Despite concerns about consumers’ spending power in the face of a continued squeeze on living standards, the market for leisure centres and swimming pools has managed to maintain a pattern of growth in the past five years. Although operators had some misgivings about the actual benefit of the Olympics, they have been reporting strong growth in numbers of swimmers and gym members since London 2012. While there is little doubt that they have generally improved their offer, it is clear that the Olympics played a role in encouraging people to get more active.

This report assesses the current status of the market in terms of value of spend, number of centres and how revenues divide between sport and ancillary areas. It also ranks the leading operators by turnover and number of sites operated. Finally, it provides a comprehensive programme of consumer research into consumers’ visiting habits, frequency of visiting, the types of activity they do in leisure centres, reasons for using or not using them and finally some more general attitudes towards sport and exercise.

Mintel last reported on this subject in Leisure Centres and Swimming Pools – UK, January 2013.

This report covers local authority-owned leisure centres and swimming pools, including facilities run on a ‘dual use’ basis, eg facilities housed within schools etc. that are available for use by the public at certain times of the day or week. Despite often being in direct competition with public leisure centre facilities, private health and fitness clubs are excluded from the coverage of this report, as are all other private facilities that are not open to the general public, such as those reserved for employees, or association or trade union members.

Where reference is made to data on public sports centres sourced from The Leisure Database Company, the use of the term ‘Public Sports Centre’ relates to both availability and core facilities. In terms of availability it has been refined to exclude those venues not available to the general public on a ‘pay-and-play’ basis or for club use only (usually applicable to educational-based sites). The Leisure Database Company definition also refers specifically to a venue with one or more of the following core facilities: health and fitness, swimming pool (indoor or outdoor) or sports hall.

Further information about The Leisure Database Company, its products and services, can be obtained by telephone from David Minton on 020 7379 3197, email to david@theleisuredatabase.com or via the company’s website at www.theleisuredatabase.com.