Leisure Connection

Last updated
Leisure Connection
Limited
Genre Fitness, Leisure
Founded 1998
Founder Mark McCormack
Headquarters England, Wyboston, Bedfordshire
Parent Danoptra Gaming Group
Website www.leisureconnection.co.uk

Leisure Connection Ltd is a fitness and leisure provider and manager of facilities on behalf of local government, national sporting bodies and businesses in UK.

Leisure time that is freely disposed by individuals

Leisure has often been defined as a quality of experience or as free time. Free time is time spent away from business, work, job hunting, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as eating and sleeping. Situationist International proposes that leisure does not evolve from free time, and free-time is an illusory concept that is rarely fully "free"; economic and social forces appropriate free time from the individual and sell it back to them as the commodity known as "leisure". Certainly most people's leisure activities are not a completely free choice and may be constrained by social pressures, e.g. people may be coerced into spending time gardening by the need to keep up with the standard of neighbouring gardens or go to a party because of social pressures.

Background

Leisure Connection was formed from the merger of Relaxion and Circa leisure companies and is now part of the multinational Danoptra Group. In 2008, the Cognetas investment company, formerly Electra Partners Europe, sold their interest in Danoptra to Credit Suisse.

In recent years Leisure Connection has faced increasing competition for local authority contracts, not just from other companies but also from not-for-profit leisure trusts. It has sought to replace the dwindling margins of traditional contracts with private finance initiatives and more recently, running facilities owned by other companies including hotels.

Private finance initiative

The private finance initiative (PFI) is a way of creating "public–private partnerships" (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Developed initially by the governments of Australia and the United Kingdom, and used extensively there and in Spain, PFI and its variants have now been adopted in many countries as part of the wider programme of privatisation and financialisation, and presented as a means for increasing accountability and efficiency for public spending. According to critics, PFI has been used simply to place a great amount of debt "off-balance-sheet".

Leisure Connection's reputation has not been helped by frequent changes of Chief Executive, reports of poor standards, contracts terminated by dissatisfied councils, and involvement in the Clissold Leisure Centre, a new built facility that opened in February 2002 and closed in November 2003. In 2006, while Clissold was still closed, Hackney Council and Leisure Connection agreed to end their contract.

Since 2008, the Leisure Connection brand has been replaced to a large extent by Harpers Fitness. Other brands that belong to Leisure Connection include Camp Energy, Aqua Action Swim School, Learning Hub, Venue Connect, Planet Action and Party Animals.

Key facts and figures

Stoke Mandeville farm village in the United Kingdom

Stoke Mandeville is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located 3 miles (4.9km) from Aylesbury and 3.4 miles (5.5km) from the market town of Wendover. Although a separate civil parish, the village falls within the Aylesbury Urban Area. According to the Census Report the area of this parish is 1,460 acres (5.9 km2).

Related Research Articles

Craigieburn, Victoria Suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Craigieburn is a satellite suburb, outside of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 26 km north of Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area is the City of Hume. At the 2016 Census, Craigieburn had a population of 50,347.

National Aquatic Centre

The National Aquatic Centre (NAC) is an indoor aquatics facility in Blanchardstown, Dublin, Ireland. The Centre houses a 50 metre swimming pool with an associated diving pool, an aquapark and leisure pool, and a fitness centre.

Manchester Aquatics Centre

The Manchester Aquatics Centre, abbreviated MAC, is a public aquatics sports facility south of the city centre of Manchester, England, north of the main buildings of the University of Manchester near Manchester Metropolitan University. It was purpose built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and cost £32 million to build.

A leisure centre in the UK, Ireland, Australia and Canada is a purpose built building or site, usually owned and operated by the city, borough council or municipal district council, where people go to keep fit or relax through using the facilities.

Central Park, Plymouth park in the United Kingdom

Plymouth's Central Park is a large centralised park situated to the north of Plymouth city centre in south west Devon, England, stretching north from the railway station to Pounds House, Peverell and west from Ford Park Cemetery to the A386.

Haven Holidays

Haven owns and operates 40 family holiday parks, providing caravan, touring and camping facilities across the UK in predominantly coastal locations. Haven provides touring holiday facilities at 22 of the 40 holiday parks it operates, with 13 of these also offering camping pitches for tents and a further 10 offering pitches for trailer tents. Over the years, a rolling investment programme has provided new accommodation, landscaping, spas, golf courses and adventure golf, as well as enhancements to some of the leisure pools with flumes, slides and Space Bowls.

