I was out the other day and I saw a road sign saying "Leisure Centre", and it occurred to me how strange it is that I knew without even going there it didn't mean a centre for any of the things that I'd call "Leisure" at all, it just meant some big gym for people who like taking physical exercise to adjust the shape of their bodies and that kind of stuff. What used to be called a sports centre.

A Leisure Centre surely ought to be somewhere where you could go and find a whole range of leisure activities. Ir'd be somewhere with a library and a cinema maybe, and a pub, and somewhere you could make music and listen to music, or have a dance, or hear a talk about something interesting. Yes and I suppose there might be a gym and a swimming pool in there somewhere, but they wouldn't be the centre piece.

Somehow the sporty mob have hijacked the term and limted it to a narrow segment of activity matching their hobby, and the local state has fallen in line civic backing as well. Seems most peculiar.

Is this just England, or does it happen in other places?