GuernseyIsland Graph
The Guernsey Business CensusChapter 7 of 16

Leisure & Recreation

199 organisations are counted with Leisure & Recreation as their primary sector — 1 in 17 of everything with a sector on record, and the 7th largest of 16. A further 154 work in it alongside another sector.

As of 3 September 2026⧉ Cite this chapterBrowse the Leisure & Recreation directory← The whole census
199

organisations counted with Leisure & Recreation as their primary sector, across the Bailiwick’s four inhabited islands.

353Work in it at all
8Sub-sectors on record
10Parishes represented
110With capabilities mapped
9Capability domains

Coverage

#coverage ⧉

How complete is this sector’s count?

199 counted & publishedmeasured coverage 61%

An estimated 61% of this sector’s organisations are counted. The figure is a measurement, not a target: it comes from the same independent comparison the whole census is measured by, restricted to this sector’s rows.

Island-wide, the Bailiwick’s true trading population is estimated at 4,877–5,990, measured on 3 September 2026 by capture–recapture against Google's business listings for the Bailiwick, with every organisation that was itself added from those listings left out of the comparison so the two counts stay independent.

A sector’s coverage is published as a percentage only. The stratum carries no confidence interval, so a sector population would be a point estimate dressed as a range — and the organisations invisible to both the census and the comparison listing pull every such estimate down.

Every count in this chapter is therefore a floor, never a total.

Numbers you can print

#headlines ⧉

The figures in this chapter that clear the citable bar — coverage high enough, count large enough, denominator named. A figure that does not clear it appears further down as a chart, badged, or not at all.

Organisations whose main line of work is Leisure & Recreation199Of the 3,407 organisations with a primary sector (100% of 3,407)1 in 17 of the organisations with a primary sector on record — the 7th largest of 16 sectors counted.Share-card ready
Share of parish-known Leisure & Recreation based in St Peter Port1 in 3A parish on record for 165 of 199 organisations (83%)55 of the 165 whose parish is on record — a concentration of 0.78 against the parish's share of everything counted.Share-card ready
The largest kind of Leisure & Recreation organisation on record72This attribute is on record for 199 of 199 organisations (100%)Clubs Societies — 36% of the sector, ahead of Arts & Entertainment (35) and Sports & Recreation (28).Share-card ready
Organisations working in Leisure & Recreation at all353Counted over all 3,680 active organisations154 more than the 199 that call it their main line — counted in every sector they work in, so sector totals add up to more than the island does.Share-card ready

The signature

#signature ⧉

Half of those with a founding year began after 2002, and 18 of 123 were founded a century or more ago

A founding year is on record for 123 of the 199 counted here — one of the few sectors where the seam is full enough to draw. The island's median is 2006, on 1,848 of 3,680 (50%) — below the citable bar, which is why it sits in this sentence rather than in the heading above. Counts organisations still trading that publish a founding year; older firms are likelier to do so — survivorship and reporting bias at once.

Founding era#signature-age-eras ⧉

Leisure & Recreation organisations by founding era

A founding year on record for 123 of 199 Leisure & Recreation organisations (62%)

0102030pre-18001950–792000–09252020s

Counts organisations still trading that publish a founding year; older firms are likelier to do so — survivorship and reporting bias at once.

The earliest founding year on record in this sector is 1206, published by Castle Cornet. A floor date: the oldest we have found, not the oldest on the island.

Median founding year on record2002A founding year on record for 123 of 199 organisations (62%)Counts organisations still trading that publish a founding year; older firms are likelier to do so — survivorship and reporting bias at once.
Trading for a century or more18A founding year on record for 123 of 199 organisations (62%)Of those that publish a founding year at all.On record for 62% — indicative
Founded in the 2020s18A founding year on record for 123 of 199 organisations (62%)Of those that publish a founding year at all.On record for 62% — indicative
Oldest founding year on record1206A founding year on record for 123 of 199 organisations (62%)Castle Cornet — the earliest year any organisation in this sector publishes. The year and the organisation are read from the same live claim the histogram counts, so the tile disappears rather than going stale.

What it is made of

#composition ⧉

Clubs Societies leads, on 72 organisations

Every organisation is counted once, in its primary sub-sector. Separately, 154 organisations outside this count work in Leisure & Recreation alongside another sector — they are not in the bars below.

Primary sub-sector#composition-l2 ⧉

Leisure & Recreation by sub-sector

Counted over all 199 active Leisure & Recreation organisations

Clubs Societies72 36%Arts & Entertainment35 18%Sports & Recreation28 14%Children's Activities24 12%Outdoor Activities17 9%Attractions & Activities15 8%Wellness & Relaxation7 4%Gaming & Hobbies1 1%

Counts each organisation's primary sub-sector, so the bars sum to the sector, and each is the roll call the directory lists under that name.

