Swimming ££!

[MotherOfCrocodiles]

Took Dc (4 and 2) swimming at our local leisure centre for the first time ever (older one has been on holiday pre COVID).

£24.80 for two adults and two kids, for an hour swim in the small/shallow teaching pool. Is this normal?! Was it always like that? I don't think I've really been to a leisure centre pool since I was a kid myself, I remember this being the kind of cheapest thing you could do every week....

@MotherOfCrocodiles

Sounds like we win the most expensive pool prize then! But thanks for all the suggestions for ways to make it cheaper in future. Definitely looking at swimming regularly this winter now things are open. I've had enough woodland walks and long dark afternoons in a sofa den to last a lifetime.

I swim 3 times a week and have an annual membership, it more or less halves the cost per swim. I agree re having had enough of winter walks!

I pay £5 for 45 minute parent & toddler session (both parents can go in the water, plus one child).

Her swimming Lessons are £24 a month (weekly lesson, all year round)

If it's a pool where you get free swimming for DC if they are enrolled in swim school, or one that also offers a swim or swim/gym membership I always think the prices are higher than other pools.

Example 2 pools near me
Pool 1: Adult £5.90, Children £3.70
Pool 2: Adult £4.75, Children £2.50

Not much difference in the pools, but Pool 1 wants you to enrol in its swim school/buy membership (and to be fair if you swam at least 5 times a month the membership saved you money).

Council pools are often significantly cheaper or free fir children who have swimming lessons there.,

When my dc were 4/1, I joined a gym with pools. The monthly cost was 1.5 x the cost of a family swim at the local baths, and I could take them both by myself (dh can’t and won’t swim). We went at least once a week. Sometimes every day!

Yeah I think it’s become more expensive, I paid £9 for two of us a few weeks ago (older child lane swimming) and it was an hour long session ….maybe the price hasn’t gone up loads but the time limit on the sessions makes it seem much more expensive!

Our local leisure centre is £4.50 per adult, £2.50 per junior, under 4s go free, and that's for an hour with full access to the pool, splash pads and water slides

I think that’s expensive. We go to a nice modem pool (but no baby pool) and it’s £10 if all of us go. Adults are £5 each, 8 and under are free. It’ll go up to £12:50 once ds turns 9.

There is no time limit you can stay as long as you want.

It's free for all under 18s in our inner London Borough, and also free for disabled adults and carers, so our family of 4 get in free. Our local pool is great, newly opened this year, splash play area, flume slide and 3 swimming pools.

Our council is fab for services generally, we have good libraries and children's centres and parks with great playgrounds, cafes and toilets. People often assume London isn't a good place to bring up small children but we seem to have much better services than elsewhere.

I recently paid £6.70 for a 45min adult swim session at our local "council" pool but looking online their family swim is only £12.50. I was shocked and it certainly put what I thought was expensive private gym membership into perspective!

It would be £18 at peak time for 2 adults and 2 children here, which I think is quite enough, given the fact that the pool is in a quite deprived town. There are various discounts for people on some benefits and you can buy different memberships too though, so that would be the maximum price. It’s all quite complicated, working out which tricker you actually need!

That's extortionate. We wouldn't even pay for the youngest at our local baths (Surrey) and a ticket would then be about £11 for the other 3.