Britannia Badminton Hall in Hoxton: Off-Peak Hour for £12.25

Britannia Leisure Centre on Pitfield Street is one of the newest public sports buildings in inner London. Hackney Council opened it in June 2021 on the edge of Shoreditch Park, replacing the old Britannia centre with a building that stacks two 25-metre pools, a six-court sports hall, squash courts and rooftop pitches into one block. For badminton players working in Shoreditch, Old Street or the City, it is the closest full-size public hall, and Better publishes the court prices on the centre page so you know the cost before you leave the office.

The centre was built alongside the City of London Academy Shoreditch Park as part of a council regeneration scheme, and in June 2022 it won New Concept, Design or Build of the Year at the UK Active awards. Hackney Council later reported that visitor numbers roughly doubled compared with the old centre. That popularity is the first thing to plan around: on weekday evenings, families, swimmers and racket players all arrive at once.

GLL, the charitable social enterprise behind the Better brand, runs Britannia for Hackney Council. The building's mix tells you who it serves: a family leisure pool with flumes, a teaching pool, a crèche and soft play sit alongside a large gym and five studios. The sports hall is a calmer space by comparison, a single six-court floor used for basketball, volleyball, netball, dodgeball and table tennis as well as badminton.

Britannia's price page lists badminton in two formats. An adult off-peak court for 60 minutes costs £12.25 for non-members, £8.85 for pay-as-you-go members and £6.00 for concession members. An adult peak court is a 40-minute slot at £9.80 for non-members and £7.10 for members. Juniors aged 8 to 15 pay £7.40 for an off-peak hour as non-members, or £5.25 as members, and £5.90 or £4.20 for a 40-minute peak slot.

Racket hire is £3.20, and shuttles are sold at reception rather than rented. The page also notes that non-member pricing applies to members if the activity is excluded from their membership type, so a gym-only plan does not automatically unlock the cheaper badminton rate. Split four ways, an off-peak doubles hour as non-members comes to just over £3 a player, which is cheap for a hall this new and this central.

Peak at Britannia runs Monday to Friday 6am to 9am and 4pm to 10pm, and Saturday and Sunday 8am to 1pm. Off-peak is Monday to Friday 9am to 4pm and, unusually, Saturday and Sunday 1pm to 8pm. That long weekend off-peak window is the centre's best-kept secret. Most London public halls close or switch to block bookings by late afternoon at weekends, but here you can book a full hour on a Sunday evening at the lower rate.

The centre itself is open Monday to Friday 6am to 10pm and Saturday and Sunday 8am to 8pm. If you can only play after work, a 40-minute peak slot is the format on offer, so warm up before your booking starts rather than spending the first ten minutes of court time on stretches. Book through the Better app or website, and if the evening slots are gone, look at the weekend off-peak window instead, which runs all afternoon and into the evening at the cheaper hourly rate.

Arrive with non-marking indoor shoes and your own shuttles, because buying a tube at the desk adds to the cost of a short peak booking. The building's changing village serves swimmers, gym users and racket players alike, so allow a few extra minutes before an after-school or after-work booking. Locker use in the changing village takes a £1 refundable coin or locker token, while lockers on floors one to three are free with a personal combination code.

Groups that play weekly often choose the off-peak hour because it gives a full 60 minutes on court. If you have a mixed group of adults and teenagers, the junior rates apply to players aged 8 to 15, which keeps a family session affordable. The rooftop also has two tennis courts and two five-a-side pitches, so a group can split between sports and meet afterwards at the on-site café.

The centre opens straight onto Shoreditch Park, a wide green space where you can cool down with a lap of the paths before heading home. A few minutes east is Hoxton Street, where the street market and small shops give the area a neighbourhood feel that contrasts with the office blocks around Old Street. Hoxton Hall at 130 Hoxton Street, a Grade II* listed music hall first opened in 1863, is now a community arts venue with a restored Victorian auditorium.

Continue to Kingsland Road and you reach the Museum of the Home at 136 Kingsland Road, set in eighteenth-century almshouses with gardens arranged by period. It is a gentle end to an evening if you played an early session, and the gardens are a quiet place to sit. Further south, Hoxton Square and the streets around Old Street station are full of places to eat, so you rarely have to walk far for dinner after a match.

Address: Britannia Leisure Centre, Pitfield Street, Hackney, London N1 5FT. Getting there: Old Street station on the Northern line is about a ten-minute walk south, and Hoxton station on the London Overground is a similar distance east. Centre hours: Monday to Friday 6am to 10pm, Saturday and Sunday 8am to 8pm. The sports hall has six badminton courts, with peak bookings in 40-minute slots and off-peak bookings in 60-minute slots.

Book through the Better app or better.org.uk under Britannia Leisure Centre. Bring court shoes, a racket or £3.20 for hire, and shuttles. Pick the weekend afternoon or evening off-peak window for the best value, and the weekday evening peak only if you can be warm and ready the moment your court time begins. With the park on the doorstep and Hoxton Street a short walk away, it is an easy hall to fit into a working week.