. A perfectly good and relatively new leisure centre building in a central location being knocked down because the council basically decided, just for the sake of it, that it would rather have the leisure centre located down the road instead. At a time when we’re becoming increasingly aware of the need to conserve and of the environmental cost of putting up buildings. This is the kind of decision that makes me despair of Greenwich Labour Group.
Not just for the sake of it, Simon. The developers wanted that prime riverside location, and our local Labour party are obligingly giving it to them. I wonder what they got for it.
I think was time to move the centre and knock the building down. The building is not the same as any commercial or residential building, it is dependent on complex mechanical filtration systems which were end of life and would have cost more to replace and refit in an old structure than to build new as outlined in multiple reports at the time. The building regularly also suffered from mould and leaks and I dread to think how much the heating was for such a poorly insulated building.
Whilst from the outside it seems a shame to knock it down and there’s some great memories attached to it, long-term it makes more sense to rebuild (and Woolwich Waves is an excellent facility) and if built right will be great to reconnect Hare Street with the historic river connection.
The key will be to build quickly rather than have another council site like so many others vacant for a few decades. For such a well-connected area it’s crazy everything seems to take so long to build.
My concern is the site blocking the rider path when the demolish and several years late service to build in its place.
There should be laws to maintain public access to critical paths. Near Greenwich the river path has been closed since last year with no pace around getting it reopened after the closure was extended another 6 months
£10k a day to the local library fund would happen any closures
I tend to disagree about transport growing in woolwich: except the arrival of the lizzy and with only 1 side entrance nothing is being done: buses are still allowed to park on the main road – how on earth it is allowed- creating traffic jam, bus services being reduced. Gantry gates should be fitted in the borough and anyone external to it should pay a fee. That will lower the commuter traffic, raise funds to the council for a nice road maintenance.