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

[Maniacalparrot]

Have larger family changing rooms not just women and men changing rooms which is hard for a single mum of boys

[MagicAlwaysLeadsToTrouble]

Family sized changing rooms with a baby changing table in them.

Hooks on the walls and a bench for clothes and go stand the little ones on.

Maybe those raised mats with holes in to keep feet off the wet floors and enable you to dry feet and put shoes on without getting wet socks

[ButtonMoonLoon]

More hand rails on the routes to and from the changing room/pool
Pool side lockers for towels
Hooks on the backs of the doors, it's amazing how many changing rooms don't have them.
Spinners to take most of the water out of swimming costumes and towels

[Icyblue]

I've been to Butlins many times and although we enjoyed the swimming pool, getting change in the changing room was a nightmare as floor was always wet and people walking in and out with dirty shoes.

What improvements I'd like to see:
Dry floor
More hooks in cubicles
Larger lockers
Free lockers
Separate male and female changing rooms
Bigger cubicles

[Cherrybellyboo]

Bigger cubicles and more hooks to hang things on. Warmer pool and changing area as it is so cold for some little ones when they go to change. Free lockers for sure!

[campocaro]

When my daughter was small we went to a local pool that had a large play pen in the communal women's changing room. It was great to be able to get the toddlers dry and dressed, given them a packet of raisins and then get oneself dry and dressed. Also women felt comfortable enough there to breast feed.

[purplepandas]

Larger family cubicles with benches for children to sit on.

[DrSausagedog]

More good sized family changing cubicles, with a small playpen/cot in each for babies. Wide lockers would be good too.

[Wolfcub]

Wet soggy floors and wet benches are a pet hate, they completely put me off going swimming. I also hate the big gaps under the partition between cubicles, they are exactly the right height for a child's swimming trunks to.disappear under when they kick them off their legs! Cubicles are also generally too small and have one stingy hook - no good for one person never mind a family and in general I don't think they are cleaned often enough. I love the big family blow drier at centre parks because by the time people enter their cubicles they are dry so at least three of the problems are agree fixed

[Prettyinblue]

The most frustrating thing, in our local swimming pool is from the lack of showers. They are most like to change for introducing is a wet and dry area. With a decent change over area between the two. With those costume dryers et cetera

[Catsgowoof]

somewhere safe to put babies/toddlers. i don't know the solution, but i hate the wet floors. the awkward putting shoes on on a tiny bench. large lockable shower cubicles, so i can wash my hair and keep kids with me.

[katiewalters]

would get them cleaned more often, as we have been in changing rooms after others have used them, and they are very wet with the floor being dirty. The baths local to us have family changing rooms, which are bigger, for the whole family to use, but they are not suited for the whole family. there is not baby changing or somewhere you can change baby or sit baby, which I think there should be. It would be great if you could fit a pushchair in the family changing rooms, so doors wide enough to fit a pushchair through. I think warmer changing rooms, as you get out of the pool into the shower, then its so cold in the changing rooms, and when you have young children it would be nicer if there was some kind of heating in the changing room.

[SuzCG]

Clean and dry are the big problems for me that really put me off going swimming with the kids more often - and even just by myself for that matter. It is just plain off-putting when changing room floors are soaking wet & dirty. I know this will be a really difficult one to overcome, as I expect requires a lot of staffing, but it really is the biggest factor for me.

Oh and private showers where you can actually strip off and clean all the chemicals off you - rather than those open banks of showers where you still have to keep your swimming togs on and therefore don't actually get really clean. With kids with skin problems, they really need to get scrubbed up well but do not like stripping off at the front of the world and his wife! Me neither!!

[ProfYaffle]

I like 'village' style changing (from memory I think Butlins Skegness is like this anyway?) where it's not segregated by gender. As has been said before, family sized changing rooms please. It's a small thing but more hooks and shelves, not just in the changing rooms but by the lockers and showers too so that bags and towels don't have to go on wet floors. In lockers it would be good to have some sort of small shelf/compartment for small precious things that don't want to get lost of damaged in a main bag, eg glasses, jewellery etc We've lost so many bracelets and the like in changing rooms it's unreal.

[Bellebella]

I would like to see changing rooms warmer. When I take my toddler, we are often freezing when we get out the pool and he gets very grumpy.

Also I would think some more goods of somewhere to put stuff on would be useful. Often things end up either taking space on the bench or getting wet on the floor.

