THE not-for-profit business which runs Bournemouth council's leisure and event venues has seen 12.9m visits in its first five years.

BH Live also says its number of staff has also doubled in that period to more than 1,300.

BH Live was launched in 2010 to run Bournemouth venues such as the BIC, Pavilion and Littledown Centre. It has since expanded to operate entertainments venues, leisure centres, cafes and bars in Poole, Portsmouth, Oxford, London and the home counties.

its venues include the London Aquatics Centre and Copper Box Arena at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Peter Gunn, chief executive of BH Live, said: “In 2010, Bournemouth Borough Council embarked on a plan to secure its facilities for local residents and visitors in the face of financial challenges. As a social enterprise, we were in a position to apply commercial principles with a social conscience business model and began running the venues in partnership with Bournemouth Borough Council.

“This has succeeded in getting more people into physical activity and engaging in cultural events, while continuing to generate economic benefit for the region. By 2012, we had firmly established ourselves as a leading leisure and venue operator and more partners were contracting us to run their venues and facilities.”

Tony Williams, chief executive of Bournemouth Borough Council, said: “Since BH Live took over the operation of our venues in 2010, participation in physical activity has increased, the quality of facilities and diversity of services has improved, and the cultural programme has grown year on year.”

BH Live says its conference, exhibition and entertainment programme has brought more than £204m to the south's economy through business tourism. It says it helps create and sustain more than 4,500 regional jobs in retail, accommodation, tourism and transport.

Mr Gunn said it had recorded more than 12.9m visits to its venues and catering outlets and spent £5.6m on improvements to its services.

“These include Altitude High Ropes Adventure at Littledown Park and the venue finding and delegate reservations service, Business Events Bournemouth. We have also expanded our health and wellbeing facilities across the portfolio, and launched new Terrace cafes and bars,” he added.