What is happening to UK swimming pools in 2023?
It’s clear to see that the recent cost of living crisis is significantly affecting households and businesses all over the country. With the media highlighting the increase in wholesale energy costs and global financial market turmoil, it’s also having a negative impact on many aspects of our lives.
The BBC recently reported that “more than 350 leisure centres, pools and gyms across the UK have either closed temporarily or permanently or made changes to their services in response to rising energy bills in the past year.” It’s a concerning trend that highlights the need for attention and action on this important issue.
What are local swimming pools having to do to stay open in 2023?
As one of the most popular recreational activities in the UK, and an essential life skill that children need to learn, many pool operators have been turning to increasingly desperate measures to keep their swimming pools open to the public.
To reduce overheads, it is widely reported that many operators have been forced to implement austerity measures, including lowering pool temperatures, turning down lights and urging swimmers to reduce showering times to save on energy costs. While these actions may be able to keep swimming pools open for a little while longer, the long-term damage that these measures could pose to swimming, and worse still, child drowning accidents, is enormous.
Currently in the UK, one in four children leave primary school unable to swim!
What is swim! doing in 2023 to make a difference?
With local swimming facilities facing challenges from rising energy costs, and a decline in available facilities for communities up and down the country, our goal is to make sure more children can experience the joy of swimming, regardless of their age or abilities.
It is our aim to deliver “best in class” teaching in our purpose-built, energy-efficient swimming pools, and we believe this offers an amazing new swimming alternative to the local communities of the UK. Having also trained over 400 new swimming teachers over the last 12 months, it is our commitment to keeping swimming at the heart of every community whether they have access to a local swim! centre or not.
Proud to be at the forefront of a mission to deliver best-in-class swimming lessons in an innovative family-first environment, we are continuing to expand our swim! centres in 2023, opening 2 amazing new centres in Oldbury and Newcastle in the next few months. With even more swim! centres planned throughout the upcoming year; we aim to reach even more children with our unique swim! programme in the next 12 months, and beyond.
Not just for the little ones…
There may not have been a swim! centre available when you were learning to swim, but that doesn’t mean you can’t experience the best in class teaching available from our fantastic swim! teachers. Launching in January 2023, our adult swimming lessons are now available in Sheffield and Warrington, giving parents a chance to learn the skills they missed out on as a child, improve their water confidence, or simply develop a better swimming technique. We will be looking to expand these adult lessons into new sites throughout the year so be sure to keep a keen eye on your inbox and our social media channels for more details.
To keep track of our incredible journey, and show your support for our mission, you share your photos and keep up to date with us on our socials or via the blog section of our website.
Share our story…invite a friend along to one of our FREE taster sessions.
Sharing the joy of our lessons with friends and family is a great way to experience swim! and encourage more children to learn this essential lifesaving skill. It can be a fantastic way to build strong relationships and experiences that last a lifetime.
Our FREE swim! intro sessions are the perfect way to experience the joy of swimming in one of our centres, allowing your friends to see for themselves why thousands of parents trust us to deliver swimming lessons to their children every single week.
Simply share the following link and your friend will be able to book their FREE swim! intro HERE.