Save Oasis Swindon

Save Oasis Swindon Join the fight back to save Swindon's jewel in the crown! The official Save the Oasis Leisure Centre Facebook group. Dome and Pool saved.

Music Hall at risk of being demolished/not rebuilt. Current 2025 petition please sign: https://tinyurl.com/45xsenf5 Our website: https://www.saveoasisswindon.co.uk/

The Oasis Leisure Centre closed in November 2020, after GLL surrendered their lease of the building. Since its closure, the building has sat in an idle limbo and its future left in doubt. A vital asset for Swindon
The Oasis is a vital

ly important asset for our town. One that we cannot afford to lose. It’s so much more than a fun swimming pool. It’s served Swindon well as a music and events venue as you’ll see from the photographs and posters by Swindon artist, Ken White that you’ll see on this site. It is also famous for inspiring the britpop band Oasis, who took their name from the Centre. Further, it looms large in Swindon’s tourist offering. Surely an architecturally important and culturally significant facility like this should be integral to Swindon’s offering as a place where you’d want to live, play, work and do business? Why does the Oasis matter? There are many reasons why the Oasis matters and why we should preserve it. Those reasons range from architectural to environmental with cultural history and accessibility in the mix too. Here on Swindon Viewpoint, Born Again Swindonian (aka Angela Atkinson) speaks about that. The Oasis represents many aspects about a period in Britain when Swindon became a key player in providing overspill space for London. These new communities formed attractive prospects for families. The Oasis opened in 1976, located between the 50s/60s expansion to the east of the town and the 70s/80s expansion to the west. Its architectural significance is huge and in this article for the Architect’s Journal, architect Robert Guy explains why. Further, the 20th Century Society placed the Oasis on their 2021 buildings at risk list.

‘ … It is the last major work of architectural partnership of Gillinson Barnett and Partners (GBP), where Peter Sargent and Clifford Barnett were senior partners, the pre-eminent designers of leisure centres during this period. At Swindon a large free form pool was enclosed by a 45-metre dome (the largest of its type in Europe) composed of an aluminium frame with transparent PVC panels. The RIBA Guides to Modern Architecture described it as a ‘fantasy structure, its half-submerged dome resembling a flying-saucer.’

The Oasis is separated into a ‘wet side’, containing leisure pools and extensive waterslides, and ‘dry side’ for sports and recreation activities, the two being connected by the changing rooms, entrance hall and restaurant. In Nov 2020, it was announced the centre would not reopen after the lockdown ended, raising concerns about its future. Since then new plans were revealed by the developers SevenCapital to ‘revive’ the centre, which included demolition of the dome. Supporting the passionate efforts of the local campaign group Save Oasis Swindon (SOS), C20 moved to protect the building with a listing application.’ The grade II listing was a success in 2021, thanks to SOS research and pressure. In April 2022, our Campaign received a Pride of Swindon Award. In Sept 2022, Swindon Borough Council planned an outrageous attempt to "de-list" the Oasis. In Oct 2022, Seven Capital put in a planning application to restore the existing dome structure. This was approved in Jan 2023.

30/08/2026
through the years. Oasis Leisure Centre clip by Swindon Cable Television New planning applications are coming soon. We...
30/08/2026

through the years. Oasis Leisure Centre clip by Swindon Cable Television

New planning applications are coming soon. We may have been quiet for the Summer holiday, but we haven't gone anywhere as a campaign group!

Growing up in Swindon meant you probably visited the Oasis Leisure ...

04/08/2026

On BBC Radio 1 just now they pretended to have Liam Gallagher on the line discuss buying Swindon Oasis 🤣

04/08/2026

Some further great media coverage on the Oasis just now on BBC Radio One. Get the Oasis reopened!

Presenter Jamie Laing said "Let's make Swindon great again!" They also suggested to have BBC Radio One Big Weekend there. Lots of messages to the show too.

04/08/2026

Swindon Oasis just mentioned on BBC Radio One again. They said they will talk about it in a few mins. Tune in now.

01/08/2026

BBC Radio One coverage this week.

