The owner of the now-closed swimming pool at Gurnard Pines has said that if he can get a minimum of 100 Islanders to pledge £300 a month in membership, the pool can reopen.
As previously reported by Island Echo, on 30th January the owners of Gurnard Pines took back possession of the site’s central complex as a result of the leaseholder not paying their rent, insurance or utilities. The locks were changed, and the gym, swimming pool, and events space was all closed.
Then, last week it was announced that 2 new companies had been appointed to run parts of the venue going forward. Phoenix Knights Limited has taken over the entertainment section of the property whilst The Phoenix Zone Limited has taken over the gym sections of the property.
Elite School of Swimming has confirmed that it is unable to take on the full repair lease of the pool and therefore lessons have been halted whilst a new home is found.
Terry Prosser of The Phoenix Zone Limited has now issued a statement offering a possible lifeline for the pool.
Mr Prosser has said:
“We have already explained the cost of the pool is expensive and I have now received terms for our gas supply which seems to be coming in at circa £60,000 p.a. if the pool remains in use. This is three times more expensive than we were expecting and pushes our monthly operating costs to circa £25,000.
“As I was washing up this morning after breakfast I thought, if all these people are willing to pay £10 a day to use the pool and we can get at least 100 people to sign up to membership we will be able to keep the pool open.
Article continues below this advertisement “Therefore I would like to put it out there, following several requests to “save the pool” I will be offering pool only membership at £300 per month, but must have a minimum sign up of 100 people meaning that once VAT is paid we are left with £25,000 each month to cover the basic running costs of the pool.
“Initially, I just want to see whether there are 100 people out of the 142,000 people that live on the Island that are willing to put their hand in their pocket to keep the pool open. We will then look to partner up with a professional swim school to ensure that local children and adults can continue learning how to swim.
“If you feel you would benefit from us retaining the swimming pool and can afford to spare £10 a day (less than the cost of 20 cigarettes), please send me an e‐mail to enquiries@phoenix‐zone.co.uk and provide your full name, your e‐mail address and a contact telephone number.
If 100 people express an interest, Mr Prosser says that a link will be sent out to enable people to sign up to the pool-only membership with a £300 payment taken straight away and monthly payments of £300 thereafter once the pool has re-opened.
If the 100 people target is not met all persons will be refunded, Mr Prosser adds.
Sorry count me out no money for these sort of things
The beach is down the road !!!
Good luck with that request !?!?!?
Dream on mate, not gonna happen!
£300 a month? Will there be room to park my Roller, or shall I bring the chopper instead?
Is this for real, I have checked the calendar it is Not April 1st, ” £300 A MONTH “. That is not realistic for the vast majority of people. I think this is an insult to people to ask for this amount of money. 100 people have to pay £10 a day for this to get off the ground.
The cast is to high for Mr Prosser, does he not realise the cost of living is to high for the vast majority of people as it is.
This Country really is getting worse by the day, The Island is in dire straights and wages are below average here, just where do we go from here when learning to swim needs 100 people to donate £300 a month?
Irony is that he also owns the company that supplies the water and electric to the site….. yet he claims the cost of running is too high. he charges extortionate rates to those that live on site as he has it that nobody can change suppliers….. its almost £1.50 a day alone in standing charges
Not completely true. His company own the sub meters and electric is still supplied by a main supplier. But yess he would be earning a lot out of it..
I’ve got more money than sense. I’ll give them £300
10er a day?? You for real! 300 a month!!
Is it April Fool’s Day?
I think finding 10 people to pay £3000 a month would be more reasonable!
This is ridiculous….. Mr Prosser charges over £3000 per annum ground rent, per property on the pines. Which is supposedly for the upkeep of the site, and from what I was told, the complex. So where is that money going. The site is failing big time…. the roads are so full of pot holes, properties are in disrepair and there is rubbish everywhere. If he had any care at all for the complex then he would be able to find a way to make things work
Likely a ploy to run it down and then sell it for housing development.
how cheeky and embarrassing too beg cash strapped folk! is it a bandwagon like that failing newport shop ! close it and move on
Think he should of washed up his idea along with the breakfast pots.
How many people on the Isle of Wight can afford to hand over £300 a month for a pool membership? Your better off trying to see if ten thousand people will commit to £3 a month.
1000 at £30 is the most realistic. Many people think nothing of having a gym sub at £50/month.
Most expensive swimming session ever!!!
And that’s probably why he had this “brainwave”! After all the negative and rightly so comments about losing the facility, he doesn’t want to reopen it, has no intention of”but I have put out an offer to keep it open people… He has other ideas for that whole site, listen out for the sound of many Brown envelopes being shuffled!.
I have serious dilemma… I have £3600 knocking around and can’t decide whether to spend in on a two week in 5 star hotel full board in the Maldives or take up annual swim membership at Gurnard Pines. Help please.
You can go to The Heights in lake for £33 per month and that includes the gym
Well yes but that financial hole is shored up by Council Tax payers who have no choice but to fund it. Then if they want tide use it they effectively pay twice to do so.
Didn’t realise it cost £360,000 a year to have a pool house.
Best fill in that hole I’ve been digging out in my shed.
Or, who wants 2 invest? Pack of fags a day will keep me happy
Is this millionaire for real ! What on earth does he take people for – if you do the maths he will be making mega bucks if 100 idiots decided to pay that much each month. I could think of better things to spend the money on.
Phoenix Knights – Phoenix nights the comedy programme more like.
We can support local children and clubs swimming through our council taxes not at your expense.
Shame it isn’t 1st April eh!
I think people might be missing the point he’s making, or trying to make, here.
There were people who were saying the pool should be kept open without any notion of the costs involved, so I’d guess he’s trying to make the point as to how much those limited numbers of people would have to pay each month to make it profitable.
Either that or he’s simply delusional.
Must say though, £25,000 per month to run a swimming pool seems extremely high. I know heating costs are high and there’s salaries etc to pay, but £25,000 per month, really?
Not delusional, simply focused on enriching Terry Prosser. He knows perfectly well that his proposal for the pool won’t fly, so one more cost reduction on site while he grinds the place into the ground prior to sale for redevelopment.
The price of administration goes up at the same time as the number of things they administer declines. Go figure.
Those with the most want more so when the top 10 percent want more then there is less for the other 90 percent. It is considered that lots of godless property is a sign of success but really it is a sign of demonicness. Things are judged different from a different plane.
hahahaha do i need to go on. he is thinking how to make money out of this. any way dream on i am not in
And the new planning application for ‘Eco Lodges’ includes, yes you have it in one a new swimming pool!
I want to own the pool for that money!
I give it two or three years and he’ll be wanting to evict everyone and sell the whole plot to developers. Anyone who ‘buys’ one of these units at sites like that must be either mad or have very large pockets. All the other similar sites will go the same way. You’ve got to be raving bonkers to even consider ‘investing’ in these sort of parks.
Sorry, I wouldn’t have minded donating £300 per month, but those tory shits have screwed me out of a £780 per month pension that I would have been able to claim this year, because the bastards moved the goal posts.
My uni in Czechia with actual snow in winter didn’t bother with heating the inside pool and it was fine. You burned calories from all the student pub nights and improved your immune system in one go, sweet times 😀
Is he joking? £10 a day for a swim! Lol