Tell Butlin’s what you would change about swimming pool changing rooms - £300 voucher prize draw! NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

Butlin's is redesigning one of its swimming pools and needs your help to make it as family-friendly as possible. In particular Butlin’s wants your help to understand what it’s like as a parent using a swimming pool changing room – and your input will genuinely help inform the new design and build on resort.

Why the changing room? Butlin’s have done research which shows that most parents love going swimming with their children – until they get to the changing room. From the wet floor, the often-freezing temperature, the small cubicles not suitable for a family to the fact you can never get your child dry – there’s a lot to be desired! Which is why Butlin’s wants the opinion of Mumsnetters to identify the biggest issues you face – and your ideas on how to solve them.

So two important questions:

What do you find particularly frustrating when using changing rooms at the swimming pool?

In an ideal world, can you think of anything which would make your life easier and solve these problems?

Everyone who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £300 John Lewis voucher!

Thanks and good luck,
MNHQ

[SouthWestmom]

Cleanliness, every changing room makes me feel a bit sick tbh. Hair, nappies, plasters - you need sealed bins in cubicles and pegs for towels and bags and the drain needs to go at the back otherwise I end up standing in a puddle where guaranteed some kid has peed in it.

[PaulineFossil]

A small shelf, up high, that glasses can be put on so that when you take them off small children can't sit on them.

More big family cubicles with plenty of hooks to hang things on and locks out of toddler reach. Walls down to the ground so that small children cannot escape. Nothing worse than being stark naked when a baby realises it can go exploring...

Regularly cleaned loos, with hooks on the back of doors - really unpleasant to have to leave the pool with a toddler who needs a wee who then strips off a swimming costume which gets dropped on the grim floor while you help them onto the loo, then you have to put them back into it if you want to carry on swimming.

More large lockers with plenty of space between the rows. It can take a while to get everything sorted into a locker and with kids with you, you can block other people getting further down the aisle, or they squeeze past and push toddlers into metal doors. (My dd was quite scared once to find herself actually underneath a large, wet, hairy beer belly as a man squeezed past us!)

Genuinely non-slip floors.

Plenty of family shower cubicles. Again it is quite scary for small children to find themselves next to strange adults in the communal showers. Mine would go nowhere near the showers at butlins minehead.

Buggy storage.

Heating.

Final probably mad idea but gentle calming music to calm down excited children and counteract the horrid echoiness of most changing rooms that little ones can find very difficult.

[Maiyakat]

Large changing rooms to get changed with the children.
Regular cleaning.
Warm!
Bigger lockers.
Hooks to hang things on in the changing rooms.
Showers that don't need constantly pressing to stay on (maybe sensor operated?)

[Moodykat]

I think a heated floor is a brilliant idea. Might help counteract the constant wet floor situation!

[Justanotherday1]

Our local pool has a spinning dryer to hep ring out costumes. So much better than trying to ring them out causing puddles or taking the back soaking.

Non slip mats and lots of them!

Hooks for towels by showers would be helpful

Family sized cubicles and unisex changing rooms (so I don't get left sorting me and 2dd while DH only has to sort himself then asks what took you so long )

More hooks in changing cubicles

Baby/ toddler pens so you can put them down while you get sorted and know they are safe

Hair dryers and enough so there aren't long queues

[TheyGotTheMustardOut]

Bigger lockers and more large cubicles for families. The last time we were at Butlins the locker room was actually too warm, so don't overdo it.

[Mooney1]

Just come back great pool, problems with changing rooms;

Limited family rooms
Family rooms only had red changing stations. Caused massive problems with active baby and toddler as baby needed to be he,d, need restraints of some kind
Could have been cleaned more
Bins in each room were very good add
Locker sizes too small
More play pens near to showers so easier to shower

[HitsAndMrs]

The gap at the bottom of the doors are quite frustrating when you have toddlers that want to escape! Shelves or somewhere to put things in the changing rooms instead of a tiny bench.

[mrdaddypig]

no complaints from the changing room side of butlins managed with 3 children my only gripe is the pushchair has to be taken all the way down to the other side watch view side and left that was the worse bit

[BrandNewAndImproved]

Lots of hot full length dryers that you can stand in to get dry.

[CMOTDibbler]

Nice big family changing rooms (and lots of them - at somewhere like Butlins, virtually everyone swimming has children) with a changing station and seat a toddler/ older baby can be strapped into while adult dresses.

