OPERATOR PERSPECTIVE
1 LIFE
“For public leisure centres, swimming is a balancing act. Lessons are where the money is. The rest – casual use and wellness-focused activities – are generally loss leaders.” So says Steve Bambury, COO at 1Life. “With the continued high costs of energy, pool chemicals, staffing and so on, it’s getting to the point that councils – not themselves in a position to financially support us – are willing to allow more flexibility to dedicate more pool hours to lessons, to drive the revenues that ensure pools remain viable and open. “There’s still plenty of time for casual swim, but in our pools there are some times of day that are totally dedicated to classes. It allows us to meet the demand: average swim school levels are currently 115–120% of pre-COVID levels, with up to 2,500 students in our largest swim schools. There’s also plenty of opportunity to drive that number even higher. “Swimming lessons have been a key product line for us for the last few years, but we do need to get better at marketing, as well as improving our systems and software so it’s easier to book and manage lessons. 1Life was recently acquired by Parkwood, which has led the way with its online swimming platform: online joining, automated waiting lists, pre-qualification so you know which level to book your child onto, and so on. We have commenced migrating sites to these systems and I have no doubt it will drive our occupancy levels even higher.”
Public sector pool operators must strike a balance between revenue drivers and casual use, with the
support of local authorities, says COO Steve Bambury
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STATE OF THE UK SWIMMING INDUSTRY REPORT 2023
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