A NEW health and fitness club specialising in racquet sports is due to open soon in Swindon.

A Next Generation club is planned for Kembrey Park, and the company has announced it has secured a £104 million credit facility to help pay for the Swindon site, as well as four others currently under development, including in Leicester and Black-pool.

As well as building the Swin-don centre, Next Generation has also bought the swanky Harbour Club, in Chelsea, a health and fitness centre which became famous when it was frequented by Princess Diana.

The Kembrey Park site will cover five acres, land that has been sold to Next Generation by the Moorfield Group.

It will contain a family-friendly racquet centre, a gym, indoor and outdoor tennis clubs, a pool and a restaurant.

There will also be a crche and pre-school facilities.

Next Generation's managing director Scott Lloyd said: "We are delighted to have completed this agreement and are excited to be maintaining our acquisition programme focusing on high-quality locations such as Kembrey Park."

Jeremy Marchant, of Moor-field, said: "We are pleased to have completed our agreement with Next Generation as we see this as another important step to improving the facilities that are provided at the business park

"We are extremely excited to have secured such a highly regarded operator as Next Generation."

Next Generation was set up by David and Scott Lloyd in 1998 after a disagreement with Whitbread, which had taken over the David Lloyd fitness chain for £200 million in 1995.

The Next Generation site is next to the site where a Brewster's pub diner and 50-bedroom Travel Inn is being built, near the roundabout on Ciren-cester Way.

Other recent lettings include space to Premier Watercoolers and Worldwide Travel Solutions.

Work has also been carried out to make sure that other facilities, such as cash machines, a sandwich bar and a car wash are on the site.

There have been rumours of an imminent flotation or sale of Next Generation for months, but Scott Lloyd insisted that there are no such plans.

"We are well-funded to continue our roll-out plans," he said.