Leisure DB State of the UK Swimming Industry Report 2023

TOP 10 POOL OPERATORS

PUBLIC SECTOR

Top 10 pool operators: Average swim fee and number of centres

£7

Wiltshire Council

GLL

Fusion Lifestyle

Freedom Leisure

£6

Leeds City Council

Serco Leisure

High Life Highland

Places Leisure

£5

SLM

Parkwood Leisure

£4

100 110 120 130 140 150

■ Parkwood Leisure has the lowest at just over £5 (£5.09). It is the only top 10 operator to charge less than the UK public sector average. You can read our interview with Parkwood on page 79. ■ Compared to 2022, average pay per swim fees at GLL are +8.4%, SLM +6.9% and Freedom Leisure +10.4%. ■ Of note, however, is the huge subsidy this still represents, with GLL calculating that it costs its business £10–15 per swim to deliver this service (see page 20-22).

■ In 2023, the average pay per swim fee across the top 10 public sector operators is £5.67 – a 6.2% increase on 2022, when the average fee was £5.34. ■ This compares to a UK-wide average of £5.22 in 2023, making swim fees across the top 10 operators 8.6% more than the UK average. ■ All top 10 operators now charge, on average, £5 or more for a swim. Wiltshire Council has the highest average swim fee (£6.80), followed by Fusion Lifestyle (£5.97).

Top 10 pool operators: Average swim fee

£6.80

£7

£5.97

£5.83

£5.74

£5.70

£5.69

£6

£5.59

£5.45

£5.09

£5

£4

£3

£2

£1

£0