White Oak Leisure Centre

The summer sampling of pools in reach of London continues – today we jumped on a train from Blackfriars and 39 minutes later emerged in the suburb of Swanley. Armed with maps on an iphone we strolled through the rather depressing shopping precinct (basically a large Asda) and through some greenery to the tucked away White Oak Leisure Centre.

Looks rather nondescript from the outside and with it co-housing the Indoor Bowls Club we were expecting a rather tame pool. At reception we were asked whether we wanted to just swim or swim plus flumes and with that the anticipation built. Cost about £18 for an adult plus two eight year olds. We were directed two floors down to the basement to discover a rather lovely 33m pool with a dedicated diving area (1m, 3m and 5m boards). No slides or water jets or bubbles in sight.

Through a door to the back of the pool was the flume area – 3 great slides Shark – a superfast straight slide that belongs at Thorpe Park, Dolphin a more leisurely and longer slide and the Whale – a giant sit on inflatable ring slide. Minimal queues and great fun. We spent nearly 3 hours sampling the delights, doing some training lengths and jumping from the 3m boards.

This pool has blown all the competition out of the water. Honestly if your kids love to swim then this is a journey you really should make. The changing rooms are a bit tatty and the showers are only ok – skip the cafe plenty of green spots for a picnic – none of that matters as these flumes are really the best in reach of London (that we have discovered so far). We are already planning to return next week which kind of says it all.