A leisure centre has been accused of being "filthy" and unpleasant to use.

Pensioners who regularly exercise at Colchester Leisure World claim it is dirty and called for the place to be kept cleaner.

Bosses at the centre in Cowdray Avenue said they would investigate.

A 73-year-old woman, who uses the fitness pool three times a week for water mobility classes, said the facilities were not nice.

She did not want to be named because she intends to keep going to the centre, but called for improvements.

The pensioner said: "The changing rooms are filthy.

"You walk into them and don't have to take off your outside shoes so that when you walk to the pool, you're walking back through that filth.

"The pools themselves are dirty and the water is cold."

Charlotte Somers, Colchester Council's sport and leisure marketing officer, said: "We are unaware of any of the issues raised but we will investigate further.

"Whenever we hear about anything like this we investigate."

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