You won’t believe what’s happening at Leith Victoria

From a flyer I picked up in the women’s changing room: “The creche is closing. Let Edinburgh Leisure know you think it’s wrong. KeithJackson@edinburghleisure.co.uk. Phone 0131 650 1001.”

That’s Leith Victoria, my favourite gym/swimming pool! I’m childfree myself, but I’d much rather there was a creche. Children in a creche are happy children somewhere other than me!

Update, 2nd October

It’s not children being the babies:

But this row highlights one of the ways our city is perceived as being far from child-friendly. Many first-time parents are shocked when they discover how difficult it is to get good service in cafes and restaurants, and how few people offer help when they struggle up the steps with their prams.

One case in point is the recent decision of the council to close crèches at leisure centres around the city. They seemed like an easy target – after all, they are a drain on money and only used by a minority of customers.

But the result is to exclude a section of the population from taking exercise. Parents can no longer take an older child swimming and leave the younger one in the crèche, and busy mums are deprived of a rare chance to take time out. At a time when obesity is a growing problem, it seems shortsighted to discourage families from taking exercise.