A charitable social enterprise, owned and governed by its staff, that runs hundreds of public leisure centres and libraries across the UK under the Better brand.
GLL, short for Greenwich Leisure Limited, runs leisure centres, swimming pools, gyms, sports halls and libraries on behalf of local councils, and the public sees it as Better. A 2019 anniversary document said it ran over 270 sport and leisure centres and 140 libraries, working with about 50 partners; a more recent Better page says it works with over 60 council, university and government partners. It also runs Better venues such as Copper Box Arena and Lee Valley VeloPark in Stratford, where the gym is described as a place where 'everyone has a place to grow', and it has a digital wellbeing platform called Live Better.
GLL began on 1 July 1993 as a not-for-profit charitable social enterprise. Councils facing budget cuts needed a new way of running leisure services, and its first site was the Waterfront Leisure Centre in Woolwich. It is a Society for the Benefit of the Community, which means it cannot be bought out, and its staff own and govern it: every member of staff can stand for and vote for the board. Its stated aim is to help more people be more active, more often, and to reinvest its surpluses into its social purpose. A Better page describes it as the UK's largest leisure and cultural services charitable social enterprise.
The registered office is Middlegate House, The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, London. From Greenwich it spread to other London boroughs and then to Northern Ireland and other regions. The 2019 document divides the UK into North and Central, South West and Wales, Northern Ireland, West, London East and London West. Places named on Better pages include Richmond, Hackney, Stratford, Belfast and Cardiff.
On culture and community work, the 2019 document says GLL runs the GLL College, which offers apprenticeships and training and enrolled 2,474 students in 2018. It also set up the GLL Sport Foundation in 2008 to support emerging athletes and the GLL Community Foundation in 2017. It runs Healthwise, an exercise-on-prescription programme, and an annual Better Club Games for older adults, which drew over 1,800 participants to its 2026 national finals according to a Better news page. The 2019 document put its staff at around 14,000, so that figure is dated.
The jobs are very varied: lifeguards, swimming teachers, gym instructors and personal trainers, sports coaches, centre and duty managers, receptionists, library staff, health and community development officers, and head office teams in finance, property, digital and people. Because the organisation is owned by its staff, it describes a say in how the business is run for everyone who works there. If you like sport, health or serving your own community, a local Better centre is often a short bus ride away.
Website: www.better.org.uk
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