GLL

About us
We are sport, leisure and culture’s leading charitable social enterprise and worker-owned co-op founded on our purpose and values to provide a different, fairer and better way of doing business. Our purpose is to improve the physical, mental and social wellbeing of local communities.

As the UK’s leading provider of both leisure centres and libraries we operate 379 locations in partnership with local authorities and other organisations.

Product range and services
Operating across leisure, health, libraries and sports development, GLL works with partners, stakeholders and customers to build active and sustainable communities and provide accessible facilities for all.

We believe in offering value-for-money and creating fully inclusive, affordable and accessible spaces.

Our services are wide-ranging and offer current and potential partners a range of solutions and options for modernised service delivery, value for money and tangible added value.

USPs
GLL is the UK’s largest provider of public swimming pools, school swimming lessons, athletics facilities and public tennis courts, and GP referral programmes. We are the largest single provider of public libraries in the UK.

Our GLL Sport Foundation is the UK’s largest independent athlete support programme – which has helped over 31,000 athletes on their sporting journey since 2008, resulting in opportunities for young local sporting talent and dozens of medals at international competition including Olympics, Paralympics and Commonwealth Games.

In 2025 we launched our GLL Literary Foundation to support childrens’ authors with bursaries and mentoring.

Our Gold Investor in People Award and Living Wage Foundation accreditation recognise our positive commitment to fair treatment of our employees. We are rooted in local communities, at the heart of health and wellbeing, producing £1.63 bn of social value annually.


Plans for the next 12 months
Our 2026 strategies and roadmap are already well-shaped and are based on our Five-Year Plan, launched in 2024.

With our positive performance and improved social outcomes during 2024, GLL is well placed to be at the forefront of societal, economic and environmental change.

The future will see us focusing on excellent customer service alongside our social enterprise values and growing our social impact, while new partnerships with Government Departments, NHS, National Agencies and numerous National Charities will support individual wellness and economic outcomes.

Testimonial
“We made the decision to begin supporting the GLL Sport Foundation in 2015, and it is a pleasure to announce the renewal of our sponsorship with this incredible institution.

"Many bright and talented athletes throughout the United Kingdom are unable to chase their dreams of sporting glory due to lack of funding. We are passionate about helping GSF give equal opportunities to all young people and achieving their dreams of competing on the international stage.

"Our partnership enables both our brands to share the success of the UK’s most aspiring athletes who we are proud to have heard speak in such an inspirational way at our internal Sales Conferences and who have supported our marketing and brand development goals through representation and storytelling both in person and via social media”.

– Rod Tonna-Barthet, chief executive, Annodata