The providers of leisure facilities need to meet highly varied and changing customer needs and expectations, within the constraints and characteristics of the physical accommodation. Such centres, whether within the private of public sectors, are substantial physical assets which require managing in a pro-active and strategic manner if they are to contribute to the enhancement of standards of services provided and to help to create and preserve a competitively advantageous position.

This paper proposes that there is an over-riding need for leisure centre operators and managers to adopt a strategic approach to the management of their facilities based upon a clear understanding of market expectations and a level of commercial sensitivity to identify trends and emerging opportunities.

Following on from a development of the theories which seek to explain the operation of the leisure industry and the role of facilities in the pursuit of organisational success, there is an account of structured investigations into the operation of a range of leisure establishments in order to elicit and impression of the strategic significance of these facilities.