Brandon Leisure Centre has held its first ever customer Focus Group to find out what local people think about the facilities. The Focus Group was held just before Christmas and the session was conducted by an independent research company, HelenGrauppFisherPR, so that participants could be completely honest and speak freely.

Feedback was positive in that people thought the Leisure Centre provided fantastic facilities for the town but the group felt that many people were put off using them because they perceived the Pay and Play prices to be too high. Participants recognized that the monthly or annual membership deals were excellent value and could work out at just £1 a day if used regularly but they still felt that occasional users were put off by the price of individual classes or new induction fees.

Andy Killin, Facilities Manager at ACL, says: "We have compared our prices with those in other facilities in the area and our prices are all fair and reasonable but we do hear what people are saying. Everyone agrees that our monthly or annual membership deals are great value but people may not know that we also give discounts on Pay and Play prices depending on someone's age, if they are a student or if they are receiving benefits. We don't hide any of our prices so visitors to our website can see exactly what we charge. We are genuinely a community facility and we want to welcome everyone at a price they can afford so they really must ask our staff what discounts are available. "

Other ideas to come out of the Focus Group were the suggestion of a Weekend Membership aimed at mums or dads so that their other half could look after the children whilst they use the gym or attend a class. For this reason people said that they would welcome more weekend classes. They also suggested having more regular antiques fairs, wedding fairs, craft fairs or such like, to bring the community to the centre and have an opportunity to give them more information on the fitness facilities when they attend.

Interestingly, none of the Focus Group attendees knew that Brandon Leisure Centre offers weddings for £1,000 which everyone thought was outstanding value. The venue and associated catering is usually a huge chunk of the overall wedding costs for the day and with the average UK wedding costing in excess of £20,000 in 2012 (source: Ideal Bride Magazine 2013) the Leisure Centre's £1000 package can offer significant savings.

Andy says: "The feedback from this exercise has been really valuable and we will be looking at all comments thoroughly. We realise now that we need to make more people aware of our discounts and concessions and we certainly need to shout about our weddings. Brandon Leisure Centre is a real community facility so we want to encourage more and more local people to use it."

Anglia Community Leisure, which runs the leisure centres in Brandon, Mildenhall and Newmarket, is also offering a special 'New Year New You' promotion. Anyone who signs up for gym membership at any of the ACL leisure centres at Newmarket, Mildenhall or Brandon between 7 January and 30 April will enjoy up to 50% off the induction and joining fees and a free membership pack. Those who pay annually or monthly will also receive a free session with their own personal trainer and a free nutritional consultation whilst those who join as a 'Pay and Play Member' will receive two free swim vouchers and two free group exercise class vouchers.