Damaged Bangor Aurora gym to reopen tomorrow and swimming pool soon, after Storm Eowyn ripped roof off £38m leisure centre - but questions remain over facility's sports hall

Ards and North Down Council, which owns the building, today said that the centre’s gym and spin studio will be in action as normal.

And they hope its Olympic-sized swimming pool will reopen soon.

The pool and gym largely avoided damage, said officials.

But it’s a different story for the centre’s sports hall, which suffered the brunt of Storm Eowyn and will need a repair job.

It’s not the first time Aurora’s roof has been seriously damaged by high wind, as the same thing happened during Storm Arwen late in 2021.

Back then, part of the swimming pool was shut for a considerable period until repairs were carried out, but the sports hall was largely unscathed.

Last week’s storm ripped off an original section of the roof, but the part repaired after Arwen stayed intact.

Neither the council nor the leisure centre’s operators, Serco, would confirm how much repairs will cost or how long they’re likely to take.

A council spokesman told the News Letter that “remedial costs and repair timelines” are “to be agreed”, but didn’t answer questions on who would foot the bill for fixing Aurora.

Chris Kelly from Serco said: “We are continuing to carry out safety checks, but hope to be able to update customers with positive news regarding the reopening of certain parts of the centre by the middle of this week.”

The council spokesman said: “We understand that this is frustrating for all users of Bangor Aurora, but council officers, [Serco] and contractors are doing everything they can to ensure it reopens as soon as possible without compromising safety.”

The spokesman added that in the meantime, leisure centre members can use gyms at Bangor Sportsplex and Queen’s Leisure Complex in Holywood – both facilities that, like Aurora, are owned by the council but run by Serco.

They can also use a Newtownards swimming pool and Comber gym that are directly owned and run by the council.