Greenwich Leisure Limited

Greenwich Leisure Ltd (GLL), operating under the brand "Better", is a non-profit charitable Social Enterprise organisation which runs over 250 sport and leisure facilities and libraries on behalf of local authorities in London and across the UK, as well as its own internal college and the "Healthwise" programme. Its headquarters is in Middlegate House, the 1810-built former storekeeper's mansion at Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, South East London.

Link Centre leisure centre in Swindon, England

The Link Centre is a leisure centre in Swindon, England. The building, owned by Swindon Borough Council and operated by Greenwich Leisure under the brand "Better", is best known for its national-sized ice rink which houses an English Premier Ice Hockey League team, the Swindon Wildcats.

Sunderland Aquatic Centre

Sunderland Aquatic Centre is an indoor sports complex next to the Stadium of Light in the city of Sunderland, England. It contains an Olympic-size swimming pool, a diving pool and a gymnasium. It is the only full Olympic-standard pool in North East England between Glasgow and Leeds.

The King Alfred Leisure Centre, owned by Brighton and Hove City Council and operated by Freedom Leisure, is the largest wet and dry sport centre in the city of Brighton and Hove and is situated on Hove sea front.

Launceston Leisure and Aquatic Centre is a double storey structure built at the old Windmill Hill Swimming Pool site in Launceston, Tasmania. The centre was opened on 25 May 2009, at a cost of A$26.3 million. The Launceston City Council estimates that 400,000 people would visit each year after the establishment period.

Eton Manor architectural structure

Eton Manor is a former name for a sports and leisure venue in Leyton, London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is the northernmost venue of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and remains as a permanent venue as part of the 2012 Olympic legacy, separated from the rest of the park by the A12 road. It is now known as Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre and is made up of four indoor and six outdoor tennis courts and two state-of-the art hockey pitches.

Sports and Leisure Management Limited (SLM) is a leisure management company that was formed in Hinckley, Leicestershire, United Kingdom in 1987. It trades under the name Everyone Active, which is its consumer brand. At present, the company manages almost 160 leisure centres on the behalf of nearly 50 local authorities and trusts all over England. It provides sports and leisure services to approximately 2.7million members and caters for 3.2million visitors each month.

Banbury Lido

The Banbury Lido or Woodgreen Lido at Woodgreen Leisure Centre, Banbury, Oxfordshire, OX16 0AT, is an open air lido.

Wavertree Sports Park

Wavertree Sports Park is a large sporting, exercise and leisure complex located in the Wavertree area of Liverpool, England. The sports park is home to the Liverpool Aquatics Centre, Liverpool Tennis Centre and Wavertree Athletics Centre alongside numerous other health and fitness related facilities.

Most leisure centres in Cardiff, capital of Wales, are owned by Cardiff Council. Since 2018, the running of the six formerly Council-run leisure centres, one swimming pool and three other leisure facilities has been outsourced to Greenwich Leisure, operating under their 'Better' branding. The Cardiff International Pool in Cardiff Bay is run separately by another private company.

Woking Park

Woking Park is a large park and leisure complex in Woking, Surrey, operated and maintained by Woking Borough Council. The park is in the Hoe Valley and will be affected by the Hoe Valley Scheme.

Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre swimming centre in Melbourne, Australia

The Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre is a public swimming pool complex located on the corner of High Street & Edgar Street, Glen Iris, Melbourne, Australia. Built in the 1960s by Australian architects Kevin Borland and Daryl Jackson, the Swimming Centre is considered to be a fine example of Brutalist architecture. Originally built as a municipal swimming baths, in 1927, the facilities were renovated in 1967 by Borland and Jackson to accommodate for higher swimming participation numbers. It is named in honour of Prime Minister Harold Holt, whose drowning death was announced during its construction and who was the local member of parliament.

Public swimming pools in Hong Kong

Public swimming pools in Hong Kong are managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD). There are 44 public swimming pools in Hong Kong; 9 in Hong Kong Island, 13 in Kowloon, and 22 in the New Territories. LCSD manages public swimming pools according to Law of Hong Kong Chapter 132 sections 42 to 45.

References

    BBC News BBC department responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs

    BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online news coverage. The service maintains 50 foreign news bureaus with more than 250 correspondents around the world. Fran Unsworth has been Director of News and Current Affairs since January 2018.