Ready? Steady? Paddle(Pod)!

Well, it’s official… PaddlePod is coming to Newcastle and North Tyneside! Building work has begun, we’re finalising what our new play area will look like (that’s great fun!), our learn to swim timetable is almost ready to go, and the PaddlePod team are getting ready to open the doors in Autumn 2019. Excited is an understatement!

PaddlePod might be new, but our team have POOLS and POOLS of experience – and, once our doors open, you’ll be absolutely amazed by what we have to offer at PaddlePod. After all, we are so much more than “just a pool”. Yes, we are a place where children can learn to swim. We are also, though, a hub where parents can bring their kids to play while they enjoy a cuppa (and maybe a cheeky slice of cake, too). A space where you’ll find a range of exciting children’s classes. In short, if you have young children at home, PaddlePod is THE place to go in Newcastle and North Tyneside.

So, what’s the story behind PaddlePod?

Phil Groom, who is the brains behind PaddlePod, set up multi award-winning swim school, SwimNE, back in 2006. Three years later introduced Nemo Swimming – another award-winning swim school. These two swim schools offer over 450 swimming lessons to more than 2,500 children aged 0-12 years old every week across Newcastle and North Tyneside – pretty impressive, huh?!

To meet the growing demand for Nemo Swimming and SwimNE lessons, Phil and the team started making plans to build their own pools. Having run two successful swimming businesses for 13 years already, and with many parent hats between them, the team knew what was important to grown ups (and their children) – a warm pool, modern changing villages with baby changing facilities, comfortable viewing areas, on-site (and free) parking… So, when it came to planning these new pools – or PaddlePods – these were all key ingredients that were weaved into the design from the start.

What makes PaddlePod really unique?

Then, though, we thought; “what if we could do something really different?”. Let’s just imagine that you’re a parent, and you’re taking your six year old swimming on Saturday morning. You’ve got somewhere nice to sit and watch – that’s great, and you’re nice and happy. You’ve brought the toddler with you, too. Now I don’t know what you toddler is like, but mine will certainly not sit still and watch a 30 minute swimming lesson; she’ll get bored, she’ll start causing mischief, I’ll get stressed… you get the picture!

Wouldn’t it be great, we thought, if there was a place where these kids could play – somewhere safe, somewhere exciting, somewhere ‘enclosed’. Even better, what if us mummies and daddies could sit back and enjoy a hot cup of coffee as we watched our kids swim. What if there was somewhere that you could go and feed your little swimmers after their lesson. Wouldn’t that be amazing?! We thought so too, which is why you’ll also find welcoming cafes and exciting play areas when you visit PaddlePod.

Tell us more!

When they open, the pools at PaddlePod @ Newcastle and PaddlePod @ North Tyneside will be used to deliver Nemo Swimming and SwimNE lessons (which you can book to join at anytime, by the way!). The cafe and play areas will be open to users of the pool, but also to families who don’t swim with us… yet. So, you’ll be able to drop in any time and enjoy our soft play (which will include dedicated baby and toddler areas), and catch up with your parent friends as your little ones play. You’ll also find activity rooms, which will be used to run all sorts of baby, toddler, and children’s classes.

We really are so excited, and we cannot wait to open our doors to you all in the autumn. In the meantime, why not follow us on Facebook or Instagram where you can stay afloat of all the latest news and developments. As the building work progresses, we’d absolutely love to hear from you, too – what would you like to see on the menu? What, in your child’s eyes, is the best part of a soft play? Who would you like to see running classes from our activity rooms? Contact us via social media, or drop us a line at hello@paddlepod.co.uk.