Comedian Ivo Graham has called for the Swindon leisure centre that gave Oasis their name to be saved.
Graham, who regularly visited the centre as a child, posted a video on X/Twitter urging viewers “to voice objections to the permanent demise” of the Oasis building.
The second half of the video showed Ivo in a hot tub wearing an orange swim cap and a moustache he had grown for a “Nick Cave party”.
He said: “As a child, about as exciting as it got was spending my weekends at the Oasis Leisure Centre where I would shriek on the water slides.
Save the Oasis! @SaveOasis pic.twitter.com/pXatxqwiKM
— Ivo Graham (@IvoGraham) March 26, 2025
“The long future of this place is being decided this week, and it is not looking good, these places are important for community and sport.
“If you care about Swindon or water slides, or if the soul of where you grew up is being ripped up and sold to make flats, then check out Save Oasis Swindon.”
The building, which includes a swimming pool, slides and wave machine, first opened in 1976 and has been closed since 2020.
Oasis took their name from the leisure centre after Liam Gallagher suggested they use it instead of their previous name, The Rain, having seen it listed on an Inspiral Carpets tour poster.
In 2011, Liam performed there for the first time with his former band Beady Eye. Two years later he told NME that he thought Oasis was a “shit” name for a band. ”It was a shit name, but most band names are shit,” he said.
“It wasn’t just that [Swindon Oasis Leisure Centre] though. There was shop in the Manchester Arndale Market called Oasis that used to sell cool clothes too, and there was a taxi fucking rank round the corner called Oasis. It meant that we were out there, because we were different.”
In 2009, Morrissey was also taken to hospital after collapsing during his opening song while performing at the venue.
In a statement via the Swindon Advertiser, ‘Save Oasis Swindon’ also called on residents to submit objections against the plans to demolish the sports hall.
They said: “The Multi-Purpose Hall hosted a wide variety of sports, boxing matches, comedy acts, music and more over its nearly 50-year lifespan. Seven Capital intend to demolish it and not replace it. They have claimed viability but have never produced any evidence of their claims. They haven’t even produced a feasibility study. Yet there is funding available from bodies like Sport England.”
The statement continued: “The Oasis put Swindon on the map, please help to stop it becoming hemmed in by hundreds of flats and a shadow of its former self. The Oasis is a Swindon Institution and a famous site – to have an Oasis without a hall is quite frankly unthinkable.”
Elsewhere, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recently warned that Ticketmaster may have “breached the law” and “misled fans” during the Oasis ticket sale last summer.
Renowned music photographer Kevin Cummins also announced a new book, Oasis: The Masterplan, featuring a host of previously unpublished shots of the Gallagher brothers yesterday (March 26).