156 further organisations work in Leisure & Recreation alongside another sector and are not in these bars: each is counted in the sub-sector of the sector it calls its main line. "Works in", never "is in".

Where it happens

#parishes ⧉

St Peter Port holds 55 of them

1 in 3 of the 165 whose parish is on record. Beyond Guernsey, Alderney 15, Sark 6, Herm 1.

Headcount#parishes-count ⧉

Leisure & Recreation organisations by parish

A parish on record for 165 of 199 Leisure & Recreation organisations (83%)

Organisations055
St Peter P…55St Sampson25Vale24Castel18St Saviour6St Pierre du Bois7Torteval4Forest6St Martin13St Andrew7

Tap a parish for its full name and count — at this size some shapes are too small to carry a label. Every parish is in the table.

Guernsey parishes only; Alderney, Sark and Herm are counted in the island split above.

12 Guernsey organisations in this sector have no parish on record — a real gap, not an exclusion, and the map fills in as verification proceeds; a further 22 trade on Alderney, Sark or Herm and are counted in the island split rather than on this map.

Concentration#parishes-lq ⧉

Where Leisure & Recreation is over- and under-represented

A parish on record for 165 of 199 Leisure & Recreation organisations (83%)

Share vs the islandunder ½×below island share≈ island shareup to 2×over 2×
St Peter P…0.78St Sampson1.14Vale1.11Castel1.31St Saviour1.20St Pierre du Bois1.40Torteval—Forest1.09St Martin0.90St Andrew1.27

Tap a parish for its full name and count — at this size some shapes are too small to carry a label. Every parish is in the table.

The same island, drawn on a location quotient: this sector's share of a parish against its share of the island. Hatched parishes hold too few of this sector to compare at all. Parishes holding fewer than 30 of this sector are drawn and tabled but never named in a sentence: a quotient over a handful of organisations moves on one new record, and a superlative that flips that easily is not one.

What they can do

#capabilities ⧉

The typical mapped organisation holds 2 capabilities, against 3 island-wide

1 in 2 of the sector has at least one service resolved to the graph, across 9 domains, against 71% island-wide. Capabilities as published by each organisation and resolved to the graph; a business with no capability claim is not necessarily a business that does none of these things.

By group#capability-groups ⧉

Capability groups on record

A capability on record for 110 of 199 Leisure & Recreation organisations (55%)

On record for 55% — indicative
Sports & activities38 35%Attractions & heritage25 23%Arts, entertainment & culture22 20%Children's activities20 18%Fitness & movement16 15%Clubs & societies15 14%Alternative & complementary1 1%Care & support1 1%Spa, massage & relaxation1 1%

Capabilities as published by each organisation and resolved to the graph; a business with no capability claim is not necessarily a business that does none of these things.

43 of the 110 with a capability on record span two or more of these groups (39%). Two capabilities inside one group are one trade, not two, which is why this counts groups rather than nodes.

The busiest nodes#capability-nodes ⧉

What the most organisations are on record for

A capability on record for 110 of 199 Leisure & Recreation organisations (55%)

On record for 55% — indicative
Team & field sports10 9%Children's dance classes & scho…9 8%Dance9 8%Arts workshops & tuition8 7%Headlands, bays & coastline8 7%Heritage sites & visitor herita…8 7%Archery & shooting ranges7 6%Arts & cultural societies7 6%Children's music tuition7 6%Coastal & walking trails7 6%Nature reserves & trails7 6%Painters & visual artists7 6%

An organisation on two of these is counted on both, so the rows add up to more than the number of organisations.

What goes with what#capability-pairs ⧉

Capabilities held together

A capability on record for 110 of 199 Leisure & Recreation organisations (55%)

On record for 55% — indicative
Organisations08
Team & field…Children's d…DanceArts worksho…Headlands, b…Heritage sit…Archery & sh…Arts & cultu…Children's m…Coastal & wa…Nature reser…Painters & v…Team & field…Children's d…DanceArts worksho…Headlands, b…Heritage sit…Archery & sh…Arts & cultu…Children's m…Coastal & wa…Nature reser…Painters & v…

Each cell counts the organisations on record for both capabilities; the diagonal is blank on purpose. Capabilities as published by each organisation and resolved to the graph; a business with no capability claim is not necessarily a business that does none of these things.

How central is it?#capability-roles ⧉

Is this what they do, or one of many things they do?

A positioning note on record for 97 of 199 Leisure & Recreation organisations (49%)

On record for 49% — indicative
This is what they do86 89%Core to the business36 37%One of many services23 24%A sideline11 11%

The roles overlap: one business can be “this is what they do” for one capability and “a sideline” for another, so these rows add up past the number of businesses.

