Community groups have hailed the refurbishment of Mercer Hall Leisure Centre’s pool hall.

The Great Harwood facility received a £56,000 grant from Sport England with match funding from Hyndburn Council and Hyndburn Leisure to improve the pool hall.

The works include a new ceiling, tile repairs, painting and follows major repairs carried out on the roof earlier this year.

The pool hall reopened last week and residents around the area are all set to receive a free swim voucher through their doors this week to encourage people to come down.

Joyce Miller, of the Great Harwood Otters swimming club, has praised the refurbishment and said their young members are delighted to be ‘back home’.

She said: “We started back at Mercer Hall last Monday and everything is now back to normal.

“The pool looks lovely and the hall looks very bright. They have painted everywhere and put a new ceiling up and basically just spruced it up.

“It definitely looks a lot better as it was getting a bit tired looking. They have done a really good job.

“The council and leisure trust helped accommodate us at Hyndburn Sports Centre which we were very grateful for but it’s nice to be back home. We don’t have to travel so far and everybody appreciates what has been done.”

Ward councillor Noordad Aziz said Mercer Hall is a ‘focal point of the town’ and is ‘really glad with the investment’.

Steve Tanti, chief executive of Hyndburn Leisure, said they are ‘delighted with the results’. and will complement a new ladies only toning gym at Mercer Hall later this year. He said: “The end result is fantastic and we can’t wait to see the pool back to full capacity after a brief closure for the works.”