OPERATOR PERSPECTIVE
OPERATOR PERSPECTIVE
There is no one silver bullet – turnaround is the result of many factors combined – but if it saves a pool for a community, it’s worth doing
What are you seeing in the wider sector? School swimming has been a hot topic since the start of my career, but the number of pupils leaving primary school unable to swim is only increasing, as is the number of schools not attending lessons. As The Swimming Alliance, we are making this a flagship project, lobbying to ensure swimming and water safety remain a key part of the national curriculum and receive the necessary funding. I have also been asked to pull together a taskforce from across the sector to create a more standardised delivery approach when providing this service to schools, with water safety prioritised over swimming technique. In terms of the UK’s pool stock, I spoke last year about the need to create two or three blueprints for operationally efficient, easy to build pools that could cover the vast majority of new build requirements – essentially an IKEA model of pool design and build. Sadly nothing has really
changed here – projects remain architect-led and cost tens of millions of pounds – and it’s hard to know who should be responsible, as operators tend to come in fairly late to most projects. At the very least, though, we have to get to a point where we’re learning from previous projects and aren’t repeating the same mistakes. We have to share learnings. And here, at least, we are making good progress through The Swimming Alliance. It’s fantastic what can be achieved when no-one feels the need to take credit. The recent parliamentary debate around the importance of pools and leisure centres to communities, for example – which was brought by the Alliance – wasn’t just a good debate but also drew good attendance. And with an APPG (All-Party Parliamentary Group) for swimming and an APPG for water safety, I’ve certainly spent more time in the House of Commons in the last few weeks than over the last five years.
Without increased support, smaller operators will disappear and pool closures will continue to accelerate
But the devil is in the detail. With a pool stock that’s long past its intended lifespan and acceleration in the rate of closures, we must look at each pool individually and make a plan. Should local provision be consolidated into one new pool, taking a long-term perspective on the cost savings of an energy-efficient new facility? Will a new housing development include a new pool? Elsewhere, it might be a case of looking at who can take over a struggling pool. GLL has done this in a number of places, showing local authorities that there is an alternative to closing the pool. We go in with the confidence and faith that if we get the core offer right – swim/gym/fitness classes and swim lessons – we can create an efficient leisure centre. The rest of the nice-to- have programming can come later. Just as one example, at one centre we went into a year ago, we’ve grown the swimming lesson programme by about
25 per cent, predominantly thanks to online booking and making the customer journey easier. Of course, it takes work and there is no one silver bullet – turnaround is the result of many factors combined – but if it saves a pool for a community, it’s worth doing. What we really need now is a longer-term perspective from central and local government. We’ve known for years that this crisis was coming and we’re all doing our best to keep pools open. Any funding we receive, any savings we make through the agency model, it all goes back into the customer experience and keeping these vital facilities open. But we need more support. Ours isn’t a sector that’s being vocal for no reason: pools are drowning. Without increased support, smaller operators will disappear and pool closures will continue to accelerate.
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STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2023 STATE OF THE UK SWIMMING INDUSTRY REPORT 2025
STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2023
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STATE OF THE UK SWIMMING INDUSTRY REPORT 2025
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