To think that my local swimming pool is outrageously expensive

[Missunreasonable]

I went swimming with one child this morning. This is a local council run pool. I didn't want to leave a lot of money in the locker so just took £5 and a £1 coin for the locker. I asked for an adult and child swim and the man said £5.80! Luckily I always keep a couple of pound coins in the car for parking and supermarket trolleys etc so I went and got another one for the locker.
That seems extortionate to me. My local private gym charges £30 per month for unlimited use and has a full fitness suite with gym, sauna, pool etc.
Am I just out of touch with prices of leisure facilities or is this very expensive? It seems expensive to me because the town I used to live in charges £5 for a family swim of two adults and two children but I am prepared to accept that this might not be the norm.

I'm decided to join the local private gym. They have a special offer on at the moment which works out at £25 per month if I sign up for a minimum of 3 months and I can take children in for an extra £2 per visit. I can use the sauna, pool, steam room, jacuzzi and gym and it is much cleaner than the council pool too.
Even if I just go twice a week I will save myself a lot of cash.

That £25 per month includes all of the classes too and they have a good variety.

YABU. Our pool is large at the sports centre, and probably costs about £80,000 a year to heat, never mind maintenance, chemicals, cleaning, staff, lifeguards, receptionists, building maintenance.

I always think of my friends pool- lucky cow, but it does cost her £20,000 a year to maintain heat and service, so over a fiver isn't much really. People spend that on a kids meal at Macdonalds.

Well apparently the average person has .14g of faecal matter on their arse just waiting to be washed off into the pool water. Multiply that by the number of people using the pool in a day.

Still fancy a swim?

Free swimming for U18 during the summer holidays at my council run pools. Has been the same for a few years now.

Brilliant scheme. We swim probably 3 or 4 times a week through the holidays.

I'd say that's pretty reasonable. I took my two children swimming after school last week to the lido. That cost 18, including a 2 supplement each for slides. It's a local authority pool (well, it's run by a third party as they all mostly are nowadays).

30 for a private gym membership per month is nowhere near the going rate round here- it's more like 70 or 80. I'm in the south east.

Op, that's what my council run pool costs too :-/ it's gone up since the council took it over!

£7.65 for adult and child here. Yours seems like a bargain on comparison . Everywhere seems expensive at the moment.

Swimming is free for children in our council area, if they have their Kidzcard. Brilliant.

Well apparently the average person has .14g of faecal matter on their arse just waiting to be washed off into the pool water. Multiply that by the number of people using the pool in a day.

Still fancy a swim?

Yup. Lots of people don't wash their hands properly after going to the toilet but we still buy prepackaged food or eat out. Life is full of germs and nasties so I am not going to spend my life worrying about it.

I went swimming this morning and it was 5.70 here! I asked why the price was so high and he said it was because of the school holidays.

My biggest bug bear is DD1 is 16.
In two pools she's an adult
In another she's a child.
In a third they have a student rate

She has to stay in education until she's 18. Therefore she is a child

Oh and I can't compare prices as one web site that runs three local pools only waffles about membership.

Another charges wildly more in the holidays and the whole thing is massively complicated by petrol and car parking charges and one nice place that sometimes refunds it's car parking.

Seriously I need a spread sheet.

Can I ask why you think pools should be subsidised? I can understand that it's nice if councils can make swimming a cheap activity but its not an essential activity. Our council used to have free swimming for kids but since the cuts they now charge. It works out just over a £10 for me and 2 kids to go swimming. Its still cheaper than lots of other activities.

I'm not in the UK, but isn't it really hot there at the moment? Is there nowhere you can swim for free outside, a local river or lake.

We go swimming most days but we go to the local lake so it costs nothing.

Or the sea.

I pay £16 a month for unlimited gym, swim, classes and activities at my local leisure centre.

YANBU though, your leisure centre is extortionate!

Ones is £6.20 for one adult and child.

Very deprived area, so bit of a high price. The pool is brand new and apparently deserted most of the time.

Just back from taking the girls swimming. It's £3.60 for an adult and £1.80 for each child in a family (family=1 adult plus up to 4 children). Our local leisure centre has a 25m pool, a diving pool, a toddler pool, a training pool, and a couple of big slides. There are inflatables every day during the holidays as well. I live in the NE .

Don't go swimming in a river or lake unless you know it is safe, there is a website with some wild swimming locations but not all of them (I checked the most well known one where I grew up and it wasn't mentioned despite being a wonderful large rock pool refilled each high tide).

£8 for one adult and one child here. Or 10 swims for 70. I didn't that was too bad.

Last time me, DH and DD went to the local pool it was £17 for all of us for 90 minutes because the slides were open (which DD won't go on).

I went swimming today with DD to the bordering county and it cost me just under £4 and DD was free as they have a £2 card for under 8's so they go then go in free. No slides and lovely clean pool and changing area.

Can I ask why you think pools should be subsidised?

Because council tax is supposed to support local council run services.

I have just checked and the manchester aquatics centre (previous commonwealth pool) is £3.10 for adults and free for under 16s during school holidays. The manchester aquatics is a very good pool used by professional swimmers regularly. So I still think most pools are charging over the odds.