Friendly staff! Our local swimming pool is filled with sullen teenagers who look miserable!

More floats/toys available for the children, maybe a session of toys in pool.

[hermancakedestroyer]

Family cubicles make life a lot easier for families.
Play pens to put young children in whilst you get changed.
Big family lockers with 2 keys also useful.

[JonSnowKnowsNowt]

A clear easy-to-understand layout with really good lighting. I am visually-impaired and find I easily get lost within confusing changing layouts.

Best pool changing I've seen was a place we went on holiday this year - it was a small farm complex with one pool between about 15 holiday cottages, so perhaps less easy to replicate in a large environment. But it had

• an external cloakroom area to leave shoes and coats - so clean floors and no bulky stuff to carry around
  
• family changing room large enough for 5 people to hang simultaneously without elbowing each other
  
• large plastic laundry baskets that you put your clothes in (big enough for 5 people's clothes to comfortably fit in
  
• a 'shelving area' that you slotted your plastic basket into while you swam
  
• warm throughout
  
• toilets and showers just outside the changing room so if you have to dash out of the changing room with a DC that needs a wee, you don't have to go far
  
• spinner for costumes
  
• hair dryers in a separate area with a dry floor
  

I realise that this doesn't have the security measures you might need in a bigger pool where you're worried about people stealing your stuff. But perhaps the basket idea would work if they slotted into lockable lids or something? It was so much easier than faffing about with lockers.

[Hulaflame]

Pushchair lockers like they use for trolleys in supermarkets at the cafe bit, shampoo, conditioner and shower gel in the showers, so no need to bring your own and less stuff in lockers, and attach a toy to the wall (beads on a wire-type thing) like you get in dentists or doctors' surgeries to keep little ones entertained while you get dry yourself. If you want to go all out, install TV screens with CBeebies on into the wall!

[Byrdie]

Go to germany or canada and go to any swimming pool changing room and you'll see clean spacious areas with everything you need. I hate that the uk floors are always wet and slippy. Underfloor heat them please and get decent drainage and anti slip surfaces please.

[NoisyOyster]

Frustrating is the dirty floor, why are the floors always dirty??!, with lifeguards walking around in outdoor trainers and other peoples hair / plasters / feet... (Shudder)

Could be solved by disposable paper shoes (like the blue ones that you get in those high-hygiene hospitals or tech places) that can be disposed off in recycle-able bins at the pool edge

[cjbk1]

After going to lessons again this morning as we have on/off for most weekends for past 9 years-
*REALLY big changing rooms, not just loads of cubicles but space to pass each other while you're at the lockers without feeling like you must fling everything in there and leave to make room for everyone else
*non-cubicle spaces- ie more 'family' and 'group' changing rooms and just dry clean space to stand little ones up and change them much easier to elbow bruising on cubicle walls
*properly run swipe cards for entry/exit so you can leave your bits under a bench/not on locker safely because everyone is a traceable member SO faffy using lockers and coins for a big family

[Eva50]

For me the most frustrating thing has always been same sex changing rooms that exclude children of the opposite sex over the age of 6/7. Not all boys of that age like changing with naked strangers and many can't wash the shampoo out of their own hair. So family changing rooms and showers are all I ask.

[Hopezibah]

For us cleanliness is a big issue - I hate it when you walk in and find muddy floors because shoes are allowed right into the changing rooms in some places.

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

We are a family of 5 so it is a squeeze in family changing.

Wet floors are annoying as you can't get dried properly if floor is soaking wet.


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

Knowing what it is like in advance is helpful eg where are the showers - do we need to bring two lots of shampoo - one for male showers and one for female showers or are there mixed showers.

somewhere safe for baby once dressed eg travel cot or safe seat to strap into.

A buggy park NEAR to the changing area so you are not carrying masses of stuff everywhere.

[BoffinMum]

Would it work if you took off coats and shoes and divested yourself of a buggy and checked all that into a special supervised cloakroom, and then moved through to a no-shoes area where you just got out of your day clothes and put your swimming things on and off? Just a thought. Although perhaps that would lead to lots of frustrating queues.

[flamingtoaster]

Most important there should be dry, clean floors - underfloor heating would be a bonus and would help. Lots of hooks to hang things on to reduce amount dropped on floor. Enough family sized cubicles Bins emptied regularly.