A popular North East leisure centre will be closing its pool for several months as work begins on major renovations.

Darlington Borough Council (DBC) has announced it will be closing down the Dolphin Centre's pool for four months to carry out "major structural work."

The council said the centre, which has been running for 40 years, will be shutting the main pool next month (January 1).

This comes as part of the continued refurbishment of the venue, which has seen £3.9 million invested into the leisure centre.

"Since 2019, we've invested over £3.9m to bring about much needed improvements to the Dolphin Centre, such as a new bowling alley and soft play experience.

"The Dolphin Centre pool is 40 years old and requires major structural work to be completed to ensure that customers can continue to enjoy the pool facilities in the future.

"The work is anticipated to take 4 months to complete."

Adding to this, the council have said swimming lessons and lane swimming would still take place in the training pool.

Meanwhile, they have also confirmed members can opt to freeze their membership during this period.

Swim4Life lessons offered by the centre will resume from Tuesday 3rd January taking place in the training pool.