Alliance Leisure Recognised as a Top 25 Women-Powered UK Business

Alliance Leisure has been named on JP Morgan’s Top 200 UK Women-Powered Businesses, placing at an outstanding twenty-first on the list.

For half a decade, J.P. Morgan Private Bank has partnered with Beauhurst to celebrate leading women-powered businesses across the United Kingdom.

Their comprehensive report outlines the advances, achievements and contributions of women entrepreneurs, and their top 200 list acknowledges specific enterprises which have demonstrated outstanding success within their fields.

For those familiar with our CEO, Sarah Watts, this fantastic achievement will come as no surprise.

An entrepreneur through and through, her journey with Alliance Leisure began in 1998, after the birth of her third daughter. Having worked for five years at Bristol City Council, she saw first-hand how outdated leisure centres were losing relevance. Traditional models – basic sports halls, pools, and gyms – were no longer appealing compared to modern private fitness clubs. Sarah recognised the urgent need for public leisure to evolve.

She founded Alliance Leisure that same year to help local authorities secure funding for facility improvements. Her first success came when she secured £1 million for Hull City Council after a last-minute funding collapse. This breakthrough launched the company’s trajectory. As access to public funding improved, Sarah pivoted Alliance Leisure toward construction, leveraging her sector insight to design and deliver modern, engaging leisure spaces.

Since then, Sarah and the team have delivered over 285 facilities across the UK representing more than £465 million in investment, redefining public leisure for future generations.

Sarah says,

I always say we’re a 25-year overnight success story. Everyone keeps telling us we’re everywhere now, but it’s taken 25 years to get that level of traction.

Some of Sarah’s greatest achievements include developments involving city-wide transformation plans, such as those with Durham and North Yorkshire councils. In Durham, for example, Alliance Leisure has repurposed four facilities and are about to start on site at the first new build, a £27m community hub complete with a library, with the potential for two more to come later. This all forms part of a £100m+ programme that will transform the region, with multiple high-quality facilities for the community.

Despite the rapid growth of the business, Sarah continues to treat every member of staff as an individual and ensures they feel cared for, both professionally and personally. She comments:

I have always nurtured the business and the team as a mother. My own experience has helped me to become a better people manager. It is hugely important to me that the team feel supported both at work and at home. We adopt a very flexible approach to work, allowing individuals to manage their own diaries to fulfil personal and work commitments. I have always found that if you give a little you get more in return. Most of our senior team have been with us for over a decade and I like to think this is because they regard us as a fair and flexible employer.

I have an amazing team and feel incredibly fortunate to have such dedicated, hard-working individuals as my colleagues. The team inspires me on a daily basis and I am incredibly proud of them all.

Sarah is a passionate, visionary leader who has played a key role in modernising public leisure across the UK. Her journey has not been easy, often demanding high levels of resilience early on.

In the early years, she often found herself as the only woman in male-dominated meetings, regularly overlooked despite her expertise. Through perseverance and a strong belief in the value of public leisure, she has built a company that continues to transform communities and challenge industry norms.