Cafes at four leisure centres in city to close

THREE more Cardiff leisure centres will have their cafes closed.

We have already reported how the Pentwyn Leisure Centre cafe will close by the end of the year.

Now operator GLL, a charitable social enterprise, has said that three more including Fairwater, Western and Llanishen are all also affected.

Staff have been informed and some have taken redundancy.

A spokesman said: “We are closing four leisure centre cafes across Cardiff following a review of the loss-making catering service. Eleven catering assistants have chosen voluntary redundancy and one has been successfully redeployed.

“We are also offering voluntary redundancy or redeployment to six senior administrators whose roles are no longer needed following restructuring and investment in technology.

“Staff who leave us receive advice and support and we are pleased to say we have made no compulsory redundancies.”

GLL took over control of eight leisure centres in the city after the council admitted it had to look at new ways of saving money.

At the time of the takeover, the council said it would save millions of pounds and ensure that leisure centres in the city stayed open for the next 15 years.

When the first closure, in Pentwyn, was announced, ward councillor Joe Carter called on GLL to sit down with local councillors and consider alternatives.

A GLL spokesman added that the firm is investing £3.4m in facilities and that membership in Cardiff is up 12% since the takeover.