Bringing the UK swimming sector together

Operators, governing bodies, researchers and industry partners gathered at the London Aquatics Centre for the Freeflow event. The day included evidence-led discussions about the challenges, opportunities and changing shape of UK swimming

EVOLVE FreeFlow returned to London in September, bringing together the people responsible for operating, supporting and shaping swimming across the UK. The opening State of the UK Swimming Industry panel set the tone for an open and wide-ranging afternoon. Hosted by Olympic medallist Steve Parry, the panel featured Rebecca Cox of Swim England, Dave Candler of the Swimming Teachers’ Association, Simmy Akhtar of the Royal Life Saving Society UK and Andrew Clark of GLL and the Swimming Alliance. The discussion explored the pressures facing the sector, including the ageing pool estate, workforce capacity, water safety, operating costs and unequal access to facilities. It also highlighted swimming’s enduring popularity and the shared determination to protect and improve provision.

FreeFlow provided an early preview of EVOLVE’s State of the UK Swimming Industry Report 2026. Dan Harrison and Head of Research Jamie Buck introduced findings drawn from EVOLVE’s long-term facility records, including how the current pool estate developed, regional differences in public provision, changing swimming prices and the development pipeline.

The presentation also demonstrated the pace at which the market continues to move. Although the report’s evidence closed at midnight on 31 July 2026, EVOLVE recorded 112 further significant developments across 79 local authority areas during August.

The programme then moved from national evidence into the everyday decisions facing operators. An energy session examined procurement, investment and the continuing effect of utility costs. The Measuring and Making Pools Productive panel brought together Ian Cotton of Everyone Active, Chloe Efford of Horizon Leisure, David Springthorpe of Lynxight and Chris Stanton of Third Space to discuss pool occupancy, programming and how better operational intelligence can help make more effective use of available water space.

The final panel, Swimming: Connecting the Data Dots, considered who currently swims, how customers behave and where future growth could come from.

Alexa Passingham of EVOLVE demonstrated how demographic profiling can reveal which household groups are reaching swimming facilities and which remain under-represented. The discussion showed how local customer profiles can add valuable context to headline participation numbers and help operators make better-informed programming, marketing and investment decisions.

Alex Scott-Bayfield of Fitmedia brought a distinct legal, policy and project-management perspective. As a qualified sports lawyer with experience spanning the Olympic sphere, international federations, national governing bodies and central and local government, she offered a particularly broad view of the structural issues facing sport and swimming.

Andy Kidd of Swimathon examined customer motivation and behaviour, while Andy Farr of Parkwood Leisure brought the different strands back to operational reality. Together, the panel asked whether the greatest opportunity lies in attracting new swimmers, increasing frequency among existing customers, improving retention or making better use of current pool capacity.

Attendee Chloe Efford described the FreeFlow event as providing “a realistic yet productive view of the UK aquatic industry”, combining honest discussion of the barriers facing swimming with opportunities for innovation and improvement within the aquatics sector.

FreeFlow was supported by social-networking sponsors Everyone Active and ReCreation. EVOLVE also thanks the event’s goodybag partners: KitBrix, Swimathon, Grenade, Recotherm, Triton Training, Scentered, AREA, RLSS UK, STA and SPATEX.

The State of the UK Swimming Industry Report 2026 is available at [www.weareevolve.io/market-intelligence-reports](http://www.weareevolve.io/market-intelligence-reports) SwimNation readers can receive 25% off the downloadable PDF using the code SOTSIR25P.