Editorial Policy

The Community Pool is an independent directory. We do not take payment from pool operators, leisure trusts or booking engines for inclusion, ranking or review.

What we index

Public-access swimming pools in the UK operated by local authorities, leisure trusts or charitable operators. We exclude private gym pools and hotel pools that require membership.

A pool enters the directory only when we have confirmed its published adult-swim price, basic facility data (pool length, lane count, features) and contact details from the operator’s own website or Sport England Active Places.

How we verify swimmer reports

Crowding and water-temperature reports submitted through the report form are queued for moderation. A report is counted toward the heatmap only after manual review for:

Plausibility

Temperatures outside 22–34°C or occupancy values outside 0–100% are rejected automatically.

Timestamp

Reports dated more than 60 days in the past no longer count toward the current heatmap.

Duplicate signal

A single IP submitting the same session more than once only counts once.

Corrections and takedown

If a pool page shows an incorrect price, closed status or out-of-date facility, the operator or any reader can request a correction through the contact page. Verified corrections are actioned within 5 working days.

Operators can request full removal of their pool from the index. We honour removal requests without requiring a reason.