Newly improved leisure facilities have been officially opened after a £1.5 million refurb.

Improvements were carried out at Waterworld in Wrexham and the town’s mayor, Cllr John Pritchard, formally cut the ribbon at the centre to mark the official opening.

The long-awaited refurbishment of the iconic leisure centre in the heart of the town is now fully completed, ending five months of improvement works, which saw Wrexham Council invest £1.5m in to this one centre alone.

Council bosses say the work, along with that done at the other local authority centres in the area (totalling £2.7m) was all done to ensure the provision of the best possible facilities for residents and visitors in Wrexham.

Among the improvements are a state of the art indoor cycling studio, refurbished gym area and a new reception area with cafe.

The official opening saw Welsh Assembly Members, Lesley Griffiths  and Mark Isherwood AM, join Cllr Pritchard, Cllr Paul Rogers and Cllr Paul Jones, along with directors from Freedom Leisure.

Andy Harris, Freedom Leisure area manager, said: “The opening was to formally mark the completion of work and hand the facilities over to the public, and we were delighted to have Welsh Assembly Members and local councillors join us.

”We are extremely proud of the new facilities, especially as the cycling studio and gym are now able to rival the best private gyms.

”Most importantly, users have already reported to us how happy they are with the enhanced facilities and offerings – which is excellent.

“We’d like to thank Wrexham County Borough Council for securing funding from the Welsh Government and for investing in this centre.

”We are looking forward to welcoming many new members who we are sure will be attracted by the first rate facilities we have here.”

Cllr Paul Rogers, lead member for youth services and anti-poverty, added: “These new facilities are absolutely fantastic, and I was very pleased to get the chance to tour the new additions to the ground floor at Waterworld.

“I’ve followed the capital works since becoming the lead member responsible for leisure and I’ve always said the pace of work has been excellent, but the groundfloor area – particularly the new café and seating area – is completely unrecognisable even when compared with earlier in the works.

“I would also like to thank Cllr Hugh Jones, who was my predecessor as the lead member responsible for leisure when the contract was signed with Freedom Leisure in the spring of last year.”