THE swimming pools at Bicester Leisure Centre are now open again after both were closed on Thursday due to a blockage in an external drain.

An engineer has since cleared the blockage and an inspection was undertaken to give the centre the all-clear to reopen.

Cherwell District Council, which owns the site, said the blockage may have posed a “risk to health and safety and we had to close the pool”.

A spokesman said: “We totally understand the frustration of leisure centre visitors and have apologised unreservedly for the inconvenience cause d— unfortunately however the incident on Thursday was totally out of our control.”

It comes a day after the entire centre was evacuated in an unrelated incident after a fire alarm went off. The fire service checked the building and, after an inspection, it opened again for business on Thursday.