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Original poster

When did swimming become so expensive?

95 replies

MyYoniSaysNoni · 31/08/2023 17:26

Just took ds and one of his friends to local council run pool. Its alright, nothing fancy. But i thought it would be a nice way to burn off some energy and make a change from kicking a ball in the park.

2 kids plus one adult came to £21.

Ds does swimming lessons at a different pool and they've just sent an email that prices are going up from September. I understand that heating the pool must cost a lot, plus staffing, etc. And we're fortunate that we can afford the increase.

But that MN mantra of 'swimming is an essential life skill and all children should have lessons/frequent family trips to the pool' must surely be increasingly out of reach for many many people.

OP posts:
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Peachespeachesohpeaches · 31/08/2023 20:16

It was £17 for us the other weekend (2 adults & 1 child, as under 3s are free).

DD1 has swimming lessons at a different pool for £26.50 a month. We can't swim there as a family though because it's only available for public swim for 1.5 hour on a Sunday over lunchtime so instead we drive 20 minutes away to use a different pool thats open 10-3.30pm. It's always packed with people I recognise from our town....

Lemonademoney · 31/08/2023 20:16

Swimming lessons here are £33 a month but my children can then use the pool at other times for no extra charge. Mine are little fishes so it’s a pleasing bonus.

I do agree though that we are told swimming is essential but then charged a fortune to take them to lessons.

Snugglemonkey · 31/08/2023 20:19

It is £18 here for 2 adults. Children are free. Our swimming lessons are £12 each.

Dentistlakes · 31/08/2023 20:21

I agree, swimming as a family has become very expensive. There have also been several pool closures in nearby towns recently, I presume due to the cost of heating the pools. Swimming really is something everyone should be able to access and it does worry my some children won’t get a chance outside a few short lessons in school in they’re lucky.

DeathMetalMum · 31/08/2023 20:23

£19.20 for a family of 4 or £16.20 with a membership card which is free. Local fairly cold council pool.
Kids are £3.80 with the card, they do a pass for summer for about £20/25 for kids unlimited swimming.

Slightly further away pool with a wave machine and actual warm water £17.00 for a family.

Smout · 31/08/2023 20:23

The pool I go to is £4 for adults, £2 for under 18 and concession. I pay £27 a month for unlimited swimming, gym and fitness classes.

Nevermind31 · 31/08/2023 21:08

actually, worse than the cost was that you could never actually go as a family… lessons, women only, disabled… no family swim at the weekend

thaisweetchill · 01/09/2023 09:19

HipHipWhoRay · 31/08/2023 18:01

@thaisweetchill i think the question is where are you?! Sounds much cheaper than anything I’ve heard in years!

South Staffordshire!

Just checked the prices it's £4.80 for an adult, £2.80 for juniors and under 5s are free.

Croissantsandpistachio · 01/09/2023 09:32

We're on the border of several boroughs and I keep meaning to make a spreadsheet as the costs vary so wildly. It can cost anything from about £5 to £29 for me to take 2 kids swimming depending on the borough.

The other thing that's deeply irritating since covid is the need to book slots. No just turning up spontaneously during the family swimming slots. Overall availability has plummeted. The lido local to us used to be open for free access, all day, £10 for kids for all summer. Now it's almost totally lane swimming and costs 24 for an adult and 2 kids. It's unheated as well so they don't have that excuse

Mine can both swim decently so don't have regular lessons so out of touch with what those cost.

Teateaandmoretea · 01/09/2023 09:34

Ours is 4.95 for adult, 2.45 for children for public swimming. Concessions same price as adults though (although there are a lot of wealthy pensioners locally). Midlands.

The variation is baffling isn’t it?

Adelstrop · 01/09/2023 09:45

£22 a month here in Wilts and you can swim every day, though you do have to book.

enchantedsquirrelwood · 01/09/2023 09:51

Imjustbrowsing · 31/08/2023 18:29

If you think these are high, we have a swimming pool called “ Coral Reef” about 20 mins from us and a family ticket is £60 for a 90 mins.
Adult ticket is around £20, madness.

That has the flumes etc though, I expect that to cost more. DS and I went there last year and I think we paid £11 a head. It is run by the same company that run my local pool.

enchantedsquirrelwood · 01/09/2023 09:52

Teateaandmoretea · 01/09/2023 09:34

Ours is 4.95 for adult, 2.45 for children for public swimming. Concessions same price as adults though (although there are a lot of wealthy pensioners locally). Midlands.

The variation is baffling isn’t it?

And particularly when a pool is run by the same company. Clearly they think they can charge more in certain areas.

