While the walls of the Epic leisure centre in Ellesmere Port are being reduced to rubble, it's clear your memories of the well-loved sports centre will live on forever.

The bulldozers moved in on the McGarva Way sports hub last week, prompting a flood of nostalgia from our readers.

You shared your memories of learning to swim there, of going to roller-discos, playing five-a-side football and squash, watching films at the cinema and also cheering on the Cheshire Jets basketball team who played there for a time in the 1980s.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to leave comments on the Facebook pages for both the Chester Chronicle and Ellesmere Port Pioneer.

Here are some of the memories you shared...

John Barnard recalled: "When I was a lad growing up in the Port, the council sent a letter to all of the residents asking them to vote for their favourite choices which included a skating rink and this swimming pool. My siblings and I were pleading with my parents to vote for the pool. For quite a while after it was opened - by the then prime minister, Harold Wilson - swims were restricted to timed sessions and there was always a long queue waiting outside for the next people's turn."

Mike Hopwood, who remembered the competition to come up with a name for the venue, said: "Every birthday, I used to win tickets to the Saturday kids cinema club. I started my swimming 'career' there too."

'The end of an era lasting a lifetime'

The building holds happy memories for Alison Brady, who said: "Saw many a film, went to many a roller-disco, swimming session, fitness class, gym session and met my fiancee in there, and made many wonderful friends. Saw the bar transform to a fitness studio, and the squash courts disappear, and now the poor building looks quite sad. End of an era lasting a lifetime."

Demolition of the Epic leisure centre in Ellesmere Port on Monday, December 14, 2015
Demolition of the Epic leisure centre in Ellesmere Port on Monday, December 14, 2015

Chloe Chapman said: "Used to love going there as a kid. Swimming lessons with school, dancing on a Friday afternoon and the birthday parties."

Jennet Curran added: "I learnt to swim there and had a many a great day in the summer holidays. Took my son swimming there over 14 years ago as a baby. So many happy memories from over 30 years."

'We couldn't afford to go to a real cinema'

The Epic had a cinema screen and showed films through the 1980s and also into the 90s.

Eileen Harland recalled: "I remember my hubbie taking our two older children to see 'Flight of the Navigator' and raving how good it was. We really couldn't afford the real cinema at the time!"

Chris Seils said he watched the Michael Jackson film Thriller there while Teresa Farrelly saw her first film there - Cinderella.

The Epic played a key part in the weekends of Simon Hulsman, who said: "Saturday afternoon matinees, the kiosk at the back, going swimming then spending rest of the day playing Pac Man in the restaurant."

We were even contacted by Geoffrey Hitchmough, who helped design the Epic when he worked at Ellesmere Port's architects office in the 1960s.

The Epic began life as an indoor swimming pool in the late 1960s, before being developed into a larger sports centre in the early 1980s.

It has been boarded up for some time and now the bulldozers have moved in. The £15m Ellesmere Port Sports Village, just a short trip away from the Epic along Stanney Lane, was opened in the summer as a replacement.