The Bletchley Leisure Centre is an indoor leisure facility in

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The new Bletchley Leisure Centre opened in 2009 replacing the original centre. The original centre opened in the 1970s replacing the outdoor queens pool. The centre was quite iconic with its pyramid building that housed the pool. Until the 1990s it also had a

multi-storey car park A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...

with a snake-like walkway leading from the carpark to the centre reception. The old centre and duck pond were demolished and the site was cleared for the new leisure centre and a new multi storey car park. Some groups tried to get the pyramid building listed to prevent demolition. Bletchley Leisure Centre - geograph

The old centre housed a 907-seat capacity sports hall which was the home of professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

club

Milton Keynes Lions London Lions are a British professional basketball team based in Stratford, East London, England, and compete in the British Basketball League, the top tier of British basketball. The team was originally founded in 1977 as the Hemel Hempstead ...

. The Leisure Centre has been home to the Lions basketball team since 1998, when the Hemel Hempstead Royals later Watford Royals relocated here. The Milton Keynes Lions had planned to move into Arena:MK, a new 4,500-seat arena at the stadium:mk site in

Denbigh, Milton Keynes Denbigh is a district in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, to the north of Fenny Stratford and on the eastern side of the West Coast Main Line (and on the opposite side to the rest of Bletchley). It is in the civil parish of Bletchley an ...

, before the start of the 2008-2009 season. However, completion of this arena has been delayed due deferral of proposed commercial developments around the site (which would have funded the build). The Lions original home in Bletchley became scheduled for demolition, leaving the club searching urgently for a new base. Subsequently, the Lions obtained agreement to play their home games in Middleton Hall in

Central Milton Keynes Central Milton Keynes is the central business district of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England and a #Civil parish, civil parish in its own right, with a town council#England and Wales, town council. The district is approximately long by w ...

. The Lions subsequently moved to a warehouse in Grafton Gate, having converted it into a 1,400-seat basketball arena and practice venue.

References

Sport in Milton Keynes Buildings and structures in Milton Keynes Basketball venues in England London Lions (basketball) {{England-sports-venue-stub

See also

References