Jessica Ennis (above left) helped launch the ParkLives initiative in Birmingham in May
What is Coca-Cola Zero ParkLives? At the end of May, Cola-Cola Great Britain announced a national physical activity programme called Coca-Cola Zero ParkLives: a programme of free, fun activities in parks, delivered in partnership with local authorities.
Why is ukactive involved? When the opportunity arose to work with Coca-Cola, my first instinct was to immediately question why – as the national not-for-profit health body for the physical activity sector – we’d want to work with a soft drinks manufacturer. Surely a contradiction? But then I took a step back and considered what was at stake. The latest UK inactivity figures are shocking – enough to bankrupt the NHS within a decade. On the table was an opportunity to contribute to redirecting this trend.
ukactive’s mission to get more people, more active requires partnerships with brands that have the profile to reach consumers at scale. But we must walk a fine line between retaining our value to our members and ensuring our relationships with the commercial sector remain true to our DNA. We believe Coca-Cola Great Britain is committed to playing its part in tackling the issue of obesity: its work to address inactivity goes hand-in-hand with the reformulation of some of its drinks and increased marketing of its zero-calorie brands.
What is ukactive doing? Alongside Coca-Cola GB, Public Health England and local authorities, we’re helping shape the plans, we’re leading the monitoring and evaluation of the project, and we’re ensuring the views of the stakeholder community are heard.
We’ve sometimes been the awkward partner asking challenging questions. We’ve helped ensure project objectives include reaching inactive people, demonstrating an uplift in activity levels over time, signposting sustainable community opportunities and generating greater levels of usage of local parks and open spaces.
For those who wonder where we draw the line – when does a consumer brand collaboration become an absolute no-go for us – I say this: we look to work with anyone who has a role to play in getting more people, more active, more often.
There are countless considerations that will vary from project to project, but what matters is a genuine and credible long-term commitment to getting more people more physically active.
The activity agenda Coca-Cola is a soft drinks business that will be judged 99.9 per cent of the time based on its actions in the area of soft drinks. But in 2013, it took a strategic decision to play its part in helping tackle obesity, most publicly through a series of high profile adverts promoting switches to the Coca-Cola Zero brand.
ParkLives will always have its critics, but the programme also has high profile supporters. Part of our commitment to improving the health of the nation by promoting physical activity includes forming relationships with brands that share a similar ambition and commitment. A company like Coca-Cola GB has unique reach to be mobilised in the battle to turn the tide of inactivity. So with sincerity, I say see you in the park this summer.
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client in under 10 seconds. [more...]
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disparate information from multiple systems to be aggregated into one dataset, to support
its focus on reducing health inequalities and improving healthy life expectancy. [more...]
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Jessica Ennis (above left) helped launch the ParkLives initiative in Birmingham in May
What is Coca-Cola Zero ParkLives? At the end of May, Cola-Cola Great Britain announced a national physical activity programme called Coca-Cola Zero ParkLives: a programme of free, fun activities in parks, delivered in partnership with local authorities.
Why is ukactive involved? When the opportunity arose to work with Coca-Cola, my first instinct was to immediately question why – as the national not-for-profit health body for the physical activity sector – we’d want to work with a soft drinks manufacturer. Surely a contradiction? But then I took a step back and considered what was at stake. The latest UK inactivity figures are shocking – enough to bankrupt the NHS within a decade. On the table was an opportunity to contribute to redirecting this trend.
ukactive’s mission to get more people, more active requires partnerships with brands that have the profile to reach consumers at scale. But we must walk a fine line between retaining our value to our members and ensuring our relationships with the commercial sector remain true to our DNA. We believe Coca-Cola Great Britain is committed to playing its part in tackling the issue of obesity: its work to address inactivity goes hand-in-hand with the reformulation of some of its drinks and increased marketing of its zero-calorie brands.
What is ukactive doing? Alongside Coca-Cola GB, Public Health England and local authorities, we’re helping shape the plans, we’re leading the monitoring and evaluation of the project, and we’re ensuring the views of the stakeholder community are heard.
We’ve sometimes been the awkward partner asking challenging questions. We’ve helped ensure project objectives include reaching inactive people, demonstrating an uplift in activity levels over time, signposting sustainable community opportunities and generating greater levels of usage of local parks and open spaces.
For those who wonder where we draw the line – when does a consumer brand collaboration become an absolute no-go for us – I say this: we look to work with anyone who has a role to play in getting more people, more active, more often.
There are countless considerations that will vary from project to project, but what matters is a genuine and credible long-term commitment to getting more people more physically active.
The activity agenda Coca-Cola is a soft drinks business that will be judged 99.9 per cent of the time based on its actions in the area of soft drinks. But in 2013, it took a strategic decision to play its part in helping tackle obesity, most publicly through a series of high profile adverts promoting switches to the Coca-Cola Zero brand.
ParkLives will always have its critics, but the programme also has high profile supporters. Part of our commitment to improving the health of the nation by promoting physical activity includes forming relationships with brands that share a similar ambition and commitment. A company like Coca-Cola GB has unique reach to be mobilised in the battle to turn the tide of inactivity. So with sincerity, I say see you in the park this summer.
The UK's four Chief Medical Officers have published a refreshed edition of Physical activity
guidelines: UK Chief Medical Officers' report, updating the evidence that underpins the nation's
physical activity recommendations and placing greater emphasis on strength, balance, reducing
sedentary behaviour and, for the first time, supporting people taking weight loss medications.
Places Leisure has exchanged contracts to build and operate a flagship £60m water and leisure
destination on behalf of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.
The Republic of Ireland will become the latest market in PureGym’s expanding international
portfolio, with the first launch planned for Dublin in 2027.
Anytime Fitness opened more than one club a day in 2025 and is on track to maintain this rate
of growth this year, as parent company Purpose Brands targets further international expansion.
The £33.9 million Leighton Leisure and Community Centre has opened in Leighton Buzzard, UK,
creating a next-generation public leisure, health and wellbeing hub for the local community.
Walnuts Leisure Centre in Orpington, in the London Borough of Bromley, has reopened following
a £17m transformation designed to secure the long-term future of the public leisure asset and
reposition it as a community wellbeing hub.
The Gym Group, has announced that it's sustained positive trading momentum has continued
through the first half of 2026 and the company remains confident about the outlook.
Luxury boutique Pilates and wellness studio, X-Club, officially launches a
4,000sq ft flagship at
Marylebone on 16 July Built around X-Club’s four pillars of wellness – mind,
movement,
nutrition and therapy – the facility features two group exercise studi
CoverMe, the global leader in fitness workforce management, today launches CoverMe PT, an
on-demand personal training platform that connects the right personal trainer to the right
client in under 10 seconds. [more...]
Active Blackpool is deploying Cornerstone Connect, a new digital interface allowing
disparate information from multiple systems to be aggregated into one dataset, to support
its focus on reducing health inequalities and improving healthy life expectancy. [more...]
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