Edinburgh Leisure will be closing all its venues and golf courses from close of play today (Thursday, 19 March). Community access to the 22 high schools that it manages on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council have also been suspended.
The news follows the announcement from First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon that schools will close from Friday, 20 March.
June Peebles, CEO of Edinburgh Leisure said: “These are unprecedented and challenging times for everyone and we are communicating this news to all our stakeholders which includes staff, customers, service providers, tenants, partners, suppliers and volunteers as soon as possible.
“Like so many others affected by this pandemic, it is worrying times for everyone including our staff. Edinburgh Leisure is a charity; and every penny we receive from memberships, lets, events and funding is reinvested back into our venues and funds the services that we provide – therefore shutting our venues and therefore freezing customers’ memberships has huge consequences for us and also the health of Edinburgh.
“Whilst our customers won’t be able to keep active with Edinburgh Leisure for the time being, we will be looking at offering advice to our customers on tips for keeping moving remotely and access to classes via ‘Les Mills on demand’ so that customers can workout at home. And providing advice from Public Health Scotland allows people to not require to totally self-isolate, there is also the option of going for a walk or run outside.
“We really hope that once the situation passes that customers will return to Edinburgh Leisure venues to keep active and stay active once again and to continue supporting us as they have done for the last 22 years.”
There is currently no indication as to how long the venues will remain closed – reopening will be guided by advice from the Government and Public Health Scotland.
Like every customer facing business, Edinburgh Leisure has been receiving a high volume of calls to their Customer Accounts and Customer Enquiries team, which has meant a delayed response.
An Edinburgh Leisure spokesperson said: “We have been receiving a really high level of enquiries over the last week from customers. We would urge customers to bear with us and we will be back in touch with customers directly about their memberships in the coming days.”
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