Three leisure centres in Enfield have received top ratings following an independent inspection, highlighting the quality of facilities and services available to residents.
Southgate Leisure Centre has been awarded an “Excellent” rating by Quest, Sport England’s Continuous Improvement Tool for sports and leisure. Southbury and Albany Leisure Centres were awarded “Very Good” ratings. All three operate under the Better brand in Enfield, run by not-for-profit social enterprise GLL.
The Quest assessments included mystery visits and a detailed two-day inspection covering operational and environmental management, customer experience, compliance, inclusivity, accessibility, exercise referral standards and lifeguarding.
The results confirm that the centres are well-managed, welcoming and meeting high standards of service delivery.
The ratings follow significant recent investment in Enfield’s leisure facilities. In 2024, Southgate Leisure Centre had a £787,000 refurbishment and Southbury had an extensive £2.4m renovation, both of which included brand new state-of-the-art gym facilities.
Since the improvements were completed, customer satisfaction has increased and visits across the three centres have grown by more than 46%, with around 100,000 visits each month.
Cllr Sabri Ozaydin, cabinet member for environment and placemaking, said: “Investing in our leisure centres is a key priority for the Council, and we are grateful for the positive feedback from Quest. These ratings show that residents are benefiting from well-run, high-quality facilities. It’s a strong endorsement of the investment made in our leisure centres. We are working hard to improve all leisure facilities across our borough including our parks, outdoor spaces and sports pitches. Congratulations to all the teams at Albany, Southgate and Southbury on this well-deserved recognition.”
Vishal Karia, GLL Partnership Manager, said: “To achieve such excellent ratings in three of our leisure centres is a fantastic tribute to the hard work of our teams at Southgate, Southbury and Albany. As these rating shows, our teams are committed to ensuring exceptionally high standards in every aspect of their service delivery and I heartily congratulate them all.
“Quest is all about continuous improvement and that’s the aim of every Better leisure centre – to keep pushing forward and exceeding expectations."