ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the development, nature and structure of leisure provision in contemporary Britain in the commercial, public and voluntary sectors. The state performs a dual function of licensing, controlling, or even prohibiting certain leisure forms; while on the other hand promoting, through tax concessions, grant-aid or direct provision, leisure forms which are regarded as desirable. The chapter discusses the development of public sector leisure policy and of the commercial and voluntary sectors in the post-war period. The voluntary sector as a whole provides potential opportunities and constraints in representing its constituent interests. Voluntary-sector leisure pressure-groups were beginning to become sufficiently well organised to exert significant influence on national policy debates. More problematic than the issues of class control is the issue of gender, since the leisure needs of women, particularly working class women, are rarely evident in historical commentary. Government intervention aimed to alleviate some of the worst effects of urban-industrial society.
