The café is open, the pitches are booked and there are sports camps and craft sessions running through the school holidays at Underhill in Mumbles.
A year ago none of that was certain. The company running the sports hub was heading into liquidation, the doors were closing and nobody could say when, or whether, they would open again.
Swansea Council now says the site is running well ahead of anything forecast for it. Income across the first seven months came to £236,688, which is 39% above the projection set out in an independent feasibility study.
The business rates bill that closed the last operator has also come down, from £74,500 to £22,250. The councils put the saving at £52,250 a year.
Which means the pitches, the café and the hub are staying put, with council money behind them until at least August 2027.
The rates bill that closed the doors last summer
Underhill Management Company, the firm set up by Mumbles Community Association to run the site, went into creditors’ voluntary liquidation last July.
The problem was a rates bill nobody had budgeted for. The Valuation Office Agency put a rateable value of £100,000 on the site in August 2024, later cut to £74,500 on appeal, and the charity that owns Underhill did not qualify for the charitable relief it had expected.
That is the pressure the two councils have now taken off the site.
Seven months, and a café that is open again
The reopening came in stages, with pitches and changing rooms first on 11 August last year and pay-and-play sessions a week after that. The hub and café followed on 1 September.
Mumbles Community Council has run the site on an interim basis since then.
What runs there now: sports camps and festivals, pay-and-play, family activities, community events, Toys and Toast sessions and the café, alongside what the councils describe as an expanding year-round programme.
(Image: Swansea Council)
Swansea Council has committed financial support of up to £240,000 until August 2027.
Mumbles Community Council has put in £62,300 from its 2026/27 budget, funded through the precept that Mumbles households pay as part of their council tax.
‘The results speak for themselves’
Cllr Rob Stewart, Leader of Swansea Council, said the two authorities had acted because they knew what the site meant locally. “We believed that with the right support, Underhill could become a thriving sports and community hub serving residents of all ages.”
He said costs were also running better than forecast. “The results speak for themselves. Income is significantly ahead of projections, costs are performing better than forecast, and thousands of people are already benefiting from the activities, events and opportunities on offer.”
Cllr Will Thomas, chair of Mumbles Community Council, said Underhill was becoming the facility its supporters had always argued it could be. “Underhill has been given a new lease of life and is rapidly becoming the vibrant, inclusive and sustainable facility we all believed it could be.”
He put the turnaround down to the people running it. “This strong start is a credit to the dedication and hard work of the staff and volunteers who have transformed the facility in such a short period.”
The site is home to clubs including Mumbles Rangers, Newton Athletic and Mumbles RFC. Its £2.1m redevelopment was backed by the Welsh Government, the National Lottery and both councils.
The Go Underhill project goes back five years. The community council took over the lease from Swansea Council in January 2021, and the redevelopment was underwritten by an £840,000 Welsh Government loan.
Swansea Council’s committed support runs to August 2027.
For now the summer programme runs on. Camps, crafts, pay-and-play, and a café with the lights back on.
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