THE £1.3 million refurbishment of Horwich Leisure Centre is complete - and has been given the Mayor of Bolton's seal of approval.

Cllr Prentice Howarth officially opened the centre, on Chorley Old Road, yesterday surrounded by local councillors and representatives from the Serco and Bolton Council partnership.

The money has been spent on upgrading the fitness suite to include state-of-the-art equipment, as well as creating new changing rooms, a cafe, spa, meeting rooms and improved bar.

The refurbishment is part of a borough-wide redevelopment scheme being carried out by Bolton Council in partnership with Serco.

work on the flagship centre started in January and around 70 per cent of the refurbishment has been completed, with further work planned on the swimming changing rooms later this year.

Cllr Howarth said: "Bolton is proud of its sporting heritage and it is centres like this that give youngsters the opportunities to learn and practice their skills.

"Not everyone is academic, some are good at sport and I think we need to encourage children and bring more sporting youngsters through to represent Bolton like Olympic boxer Amir Khan.

"We want our leisure centres to be the hub of communities and this one easily competes with private gyms. People should come along and give it a try."

Leader of Bolton Council and Horwich Cllr Barbara Ronson joked that she now feels it could be safe for her to go swimming again.

She said: "I swim very slowly and when I used to come people used to stop me and complain about various aspects of the centre, but with all these improvements I'm hoping the coast could be clear for me to swim in peace!"

Gym member Jo Whitehead, aged 34, said: "I have been a member for about two years and think the new facilities are fantastic.

"I come about three times a week and it is much brighter, cooler and more modern now."