High Life Highland announces plans for midnight opening of Inverness Leisure as it returns for first time since coronavirus lockdown
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Pre-booked gym and swimming customers will be able to access Inverness Leisure at midnight on Sunday.
The Scottish Government earlier announced gyms, swimming pools and indoor sports courts can reopen to the public from Monday.
Douglas Wilby, director of sport and leisure for High Life Highland, said: "Our customers and staff have waited a very long time to be able to enjoy using our fitness suites, swimming pool and fitness classes again.
"Opening as soon as we can just after midnight is another significant step in our bounceback campaign and will offer customers the earliest opportunity to start enjoying Inverness Leisure again, while being in full compliance with the Scottish Government’s guidance.
"Customers will be allowed to enter the building again at midnight and there will be a number of ‘through-the-night’ sessions available from just after midnight, continuing to run at regular intervals throughout the rest of the day.
He continued: "Our online booking system went live last night (Wednesday) and the response has been extremely positive.
"We are expecting demand to be high throughout the day as people get back to some sense of normality and start their exercise routine again."
It is understood that High Life Highland will be the first leisure trust to open its doors on August 31, with many others planning to remain closed until September 14 – the original date indicated by the Scottish Government for their reopening.
Chief executive Steve Walsh said: "I am absolutely blown away that we have been able to accelerate our plans for reopening in line with the earlier opening date announced by the First Minister last week.
"Our leisure team's decision to prepare early has paid off on this occasion and allowed us to implement phase one of our reopening plans and provide what we think will be great news for customers in these unusual times.
"We are working hard with our partners to agree access to our other facilities that are attached to schools as part of phase two of our plan.
"I fully support the priorities for colleagues in Highland Council have been around the safe access for pupils as they return to full-time education.
"Our team is doing all it can to keep our highlife members and customers informed and will continue to do so throughout this week.
"We are working hard to get those customers access to community facilities attached to schools and, with ongoing discussions progressing very positively, indications I am receiving from colleagues in Highland Council is that we will have some good news for customers very soon."
