A single-tank pool. The same hours.
+63% more participation.
Active Blackpool added 1,670 extra pool visits in the same time slots, with zero impact on swimmer count. 164 members used Hydrohex over the period, 91 of them new to the pool.
Active Blackpool · Blackpool, UK · Council operator · Hydrohex since 2026
+63%
more pool participation in the same hours
1,670
Hydrohex bookings tracked over 3 months
85.1%
average Hydrohex class fill rate
0
impact on existing swim audience
Source: Active Blackpool internal booking data · Mar-May 2026 · 143 sessions tracked · 30-min comparison window vs same period 2025 baseline.
The story
The single-tank constraint that became an opportunity.
Like most municipal leisure centres, Active Blackpool operates a single 6-lane, 25-metre pool tank. Peak-time capacity was always tight. Off-peak hours ran light. And the sector-wide aquatic instructor shortage was making it harder every year to programme the variety members actually wanted.
In 2026, Active Blackpool introduced Hydrohex into existing pool hours. The setup is deliberately simple: the Hydrohex screen on the long edge of the tank, half the lanes reserved for the class, half left open for lane swimming — running simultaneously.
One tank. Two audiences. Same hours.
Same pool. Same hours. More people.
Hydrohex added a new audience layer without displacing a swimmer.
Hydrohex runs on the long edge of Active Blackpool's 6-lane 25m tank: 3 lanes for the class, 3 lanes for lane swimming, simultaneously. The dots below show actual average occupancy during a typical class hour, before and after.
Total visits per period
2,656 → 4,326
swim only → swim + Hydrohex, same slots
Extra visits added
+1,670
in the same time slots
Pool utilisation uplift
+63%
on the same single tank
Before · swim only
~15
people / hour
25m²
per person
After · with Hydrohex
~28
people / hour
13m²
per person
+87% more people per hour · density still comfortable (13 m² each)
Schematic of average occupancy. Pool 6 lanes × 25m. Dots represent typical participants per class hour.
Aggregate figures: Active Blackpool booking data · 30-min comparison window, same time slots. Swim visits held steady year on year (2,568 in 2025, 2,656 in 2026); Hydrohex added 1,670 on top.
In the operator's words
“At a time when aquatic provision across the sector is under real pressure, optimal usage and programming has never been more important!”
Chris Rushton
Head of Active Blackpool
Who Hydrohex actually reaches
The audience that wasn't in the pool before.
The anonymised user data tells a story underneath the booking volume. Of 164 unique Hydrohex users in Mar-May 2026, 91 don't appear in the casual-swim records at all — Hydrohex isn't redistributing existing pool users, it's expanding the pool's audience into demographics traditional swim doesn't reach.
91 / 164
Hydrohex users
are not in the casual-swim records
91%
female
vs 54% female across casual swim
60
median age
vs median 38 across casual swim
10.2
average visits / user
29% attend 11+ times in 3 months
Age profile · unique users
% of unique users in each age bucket · same pool, same period
The two audiences barely overlap by age. Casual swim skews young (median 38). Hydrohex skews 50+ (median 60). 70% of Hydrohex users are aged 51-70 — exactly the demographic council leisure operators have historically struggled to engage.
Source: Active Blackpool anonymised user records · Mar-May 2026 · 164 unique Hydrohex users (1,670 bookings) vs 2,237 unique casual swimmers (12,779 visits) at Moor Park.
The operational reality
13 classes a week. 85% fill. Four programmes earning their slot.
Aggregate performance per programme, then the actual weekly schedule that produces it. Drawn from Active Blackpool's booking system, March-May 2026.
CARDIO
88.5%
POWER
85.5%
MOVE
84.6%
BEAT
81.8%
Weekly schedule · fill rate per slot
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
143 sessions tracked · Mean fill % per slot · 4 programmes · 13 weekly classes
Programming intelligence
The same library reaches different ages — depending on what you schedule when.
Class type and time of day each leave a distinct fingerprint in the booking data. Operators don't have to guess who they'll attract — the patterns below let them programme deliberately for the audience they want to grow.
By class type
Mean age per programme
10-year spread between BEAT (youngest) and MOVE (oldest)
Youngest skew — 26% aged 41-50, strong 51-60 too
Mid sweet-spot — 35% in 51-60, 30% in 61-70
Older-mid — 66% are 51-70, very few under 40
Oldest skew — 61% are 61+, draws the 71-80 cohort
By time of day
Mean age per slot type
16-year spread between evening (working-age) and afternoon (retiree)
Working-age dominant — 47% aged 41-60, only 17% are 61+
Mixed — 68% are 51-70, balanced retirees + part-timers
Retiree-heavy — 70% are 61+, the most senior slot
The programming playbook
Pick the audience. Pick the slot. The library does the rest.