31/07/2026

This letter has been sent to the Adver today by Chic Carvell, former Oasis activities Manager:
What has happened and continues to happen to the Oasis Leisure Centre amounts to political and commercial vandalism. My role when I was appointed as Activities/Deputy Manager was to organise the opening day on the 1 January 1976. The queues of people who wanted to see and get the feel of what was on offer at this iconic Sport & Leisure Centre, flowed in throughout the day. Some 23,000 were estimated to have come to watch a variety of sports and water activities that local sport groups provided.

In the six years I worked at the Oasis, it attracted major national sport events, entertainment from many stars as well as constant use of the renowned leisure pool.

It saddens as well as angers me to see our iconic leisure facility, one that the Borough of Swindon was proud of, being left to drift into such a dreadful state of disrepair. When it was built the population of Swindon was around 120,000 and within its fourth year of operation it had recorded its one millionth visitor. The population of Swindon is now around 250,000 and still growing. Who in their right mind does not recognise that whatever it takes, Swindon and the surrounding communities need a like for like Centre to be built again.

Whilst the pool is a great attraction, not including indoor facilities that cater for a variety of sports in a modern leisure complex, shows a complete lack of understanding of the benefits they would provide the community of Swindon. Saving the Dome structure by the “Save the Oasis” Group ensures that the leisure pool, with all its fun water attractions also provides a facility for those who swim for enjoyment to enhance their physical and mental well-being. There are also many parents and grandparents who will have fond memories of using the Oasis to develop key life skills with their families. This is no longer available to further inspire future generations. The Oasis is more than just the Dome, it’s the squash courts, the gym, the muti-purpose sports hall, which together help develop social interactions within the community.

What matters now is that the Councilors of Swindon and MPs get their act together, put politics aside and produce a plan with Seven Capital on how to properly finance the design of a multi-purpose sport and leisure centre that would cater for an ever-increasing sport minded population. Look at the explosion of Pickle Ball and Padel Tennis in racquet sports as well as Squash in the Olympics driving a renewed interest and participation in the game.

Imagine what a 4-court hall would provide the Swindon community. An adaptable space for different sport activities being played at the same time; a concert hall that would seat an audience of 2-3,000, as well as a sports hall capable of staging national sporting events. The Sobell Sports Centre in Islington is a perfect example of such a facility and still going strong since 1973.

The Oasis was built as a community leisure facility run by the Council and managed by an integrated Arts & Recreation Department. The Oasis was operated by a professional management team supported by a dedicated and efficient staff. It matters that the new Oasis is designed to cater for all the sporting needs that the growing town of Swindon requires. Knocking down the dry side of the complex and replacing it with 2 football pitches is a dereliction of duty by the Council and Seven Capital and a sad indication of the lack of understanding about how a fully redesigned leisure centre will have such a positive impact on the health and well-being of our community. Invest to progress.

Chic Carvell

Activities Manager – Oasis Leisure Centre – 1st January 1976 to March 1982

Please contact Council Leader Cllr Gary Sumner with your own letters asap.

We found the video clip of new SBC Leader Gary Sumner discussing the Oasis this week during a Council meeting earlier th...
30/07/2026

We found the video clip of new SBC Leader Gary Sumner discussing the Oasis this week during a Council meeting earlier this week. (Starts roughly 45.30 mins in).

He said that he has met Seven Capital. He claims things have moved on in the last few weeks and days, without any detail on that. So there might be another planning application soon.

He says there will still be a refurbished Oasis before anything else is built on the site. But because permission has been given to demolish and not rebuild the dry side, people won't be happy. Gary then moaned about the costs of the listing (similar attitude to Renard) and that if it hadn't been listed, the new shiny centre would have been opened by now..... absolute rubbish. Seven Capital originally wanted the whole Oasis site gone for warehouses, (The Managing Director admitted this to me face to face). The fact is, the listing saved the Oasis - the pool as well as dome.

The Oasis pool and dome were listed as it is the last pool of its type left in UK. Rather than moan about it, let's celebrate our heritage and look forward to a restored and refurbed Oasis. Swindon has many iconic listed buildings.

It sounds like Seven Capital will resubmit a revised housing plan for the Oasis site, and the hall won't be rebuilt. They concluded the meeting by saying the Oasis is a hot potato. That it certainly is, until it is back in our life, full of water and open again.

Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee - 29th July 2026

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