Swimming Pool Scene COMMERCIAL MARKET REVIEW
State Of The Nation
Swimming Pool Scene’s annual review of the country’s public swimming pool sector…
ABOVE: In Scotland, there are 277 public swimming pools currently listed in SportScotland’s latest fi gures. Pic: Scottish Swimming.
With more sports and leisure opportunities on offer than ever before, swimming remains the country’s most popular participatory exercise activity.
Latest fi gures from Sport England revealed a small increase of
11,000 people taking up the sport in 2016 with 2.52 million now swimming at least once a week. Yet the number of public swimming pools in the country continues to decline. In fact, the 2017 State of the UK Swimming Industry Report
by Leisure DB reveals that the number of swimming pool sites has dropped by 0.5 per cent in the last 12 months. For the fi fth year in a row, more swimming pool sites have closed than opened. “Despite another slight decline in overall swimming pool
numbers, technology and water that have previously caused a few issues for innovators are fi nally beginning to come together,” comments David Minton, Director of Industry Analysts at Leisure DB. “New ideas and products to encourage swimming participation are emerging and it will be interesting to see how these developments impact the UK swimming pool market over the next 12 months.” In Wales, 17 public pools have closed since 2004 and only eight have opened or been refurbished, telling us that facilities in Wales are fewer than in the past.
LOCAL AUTHORITIES “Public swimming pools in Wales are predominately owned by the 22 local authorities in four regions and there are geographical challenges, namely accessibility, to quality facilities in places like North or West Wales. So it’s not necessarily about the number of pools it’s how we get the communities to engage and use the facilities we have,” explains Fergus Feeney, CEO of Swim Wales. “Having said all of that, you can never have too many pools,”
ABOVE: For the fi fth year in a row, more swimming pool sites have closed than opened. Pic: Scottish Swimming.
he adds. Fergus says that the biggest challenges facing facility owners and 36 Swimming Pool Scene COMMERCIAL MARKET REVIEW
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
