Campaigners who battled to stop a beloved sports centre from the axe have said its future is secure, despite uncertainty over neighbouring Wensum Lodge.
Wensum Sports Centre was taken over by a group of dedicated volunteers in 2012 after its then-owners Norfolk County Council claimed maintenance costs for the King Street venue were too expensive to keep running it.
Conservative-run County Hall is planning to shut the next-door Wensum Lodge, from which the council runs adult education courses.
READ MORE: No u-turn over decision to shut and sell Wensum Lodge
The sports centre used to be known as Wensum Lodge Sports Hall, but has been separately run - with its own car park - for more than a decade.
And the trustees behind Wensum Sports Centre have stressed that, with a long lease in place, the future for the popular facility looks bright.
The centre has been shut for nearly a month while a new £50,000 sports hall floor was laid by Broadland Flooring.
A special badminton and squash exhibition event will take place this Friday (July 28) to celebrate its reopening.
William Glover, one of the centre's trustees, said: "We are really pleased with the work which has been done on the floor.
"The previous floor had reached the end of its life long ago, so we were pleased to get it replaced.
"But we have had people, who still link us with Wensum Lodge, wondering why we've done it if the future is uncertain.
"We're keen to stress that we're separate from what's going on with Wensum Lodge, that we've got a long lease and that we are thriving.
"Financially, we have been prudent. We've been careful and we kept going through Covid.
"Because other venues have struggled we have actually benefited from an influx of people, particularly with badminton and squash."
The centre, which has about 1,300 members, offers badminton, squash, indoor football, table tennis, mixed martial arts, a fitness suite and pickleball - a fast-growing racket sport.
With charitable status, all the money generated by the centre, including use of its car park by local businesses, is ploughed back into it.
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