Many people who grew up in Aberdeen will remember visiting the Beach Leisure Centre to enjoy the rapids and flumes.
The popular sporting facility was a staple on seafront for decades before it shut its doors for good last year.
Council leisure operator Sport Aberdeen confirmed the closure as part of a £700,000 spending cut – and it has been boarded up ever since.
It is expected to be demolished in early 2025.
Now, people have been given an unexpected opportunity to take a walk down memory lane through the eyes of a group of urban explorers.
The latest video shared by Urbandoned shows viewers what the “abandoned” Beach Leisure Centre looks like.
This will likely be the last time the public will be able to see what lies within the walls before the bulldozers arrive.
Video shows ‘abandoned’ Beach Leisure Centre
Urbandoned, a group of photographers from the north of England, have been documenting abandoned places across the UK since 2016.
Their latest video features them exploring the Beach Leisure Centre during a trip to Aberdeen in late 2023.
Alistair, from Urbandoned, told The Press and Journal: “The Beach Leisure Centre was a fairly straightforward visit.
“It’s key to us that we never break in or damage an abandoned location, and to leave them as if we were never there, so our visit remains civil in the eyes of the law.
“We thankfully managed this at the Beach Leisure Centre and were able to return the following morning to film.”
The 20-minute video now has more than 25,000 views on YouTube and shows what state the leisure centre has been left in.
The swimming pool, which would be regularly packed full of families, has been drained and fenced off, while the lockers have stripped from the changing rooms.
The gym is now a large empty space and all that remains at the reception area is a phone and a clipboard.
However, much of the interiors, including the large sports halls, look exactly as many would remember with bright colours, fake foliage and the light streaming through the glass roof.
Trend of facilities closing
This was the second time the Urbandoned team had visited the Granite City – with their visits to other locations still to be shared online.
Their new video shows them venturing inside one of the Beach Leisure Centre’s famous flumes – The Tube – before they discovered their safety issues.
The trio of slides never reopened after the pandemic due to poor “ventilation rates” and their ageing structure.
Alistair added: “Walking down the waterslides was pretty fun, however, it was pretty tragic to see another swimming baths without any water.
“It’s becoming a trend for us in recent years, particularly after the pandemic. A lot of these community buildings are closing down and we have captured 10 plus in Scotland over the last two years.”
Last week, The Press and Journal revealed it would have cost around £50 million for the Beach Leisure Centre to be brought up to standard and returned to its former glory.
The essential repairs alone were quoted at £16m which would still not have allowed the centre to reopen.
Conversation