Pool users pack out final sessions as facility closes despite campaign

DISAPPOINTED campaigners bade a sad farewell to Exeter's Northbrook swimming pool before it shut for the final time last week.

- by ECHO REPORTER

Users of the facility in Beacon Heath had fought unsuccessfully to save the pool from closure after Exeter City Council revealed its intention to hand the lease back to the site owner, Northbrook Trust.

In June, the city council's executive committee took the decision to close it despite appeals by pool users to save it.

Council leader Councillor Phil Bialyk said it boiled down to the "cold, hard facts" that the pool was underused and too expensive to run. The closure will save the council more than half a million pounds as it tries to make up a £3.5 million budget shortfall.