AquaZone management reacted swiftly to the closure two weeks ago, promptly raising its number of group fitness classes by 25 per cent and purchasing new equipment.

It has increased its number of classes from 50 per week to 66, the new timetable starting next Monday. 

AquaZone service manager Ray Smith said many of Action’s former members had come to AquaZone seeking memberships.

“We probably didn’t expect to get as many people because of Action closing down but we’re making changes straight away,” Mr Smith said.

“Action had a real good raft of programs very similar to us.”

To meet the increased demand, extra timeslots have been introduced, including a number of new classes aimed at 9-to-5 workers.

Former Action instructors have also gained employment at AquaZone to help run the increased number of classes.

Les Mills’ Body Combat and Body Attack classes, which were popular at Action, will make a return to AquaZone, having last run there in 2008 and 2011 respectively. 

A new hip-hop class for children aged 8 to 12 has also been added. 

Mr Smith said the centre had “heaps of (new) members coming in” during the past couple of months which he believed were a result of usual summer/New Year increases and Action’s closure. 

“We do over 220,000 paid visits per year,” he said.

“That’s been increasing and probably the most significant increase has been in our memberships. That’s where we’ve seen the most growth.”