Wide lockers, so you can put a bag stuffed with towels into it. And regularly maintained so all the locker keys can be attached to a person

Dry floors - my local leisure centre manages to have enough of an angle on the floors so they drain beautifully and the floor is never really wet

Enough lighting - one pool I go to, you can hardly see your clothes in some of the cubicles

Cleaned. Regularly through the day, and really well enough times per week, not just hosed out

[StillNoFuckingEyeDeer]

I hate that the floors are always wet and dirty. They can be incredibly slippery, which is hazardous for toddlers. Heated floors would be great.

[CordeliaScott]

Large enough cubicle to manage to change without treading on dcs. Large enough lockers to fit a family's clothes in and a changing bag.

Plastic bag dispenser for wet clothes.

More comfortable, perhaps padded/bigger changing table. I was somewhere that had a mirror in the cubicle which distracted dd whilst I got dressed.

[lokijet]

soooo glad you are updating them!! somewhere to hang towel near the showers and more showers - lower buttons for children

oneway in oneway out lockers like centre parcs help keep floors clean

[Theimpossiblegirl]

Clean and dry with non-slip floors, working showers and somewhere to hang dry clothing. I don't think I'm asking for much really.
:)

[CheeseAtFourpence]

Cleanliness is a must! Large rooms with plenty of space to get changed as a family. Hooks and shelves in addition to somewhere to sit.

Moveable playpens or child seats that can be used - and plenty of them.

Large lockers to put all of our kit in one.

[LibrariesGaveUsP0wer]

Family cubicles.

Somewhere safe to put small ones.local pool has those wall mounted chairs, but the straps are all broken...

A bench which is a decent depth, so the kids don't keep falling off.

Lockers right by family rooms . There is a limit to how much I can carry with baby in one hand and multiple trips miles across the changing area is a cold pain.

[TrollTheRespawnJeremy]

I need a bit of space. Even if I'm not with the kids I can't bear the claustrophobia of a small dark cubicle.

Make it bright and airy. Clean. All of these things should be no-brainers.

Give me a shelf to stick all the things that I don''t want to get wet on.

I dont ask for much

[Memyselfandthatotherperson]

Seats that you can strap in toddlers to keep them safe when you're changing. Lockers you can operate with one hand.

[BlueBlueBelles]

Family changing, with good sized cubicles. You need to be able to fit 1 adult and 2 children easily. You need lockers, showers, and cubicles all within eyeline of each other and you need good drainage and good hooks to hang clothing, as well as benches to sit. One of our local pools has it spot on. One seriously hasn't. We know which one to go to hassle free.

[CleverPlansAndSecretTricks]

Most frustrating thing: having to transport all my kids and stuff from showers to changing area while wet.

Ideal world:
Large family size cubicle with shower and dry area for changing. Would also have bench to sit children/dry things on.

[BoffinMum]

Lockers are always tall but never wide, but wide would actually be more useful.

[rupert23]

large family rooms with heated floors or heating sounds great. i hate getting dressed after swimming especially whilst trying to dry off my son. seating and hooks to keep clothing off the floor and dry floors if possible would be a bonus. i like the swimming but really dislike getting dry again. also large lockers in sight of the pool are a good idea to prevent lockers being broken into

[Blu]

A wet side and a dry side. So that muddy outdoor feet are never on the same times as bare wet feet. Surely this would keep the pool cleaner too? CenterParcs do this well : you enter the cubicle from one side, get changed and leave through the other side into the wet / pool side.

[BellaVida]

We have 2 boys and 2 girls, so always end up having to split up and take 2 lots of everything into the changing rooms. Large family changing rooms would make it so much easier!

Biiiiiig lockers. 6 people in winter with coats, boots and clothes need space. Plus, I don't want to have to wear 3 rubber bands around my wrist or even worse, pin 2 or 3 enormous "safety pins" to my costume whilst we swim. There has to be a better alternative!

The absolute holy grail would be a large family changing room with a shower in one corner, so you could shower and manage the children in one space.

Non-slip floors and none of that hard plastic grid matting because it hurts your feet. Keep floors well drained and clean.

When they were babies/toddlers, a soft playpen, changing mat and family toilet would have been useful.

Decent, clean loos without massive puddles on the floor, with plenty of toilet roll.

A free all-in-one shower gel/ shampoo dispenser in the showers. Just needs to smell nice and not like toilet cleaner.

Decent seating and hooks in the changing area are a must. Nothing worse than soggy pants when they slip on the floor.

Locks need to be easy enough for a child to operate in case they lock themselves in by accident. At the same time, I don't want little ones escaping under or peering under the massive gaps under the doors. Yes, it has happened!

I'm not that bothered about taking stuff home dry, but a place to wring swimwear out is handy or a free spin dryer.

There are never enough hand or hair dryers. Or people hog them to salon style their hair at the pool. Really??!!!