Cllr Flora Williamson on the trampoline

BOUNCY castles for adults, a children’s soft play and an internal zip line are among new facilities at the refurbished Sobell Leisure Centre following a destructive flood three years ago.

While the much-loved trampoline park and ice rink – both destroyed by flooding – are no more, there is something for everyone else at the new Sobell including a sprung-floored gymnastics room, hall of sports courts, martial arts space and squash courts.

This week the Tribune was invited to tour and test out the new kit together with Islington’s health and social care chief, Councillor Flora Williamson.

“Our aim is to make Islington more equal and being healthy is part of that,” Cllr Williamson said. “For people to be healthy we need them to be as active as they can be. This is providing really fun ways for people to be active while still offering your conventional team sport and gym activities.”

One unique addition is the “Active Multi-Zone area” – essentially another chance at childhood for bigger kids and adults that includes a zip line, a soft play-style obstacle course for adults, a spread of mini-trampolines with interactive games and an inflatable zone with tunnels and slides.

The Tribune’s reporters got surprisingly sweaty during a brief bounce about and then took a thrilling turn on the zip line – one of only three inside zip lines in the country.

Cllr Flora Williamson with Sobell Centre manager Adam Knight

Holloway residents might remember August 2022, when record high temperatures made the ground so hard that vibrations from passing cars caused a Thames Water main to shatter underneath Hornsey Road, causing major floods in the area.

Water was knee-high on the ground floor of the Sobell Centre, where staff were told to wait on the roof as firefighters dredged the building, but in the end many of the facilities had to be written off.

When Islington Council and GLL – which runs the centre – were planning its new look, supporting under­represented groups to use the facilities was a major consideration, Cllr Williamson explained.

As a result, there are free or affordable sessions for community groups, “basic sessions” for beginners, “get together” sessions which are more social, and even adult and junior gym sessions, where parents with childcare needs can bring their children into the gym with them.

“Find what’s fun for you, is what I would say,” Cllr Williamson added. “My favourite is the bouncy castle, just because it brings out your inner child.”

The refurb cost about £8million in total – paid out by Thames Water’s insurance – and the new equipment is already getting plenty of use, with around 100,000 visitors to the children’s soft play since it opened and an astonishing 22 kids’ birthday parties each day on weekends.

And it’s not only children who are enjoying themselves. Centre manager Adam Knight told the Tribune there have been a few cases of little ones wandering out of the soft play to look for their parents, who are later found playing on the trampolines next door.