The sector online

#digital ⧉

72% of Leisure & Recreation have a website of its own

Against 67% island-wide — 5 points above the island rate. The gap is the robust part: the sector’s own rate is measured over the organisations we have found, and the ones still missing are disproportionately the web-invisible.

Sector against island#digital-vs-island ⧉

Digital presence, this sector and the island

Counted over all 199 active Leisure & Recreation organisations

Leisure & RecreationThe island
0%50%100%Has a website67%72%Website on a .gg domain27%28%Links a social account of any kind48%54%Links a Facebook page46%49%Links an Instagram account23%30%

Each track carries both values at its ends; the gap between leisure & recreation and the island is in the table view. Measured in share of organisations.

Verified from published evidence; businesses without a web presence are under-represented.

Each row is a share of all organisations counted, in the sector and island-wide — not a share of those with a website, so the rows are comparable with one another.

Leisure & Recreation organisations with a website of their own143Counted over all 199 active Leisure & Recreation organisationsA site of their own on record — not a directory listing or a social page.
Of those websites, the share on a .gg domain39%Counted over all 199 active Leisure & Recreation organisations56 of 143, against 40% of the 2,470 island-wide. Counts the .gg family — .gg, .co.gg, .org.gg and the rest.

How it's organised

#form ⧉

Legal form, ownership and size — as far as they are published

These are published far less often than a phone number. Each module below states its own coverage, and renders the gap rather than a confident number over a silent base.

Legal form#form-legal ⧉

Leisure & Recreation organisations by legal form

A legal form on record for 31 of 199 Leisure & Recreation organisations (16%)

Suppressed

Not enough on record yet for legal forms (31 of 199). A blank here is deliberate — the module renders the gap rather than a number it cannot stand behind.

Sole traders are the systematic undercount here: a limited company publishes its form, a sole trader rarely does.

A further 48 hold something in the legal-form slot that is not a legal form — filing notes, a bare year. Those leave the denominator rather than inflating “other”.

When it is open

#hours ⧉

The sector’s working week

58% of those publishing a weekly grid open on a Sunday, and 85% on a Saturday. The median week runs 42 hours.

Seven days, twenty-four hours#hours-clock ⧉

Leisure & Recreation organisations open, by day and hour

Opening hours on record for 52 of 199 Leisure & Recreation organisations (26%)

Suppressed

Not enough on record yet for opening hours (52 of 199). A blank here is deliberate — the module renders the gap rather than a number it cannot stand behind.

Published opening hours only; a business that does not publish hours is not counted as closed. 102 hold hours of some shape, of which 52 resolve to a weekly grid and 50 are seasonal or per-site prose that must not be half-parsed.

The register is alive

#pulse ⧉

The last 90 days

A census that was true in January is folklore by August. This chapter re-checks itself continuously.

+97
Leisure & Recreation organisations added to the register (discovery, not openings)
0
recorded as no longer trading in the window

Use these numbers

#use ⧉

Free to reuse, with attribution

Journalists, researchers, sector bodies and officials are welcome to these figures. Every section has a stable anchor, and every count traces to published evidence. License: CC BY 4.0 — credit “Island Graph” with a link.

census.csvsector × parishcensus.jsonevery aggregateAbout the dataFull methodologyPress desk
Island Graph, The Guernsey Business Census — Leisure & Recreation, island.gg/census/leisure-recreation — as of 3 September 2026.

The two files are the whole census, not this chapter; the figures here are this sector’s slice of them. The whole census →

Denominators, briefly

#method ⧉

This chapter counts over the 199 active organisations whose primary sector is Leisure & Recreation — 1 in 17 of the 3,407 with a primary sector on record. The wider 353 who work in Leisure & Recreation at all are counted in every sector they work in, and are used only where a sentence says “works in”.

Each module divides by what is actually on record for it: a parish for 165, a founding year for 123, a capability resolved to the graph for 110, opening hours that resolve to a weekly grid for 52. Those bases are printed under every chart, because the denominator is part of the datum.

This sector’s own coverage was measured at 61% on 3 September 2026, by capture–recapture against Google's business listings for the Bailiwick, with every organisation that was itself added from those listings left out of the comparison so the two counts stay independent. Every count above is a floor.

Counts organisations still trading that publish a founding year; older firms are likelier to do so — survivorship and reporting bias at once. Verified from published evidence; businesses without a web presence are under-represented. Capabilities as published by each organisation and resolved to the graph; a business with no capability claim is not necessarily a business that does none of these things.

Full methodology — populations, tiers, biases and how coverage is measured →