Swansea‘s leisure centres are busier than they have been in years — but a council report has laid bare how much it costs to keep them running.
More than two million visits were made to leisure facilities across the city in 2024/25, according to the latest Leisure Partnerships Annual Report.
Usage at the centres run by Freedom Leisure alone reached 2,098,565 — up from 1,878,928 the year before — with gym memberships climbing to 13,274.
But the same report shows those centres cost more to run than they brought in, with the council topping up the gap.
Across the Freedom Leisure contract, the centres earned £8.5m in 2024/25 but cost £9.9m to operate.
On top of that, the council paid Freedom Leisure a management fee of £1.17m — up from £987,000 the previous year — plus a further £182,000 in contract support.
(Image: Wales National Pool)
The cost of the National Pool
The picture is starker at Wales National Pool Swansea, which ran a net cost of more than £1.6m.
The council’s funding for the pool reached £680,800 for the year, after an extra £200,000 was agreed at Cabinet specifically to cover a deficit pushed up by rising energy costs.
The pool’s set-up is about to change. From August, the Wales National Pool — along with the rest of Swansea Bay Sports Park — will be run by Freedom Leisure, named as the site’s new operator in April.
It means the not-for-profit trust that already runs the council’s leisure centres will, from 1 August, also take on the pool, under a separate contract overseen by a council and university joint venture.
The change is tied to a wider £150m vision for a sport and health “superhub” at the Sketty Lane site.
(Image: Powell Dobson)
Energy bills the recurring pressure
Energy has been the recurring pressure across the venues in the report, echoing the extra costs support the council stepped in with back in 2023.
The report notes that operators running large facilities with swimming pools have been hit hardest, given how much energy they consume.
There were brighter notes. The redeveloped Cefn Hengoed Leisure Centre and its new sports barn saw gym membership jump 32% and bookings reach 90% capacity within weeks of opening.
Freedom Leisure also won learn-to-swim provider of the year and a sustainability award at the 2025 Swim Wales Awards.
Plantasia bucks the trend
Plantasia, the tropical zoo run by Parkwood Leisure, told a different story — visitor numbers fell 4.8% to 111,697.
The report links that drop to a wider slump across Welsh attractions, with cost-of-living pressures blamed for visitor falls of between 15% and 25% in 2024.
Despite that, Plantasia still turned an operating surplus, and recently earned major industry accreditation from BIAZA, placing it among a select group of UK and Ireland zoos recognised for animal welfare and conservation standards.
Part of its surplus was reinvested in a £90,000 “Giants of the Past” dinosaur installation, with the council contributing £40,000 of its share towards the project.
The Wales National Pool, meanwhile, hosted 36 event days over the year, including international competitions, and saw its coaches and swimmers represent Team GB at the Paris Olympics.
Tracey McNulty, the council’s head of cultural services, parks and cleansing, said affordable leisure played an important role in supporting residents’ health and wellbeing.
She said that while rising energy costs continued to present challenges, the council’s partnerships were keeping services running and investing in facilities.
The report was presented to the council’s Cabinet for noting, rather than for a decision.
It follows a similar review a year earlier which charted the post-pandemic recovery in visits to the city’s leisure venues.
