Bangor’s Aurora leisure centre has been shortlisted for a national award to find the best centre of its kind in the UK.
The city’s Aurora Aquatic and Leisure Complex is hoping to repeat its previous success by being named Centre of the Year at the 2026 UK Active Awards. The local centre won the title in 2021 and has once again been selected as a finalist in the latest round of industry accolades.
The awards recognise the outstanding impact facilities have made in improving health and wellbeing outcomes across their local communities. They also celebrate excellence and innovation across the physical activity, leisure and fitness sector. The Centre of the Year category recognises facilities that demonstrate exceptional community impact, customer service, inclusivity and innovation.
Following its win five years ago, Aurora achieved further success two years later when inspirational fitness instructor Elaine Hutton was crowned Physical Activity Hero of the Year in 2023.
The centre is operated by Northern Community Leisure Trust in partnership with Serco Leisure, on behalf of Ards and North Down Council.
Chris Kelly, manager at Aurora, said the centre’s team was “absolutely delighted” with the news.
“It is fantastic recognition for our whole team and, importantly, for the role the centre plays within the local community,” he said.
“The shortlisting process required us to demonstrate much more than simply the number of people coming through our doors. Our submission looked at the overall performance of the centre, the quality of the customer experience and, particularly, the impact we are having within our community.”
He said Northern Community Leisure Trust had worked with a number of local groups, including North Down Community Network, to deliver activities demonstrating community engagement, health and wellbeing initiatives and the wider social value created by getting more people active.
“The centre submission is independently reviewed and scored by leisure experts before being shortlisted to the finals,” he added.
Mr Kelly also praised the resilience of staff who have continued to operate the centre despite a number of challenges in recent years.
“What makes the recognition particularly special for me is the resilience our staff have shown,” he said.
“Over the past few years the team has had to deal with some significant challenges, including storm damage to the centre on two separate occasions which resulted in sections of the roof being blown off.
“On both occasions there was a huge amount of work involved in recovering the operation, rearranging activities and bookings and minimising disruption for our customers and clubs.
“Throughout all of that, our staff continued to put our customers and community first. Reaching the final shortlist is therefore recognition of the people behind Bangor Aurora — our staff, customers, clubs, partners and community organisations who make the centre what it is.”
Iain Greenway, chair of Northern Community Leisure Trust, said being selected as a finalist in the awards “is a fantastic achievement and a reflection of the passion and dedication shown by our entire team”.
“Every day, we see first-hand the difference that physical activity, community support and accessible…”
