Café at Dundee Olympia set to open in the new year

The café at the newly reopened Dundee Olympia is set to open in early 2024, the centre’s operators have confirmed.

The Olympia welcomed the public back on Monday (December 18) after being shut since October 2021 for more than £6 million worth of repairs.

Ahead of its return, a notice was posted on the Public Contracts Scotland website looking for an operator to run the centre’s café.

The notice advertised a five-year contract worth £1 million.

It read: “The Olympia Swim and Leisure Centre is presently undergoing a programme of maintenance and refurbishment with an anticipated reopening date of November 2023.

“Within the facility, there is a designated café/restaurant which is accessible to both facility user groups and the wider general public.

“Dundee City Council and Leisure and Culture Dundee are looking to invite submissions for the café for a period of five years.”

The deadline for submissions was September 22.

Now Leisure and Culture Dundee, who operate the Olympia, have confirmed they are close to appointing a contractor to run the café

A spokesperson for the authority said: “We are in the final stages of appointing an operator and intend to open the café in in early 2024.”

Swimmers delighted to be back

Swimmers from as far away as Australia passed through the doors of the Olympia when it reopened on Monday.

The full reopening followed swimming clubs returning to the centre the previous week.

It marked the end of a two-year saga that has seen the centre close for essential repairs less than a decade after the centre opened at a cost of £33m

Documents uncovered by The Courier revealed how the building was deteriorating just weeks after its completion – prompting the council’s chief executive at the time to raise concerns.

The council has so far rejected calls to carry out an independent inquiry what went wrong at the centre.