Also some towns have new leisure centres and I suppose they are trying to claw back their investment. Coral Reef that was mentioned above was extensively renovated a few years ago and I can think of at least three pools relatively local to me that are new (built in the last 10 years).

Costs at mine are: £6.30 for adults and £5.10 for kids!

But you can pay £270 a year for a swimming membership if you don't have lessons, which is probably well worth it.

enchantedsquirrelwood · 01/09/2023 09:58

Actually I just checked Coral Reef and it's £17 a head for adults. I don't remember paying that much but perhaps I did!

Dinosauratemydaffodils · 01/09/2023 09:59

We paid £21 as a family of 4 for an open swim just before our schools went back (in Scotland).

Couldn't get the kids a place for Council lessons so we are currently paying £30 per week (£15 each) for private ones.

Flipbopboop · 01/09/2023 10:03

I'm in Manchester and public swimming sessions are free for under 16's and over 265's. Adult swimming sessions are £3.92 for one adult and child with the Manchester Active card.

We also have fantastic Active sessions including water aerobics and Funaquatics that are £1.20 per session. The Funaquatics session is for one adult and one child.

Teateaandmoretea · 01/09/2023 10:04

enchantedsquirrelwood · 01/09/2023 09:52

And particularly when a pool is run by the same company. Clearly they think they can charge more in certain areas.

Also some towns have new leisure centres and I suppose they are trying to claw back their investment. Coral Reef that was mentioned above was extensively renovated a few years ago and I can think of at least three pools relatively local to me that are new (built in the last 10 years).

Costs at mine are: £6.30 for adults and £5.10 for kids!

But you can pay £270 a year for a swimming membership if you don't have lessons, which is probably well worth it.

Edited
Show quote history

I think the prices are to do with what’s been agreed by the council and the level of subsidy that particular council provides.

BettyOBarley · 01/09/2023 10:09

We pay £27.50 pm for DDs swimming lessons at our local council pool and she can then swim for so many hours a month for free, so for me and DS plus her free place it's £10.65 a time.

All our local council pools are actually at risk of closure though due to budgets, so it's ok having it cheap but not if they don't exist anymore.

BogRollBOGOF · 01/09/2023 10:13

My local pool is about £8 each and has a waterpark. It's good fun and is a once in the holiday treat. The waterpark is easy to book, but there's not really a general swim type session that I'd be happy to take two competent swimming older children to where they can casually swim around and have fun.

Our staple is the pool where we have lessons (about £23 per month each). They get admission included, and my fee is £5. Even if they were £5 each, it would still be £9 cheaper than the alternative.
The provision is OK, generally a few hours a day in holidays and weekends for family swims. There's the smaller training pool and then a mid-size family pool that tends to have big floats in, then a well-proportioned main pool. I tend to book the family pool then we drift in and out of the main pool. Well, I'm supposed to book online, but software developers obviously don't have families and the process is a ball ache and I like keeping the receptionists in their jobs.
It is the best set up out of all the pools in reasonable travelling range. Not glamourous, but functional and a fair price.

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 01/09/2023 10:14

Our council is considering closing all our pools! All 7 are under threat.

Adults £7, kids £4.
You can buy a card for a £5er that reduces this by 50p or so.

More £££ for the main leisure centre in town.

Mmr224 · 01/09/2023 10:21

We are £16 for 2 adults and 2 x 3 year olds. Price goes up to near adult price for them at 8 years old at which point it will be £19.

WonderingWanda · 01/09/2023 10:46

It's always been quite expensive and inaccessible to people on low incomes. I wouldn't be able to swim if my primary school hadn't provided free, very decent swimming lessons for 4 years.

Sprogonthetyne · 01/09/2023 10:48

Our council leisure centers run swim sessions which are free for different groups like families/ kids or elderly (on different days). When the cost of living crisis started to hit last winter they increased the number of sessions, I think to take the pressure off the cost of heating water, so people / their kids can shower there after free session.

If you go outside these times it's £2.20 for adult, £1.80 for kids or 70p for under 5's. We live 'up north' where people struggling is nothing new, but the council and local services do seem to be on the ball.

Yellowlegobrick · 01/09/2023 10:51

The shift for councils to outsource swimming pools to the likes of Better etc has resulted in massive decline in availability of public pools imho.

At the end of the day, swimming pools are costly. They need to be subsidised, especially for children's lessons. Lots of towns simply don't have a pool at all where in other countries they would.

The UK is and always has been exceptionally poor at long term investment, as an economy we invest far less than other nations and it shows.

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