The £370,000 refit finished on 20 August: a functional gym with a multi-point rig, rebuilt dry-side changing rooms and a much larger accessible toilet.

Four months of work at Thame Leisure Centre finished on 20 August, when the last of the new gym equipment went in. South Oxfordshire District Council put £370,000 into the ground floor. The operator added £40,000 of its own.

Neither sum was council tax. The council says its £370,000 was developer contributions, which it calls the Community Investment Levy. The other £40,000 came from the contractor.

What has actually changed

The council’s own announcement, published on 24 August, lists the work:

  • the old workout studio is now a functional gym, with battle ropes, weight training equipment and a multi-point rig several people can use at once
  • the dry-side changing rooms for men and women have been stripped back and rebuilt: new tiling, showers, toilets, vanity units, hand driers, benching and lockers
  • plumbing and electrics have been fully renewed
  • the accessible toilet has a new shower with seating and grab rails, a new toilet and new decor
  • the entrance corridor to the dry-side changing has been widened, mainly to reach that accessible toilet
  • a new bank of lockers
  • LED lighting strips throughout the new gym, which can be set differently for different classes
  • water-saving devices across the site

“Dry-side” means the changing rooms used by gym and sports hall users, not the pool changing village.

Where the money came from

Funding for the Thame Leisure Centre refurbishment, 2026 A bar chart. South Oxfordshire District Council contributed £370,000 from developer contributions. The contractor GLL contributed £40,000, which included all the gym equipment. The total was £410,000. Separately, 150 solar panels were installed on the roof in May 2025 with money from the Swimming Pool Support Fund. £410,000 went into Thame Leisure Centre, from developer money and the operator Refurbishment funding, as set out in the council's notes to editors, 24 August 2026. South Oxfordshire District Council GLL, the contractor and operator Developer contributions Including all the gym equipment £370,000 £40,000 Total £410,000 Separately, 150 solar panels were fitted to the roof in May 2025 from the Swimming Pool Support Fund. They make about 70,000 kWh a year. Source: South Oxfordshire District Council, 24 August 2026. Graphic by The Henley Post.

The £40,000 from GLL covered the gym equipment and the upgrade of the new gym area. GLL runs the centre as Better, on the council’s behalf.

Thame Leisure Centre is not wholly the district council’s to spend on. It sits under a joint use agreement with Oxfordshire County Council, which the district council says supported the work.

The roof came first

The panels went up before the refit. The council installed 150 solar panels on the roof in May 2025, paid for from the government’s Swimming Pool Support Fund. It says they produce around 70,000 kWh a year for the building.

Cllr Pieter-Paul Barker, the council’s cabinet member for finance and property assets, tied the two together. “Following the instalment of solar panels on the roof last year powering the centre with sustainable energy, the council is continuing that trend of lowering carbon emissions by adding energy-saving LED lights throughout as well as water-saving devices,” he said.

Thame is the second of these. The council upgraded the changing rooms at Didcot Wave, about 15 miles south west, in June 2026.

What it means for you

The work is finished, so there is nothing left to plan around. The final phase, the gym equipment, went in on 19 and 20 August. The centre is on Oxford Road, OX9 2BB. Opening times and class timetables are on the Better Thame Leisure Centre website, not the council’s.

If you use a wheelchair or need grab rails, this is the part that changed most. The accessible toilet has been rebuilt with a shower, seating and grab rails. The corridor leading to it has been widened.

The pool changing village is not part of this. The work covered the dry-side changing rooms only.

Developer contributions are finite and allocated. Money of this kind comes from housing schemes in the district. It can only be spent on the infrastructure it was agreed against. That is why it can pay for a new gym floor in a year when other budgets are tight. The applications that generate it appear on our Henley planning page and in the council’s own weekly list.