Swim! at Liverpool South
Swim! runs a dedicated 19 metre teaching pool at Speke, south Liverpool, with weekly lessons from baby swim up to age 11, plus private and school holiday intensive courses.
Who it suits
Families across south Liverpool and north Cheshire, from Garston and Hunts Cross to Widnes, who want a pool built only for lessons rather than a shared corner of a public leisure centre.
Why it stands out
- Pool is 19 by 9 metres, a constant 1.2 metres deep, and heated to 31 degrees
- Open 50 weeks of the year, closing only between Christmas and New Year
- Founded with Olympic swimmers Rebecca Adlington, Steve Parry and Adrian Turner behind the programme
- Runs private one to one lessons and intensive school holiday courses alongside the weekly classes
- Free on site parking and a viewing lounge with wifi for parents who wait rather than swim
Our verdict
Fifty five pounds a month for one weekly half hour is the highest headline price of the three Liverpool venues in this batch, above Star Swimming Academy's flat £15 a lesson and Puddle Ducks' £17.50, even before weeks per month are taken into account. What you get for it is a pool built specifically for lessons, open nearly every week of the year, with private and intensive options if weekly classes are not enough. Do not book expecting a published class size or term dates, because neither appears on the venue page, and do not treat this as a general family swim spot, since the pool is given over to lessons and private bookings rather than casual sessions.
What it is
Swim! Liverpool South sits on Triumph Way in Speke, next to JD Gyms, and is built only for swimming lessons rather than shared with public swim sessions. The company was set up with backing from Olympic swimmers including Rebecca Adlington, Steve Parry and Adrian Turner, and the Speke site runs the same core split as the rest of the group: a baby programme for the under 3s and a broader learn to swim programme for children up to 11.
Who should book
Families across south Liverpool and the edge of north Cheshire, close enough to Widnes and Runcorn that the drive makes sense, who would rather pay a bit more for a pool that exists only for lessons. The pool is 19 metres by 9, a steady 1.2 metres deep and heated to 31 degrees, so there is no deep end and no temperature that catches a nervous swimmer out. It stays open 50 weeks of the year, with the only break between Christmas and New Year, which matters if you have ever lost a month of a leisure centre programme to a summer closure.
What stands out
Beyond the weekly class, Swim! offers private one to one lessons and intensive courses timed to school holidays, useful for a child who needs to catch up fast or a family working around a single week off. Parking is free and on site, and there is a viewing lounge with wifi for the parent who is not the one getting in the water that week. What the venue page does not give you is a published class size or specific term dates, both of which are worth asking about before you commit to a monthly payment.
The verdict
At £55 a month for a single weekly lesson, this is the most expensive of the three Liverpool venues covered here, and you are paying for a dedicated building rather than a shared council pool. That trade makes sense if you value consistency, since a 50 week year with one short Christmas gap beats most local leisure centre timetables. It makes less sense if you are watching the budget closely, since Star Swimming Academy and Puddle Ducks both publish a flat per lesson price well under what this works out to, and neither of those requires signing up to a rolling monthly payment.
More Swim! venues
All Swim! venuesSwim@ runs small-group lessons for 3 to 11 year olds in the pool at Erskine Stewart's Melville Schools, developed with Olympic medallists Becky Adlington and Steve Parry.
Rebecca Adlington and Steve Parry's Swim! runs baby to age 11 lessons in a dedicated 18 by 7 metre pool on a south Leeds retail park, in classes capped at six children.
swim! runs a dedicated 18 by 7 metre pool on Archer Road for ages 0 to 11, £60 a month for a weekly lesson, with parents in the water for baby classes and a viewing lounge once children turn three.