The Link Centre will partially reopen later this week.

Flooding damage to the plant room has left the West Swindon leisure facility without power since September 17 - but some of the site will be operating again on Wednesday.

The gym and fitness studios will be up and running despite the ongoing lack of mains power, with 110-volt battery lighting being brought in instead.

The centre will be running 26 fitness classes per week and allowing the use of self-powered gym equipment like exercise bikes, rowing machines, Skillmill treadmills, and SkiErgs.

The changing rooms and showers are still out of action, so customers must arrive there 'gym ready'.

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A spokesperson for GLL said: "Following a concerted effort by our staff and contractors over recent days, we will be in a position to partially reopen the gym and fitness studios.

“Whilst this is a modest step towards a full reopening, it demonstrates our commitment to the Link Centre and the hard work our staff have put in, to find the quickest possible interim solution. 

"We hope to have generators on-site within a couple of weeks, which will then enable us to operate the full range of gym equipment.

“Members will continue to be able to use other Better operated leisure facilities in Swindon, Oxfordshire, Bath and North East Somerset.”

The temporary opening hours at the Link Centre will be from 7am to 8pm Monday to Friday, and from 7am to 6pm on weekends.

As for the rest of the site, the pool is expected to remain closed until December, the ice rink may not be usable again until early next year, and GLL previously expressed hopes to reopen the soft play and trampoline park in November.

With the pool and the ice rink likely to take the longest to be brought back into public use, sports clubs that use the facilities – Tiger Shark Swimming Club and the Swindon Wildcats - have previously spoken of the toll this is taking on their teams.

Wildcats managing director Steve Nell told the Adver last week: "It does put us in jeopardy, it’s going to cost us tens of thousands, but without that date it’s hard to forecast, it is going to cost us a lot of money and it has put us back.

"My focus is on surviving one way or the other whatever the cost and trying to focus on the positive."