Golden Lane Sports and Fitness Centre is closing on 30 April 2026 – and it should not be.
When Fusion Lifestyle, the charity that operated our leisure centre, entered administration on 1 April 2026, councils across England moved quickly to protect their communities.
Lambeth Council saved Brockwell Lido within hours. Councils in Somerset, Devon, Leicestershire, and Kent all kept their facilities open during the transition period.
Golden Lane is the only Fusion Lifestyle site in the entire country set to close.
The City of London Corporation – which manages one of the largest local authority endowment funds in the UK, estimated at over £2 billion – chose not to act.
Its explanation? That the building’s condition and the proximity of planned renovation works in December 2026 made a “financially viable alternative” impossible.
We reject this explanation.
December 2026 is eight months away. Other councils found solutions in 24 hours.
Lambeth – one of London’s most financially stretched boroughs – stepped in overnight using its own resources. The City of London Corporation, one of the wealthiest local authorities in the world, says it could not find a way.
This is not a resource problem. It is a priorities problem.
WHO THIS AFFECTS
Golden Lane Sports and Fitness Centre serves hundreds of residents every week — including elderly residents for whom swimming and exercise classes are essential to their health and independence, disabled users, children and young people, and residents for whom this centre is their only accessible facility for physical activity.No consultation was held before the closure was announced. No alternative provision has been ordered. Residents were simply informed that their community leisure centre would shut.
Staff who worked at the centre have also lost their jobs — people who served this community, dismissed without any apparent attempt by the City to find a bridge arrangement that would have kept them employed.
THE RENOVATION QUESTION
The City says renovation works are planned for December 2026. But residents have received no:
- Guaranteed start date for renovation works
- Confirmed completion date
- Commitment that the centre will reopen at all
- Detail on what standard of facility will be provided
Without these guarantees in writing, residents face the prospect of losing their leisure centre not just for months, but potentially for years — with no accountability and no remedy.
WHAT WE ARE DEMANDING
We call on Judith Finlay, Simon Cribbens, and the Community and Children’s Services Committee of the City of London Corporation to:
- Urgently explore all options to keep the centre open on an interim basis before 30 April — including community-led, trust-based, or directly managed operation
- Publish the full timeline of decision-making: when the City knew Fusion was in difficulty, what alternatives were explored, and who made the final call to close
- Confirm in writing the guaranteed start and completion dates for renovation works
- Commit in writing that the leisure centre will reopen after renovation, and to what standard
- Provide interim alternative leisure provision for residents for the duration of any closure
- Hold a public meeting with Golden Lane Estate residents within 14 days
WHY YOUR SIGNATURE MATTERS
The City of London Corporation is sensitive to its public reputation. A strong, visible petition – signed by residents, neighbours, workers, and Londoners who believe community leisure provision matters sends an unambiguous message that this decision will not pass quietly.Every other council in England found a way to protect its community. We are asking the City of London Corporation to do the same.
SAVE GOLDEN LANE LEISURE CENTRE, Golden Lane Estate, EC1
ATTENTION OF:
Judith Finlay, Executive Director, City of London Corporation
AND:
Community and Childrens Services Committee, City of London