To attract: Working-age 40-60
BEAT or CARDIO · evening slots (20:00+)
Thu 20:45 BEAT mean age 45 · Wed 20:35 CARDIO mean age 49
To attract: Active 60-70 retirees
MOVE · afternoon slots
Mon 15:05 MOVE mean age 65 · Fri 15:05 MOVE mean age 63
To attract: Broad 50-60 mid-life base
CARDIO · weekday mornings
Tue/Thu 07:50 CARDIO mean age 57-59 · highest fill class
To attract: Senior 65+ engagement
MOVE · weekend mornings
Sat 10:30 MOVE mean age 60 · Sun 09:30 MOVE mean age 58 (median 61)
These aren't predictions — they're observationsfrom 1,670 real bookings at one venue. The same patterns hold at Hydrohex sites across the UK because they're driven by what each cohort can physically fit into their week.
The structural finding behind the playbook
Hydrohex isn't a 50+ product programmed differently — the same library serves two completely distinct demographic plays.
The afternoon MOVE slots pull retirees (mean age 64). The evening BEAT and CARDIO slots pull working-age members (mean age 45-49) — different generation, different motivation, same screen and same content library. ~30% of Active Blackpool's Hydrohex users are under 50, concentrated in the late slots that traditionally sit empty for aqua programming.
The pattern isn't local to Blackpool — it shows up wherever Hydrohex runs. Hannah, 30s, busy mum at Bristol South tells the same story from a different operator: evening Hydrohex sessions fit around bedtime routines, and she brought her mum-friends with her. For an operator, that means one Hydrohex install can serve two distinct audience strategies in parallel — without changing the deployment, the content library, or the staffing. Programme the slot, get the audience.
Source: Active Blackpool anonymised booking records · Mar-May 2026 · 1,670 valid age+class data points across 143 sessions. Bristol South cross-reference: Hannah member testimonial · published on the UK homepage.
Deployment summary
The setup behind the numbers.
- Operator type
- Council operator
- Pool format
- Single tank · shared with swim audience
- Sessions per week
- 13 (across 4 class types)
- Class types running
- CARDIO · POWER · MOVE · BEAT
- Launched
- 2026
- Data period analysed
- March-May 2026 (3 months)
The bigger picture
Why this matters at every UK pool.
This isn't a site-specific playbook. UK aquatic operators face the same equation: a finite pool estate, expensive to maintain, serving an ageing audience, with a shrinking aquatic workforce.
Workforce crisis
~12,000
vacant UK aquatic-sector roles
Swim England + STA Workforce Audit · Jun 2023 ↗Universal access
Chest-deep
water · no swimming ability required
Hydrohex format · verified by member testimony
What this case teaches operators
Most UK leisure centres operate one pool tank, and adding another isn't on the table — the capex case rarely clears. Active Blackpool proves the only viable growth lever: stop treating the pool as one programme at a time. Layer compatible audiences onto the same water and you can lift participation by half or more, with no new construction, no extra instructor headcount, and zero impact on existing swimmers. That's how council operators escape the no-capex constraint.
Sources & methodology(9 citations)
- 1
+63% participation uplift, 1,670 Hydrohex bookings, 85.1% fill rate, 143 sessions tracked, per-class fill rates
Site dataActive Blackpool booking system export, March-May 2026 (file held by Hydrohex)
- 2
2025 baseline swimmer counts (2,568 in same time slots), 2026 swim counts (2,656), 30-minute pre-class window comparison
Site dataActive Blackpool booking system export, comparison sheet, 2025 vs 2026 same calendar period
- 3
Chris Rushton quote on aquatic sector pressure and optimal usage
Operator quoteChris Rushton, Head of Active Blackpool · supplied to Hydrohex for marketing use
- 4
6-lane 25m single-tank pool format · Hydrohex on long edge · 3 lanes for class + 3 for lane swimming
Site specActive Blackpool operational deployment, confirmed with site team
- 5
164 unique Hydrohex users · 91 of those are new to the pool (not in casual-swim records) · 91% female · median age 60 · mean visits 10.2
Site data · usersActive Blackpool anonymised user records · Hydrohex bookings, Mar-May 2026 · vs casual swim records same period (n=2,237 unique swimmers)
- 6
22 million UK adults aged 50+ by 2035 (growing demand for accessible aquatic exercise)
Industry researchONS 2022-based national population projections ↗
- 7
~4,400 swimming pools across ~3,256 sites in the UK (finite pool estate)
Industry researchWIRH UK pool register, 2023 ↗
- 8
~12,000 vacant roles in the UK aquatic workforce (~15% of total sector capacity)
Industry researchSwim England & STA Workforce Audit, June 2023 ↗
- 9
Hydrohex classes run in chest-deep water, no swimming ability required
Format specHydrohex class format specification · independently verified by member testimony (Craig, 56, Sandwell Aquatics Centre)
Run the same playbook at your pool.
30-minute call. We'll show how operators like Active Blackpool unlocked a +63% participation uplift on a single-tank pool, and what a deployment would look like for your facility.