OVERVIEW & TRENDS
TOTAL MARKET
NO DATA 2020 & 2021 DUE TO COVID-19
Number of sites with a swimming pool: 2010 - 23
4000
Private clubs
Public centres
1725
1728
1719
1706
1701
1694 1698
3000
1694 1694 1702
1664 1646
2000
1549
1541
1540
1534
1532
1521
1475
1468
1464 1467
1344 1309
1000
0
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014 2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2022
2023
KEY STATS FOR 2023 ■ Across the UK, the total number of clubs/ centres with a pool is down -1.8% since our 2022 report. ■ The number of pools is also down -0.8% compared to last year. ■ At the end of March 2023, there were 2,955 sites with pools across the UK, accounting for a total of 4,351 pools; some locations have multiple pools. ■ Of this total, the private sector operates 1,309 pools and the public sector 1,646. ■ Nuffield Health and GLL remain the UK’s leading private and public operators, respectively, by number of sites with a pool. ■ Public leisure trust GLL leads the way with 136 swimming centres, followed by Nuffield, which operates 113 private clubs with a swimming pool. ■ Trusts dominate in the public sector, managing 51% of all UK pools; in Scotland, the figure is 67%. ■ GLL and David Lloyd Clubs are the only two top operators to have added more than one site with a swimming pool in the last 12 months, logging seven and two respectively. ■ In the 12 months to the end of March 2023, the average public pay and play swim fee increased by 5.9% to £5.22.
Looking specifically at this year’s report, pool closures continue at a lower rate than in the 12 months directly following COVID. However, it’s interesting to take a historical look at pool stock, beyond the obvious impact of COVID and energy costs over the last few years. Relatively stable from 2010–15, a small drop in pool numbers followed between 2015 and 2019 – most notably in the private sector, driven in part by factors such as low-cost operators acquiring clubs with pools, then removing all wet-side facilities. Set against this backdrop, the financial crisis-inflicted drop in private sector pool stock in particular is notable over the last few years – a sector in which the decision to provide swimming is purely commercial, uninfluenced by local authority targets or tender specifications. “If you have 10 clubs and they all have pools, you could be spending half a million pounds on energy,” observes Third Space Managing Director John Penny. “I’m not surprised that some of the lower price-point operators that have pools are perhaps contemplating whether this is a facility they value enough to justify these costs.” (For a full interview with Penny, see page 50.)
23
STATE OF THE UK SWIMMING INDUSTRY REPORT 2023
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