Riverside Leisure Centre - Alphington Road

Formerly the Plaza Centre, this leisure centre is difficult to miss, as the large curved glass wall surrounding the pool appears as you leave Exeter towards Alphington. The site, next to the railway viaduct that crosses St Thomas, had been semi derelict for several years. Before that, part of the site was occupied by P Pike & Co Ltd, Austin dealers - during the war, their workshops were used to repair Spitfires.

The Leisure Centre was built by J Sainsbury's, as part of their new store complex, in St Thomas during 1984, at a cost of £8 million. Designed by Exeter architects, Marshman, Warren and Taylor, the curved wall of the Leisure Centre is said to be the second largest of its type in Europe. The idea was borrowed from the Stuttgart Gallery designed by James Stirling. The original 35 m pool had plastic palms and a wave machine, which deterred the more serious swimmers, so it was refurbished into a more conventional 6 lane, 25 m swimming arena, and a 13 m learner pool.

The rest of the building which contains two squash courts, fitness suite, sports hall, and a bar and cafe, is more utilitarian in style. The Leisure Centre, and associated Sainsbury's Store and St Thomas Library complex were opened by Diana, the Princess of Wales in 1986. The plaque, that the Princess unveiled on that day, has since mysteriously disappeared. When Sainsbury's opened their new store, at Alphington Cross in 1999, the St Thomas store was closed, demolished and rebuilt into a series of large retailers including PC World (now Next, 2005) and Boots in the main complex and Pizza Hut in a new facility at the front of the site.