UK’s biggest gym chain to open 200 new locations – is one coming to your town?
THE UK’s biggest gym group is set to open 200 new venues across the country.
PureGym has said it plans to keep expanding with new gyms after opening 40 across the UK over the past year.
The group, which is owned by Leonard Green & Partners, KKR and members of its management team, operates more than 600 gyms, with around 370 of these in the UK.
It said it also has plans to open a further 200 gyms across the UK and Switzerland, another key market, over the next three to four years
However, it can’t provide a breakdown of how many will open within the UK, a spokesperson for the chain said a “significant majority” will be.
To begin the process, PureGym will open 40 to 50 new company-owned gyms this year, most of which will be in the UK.
Over the next couple of months, the gym chain will open new sites in the following locations:
- Dewsbury
- London Feltham
- Bishop Auckland
- Durham City Retail Park
The brand has already opened 10 new sites across the UK since January:
- Dagenham – January 26
- Eastbourne – February 1
- Hatfield – February 2
- Llantrisant – February 16
- South Ruislip – February 23
- Merthyr Tydfil – March 15
- Selby – March 27
- Kettering – March 28
- Airdrie – March 28
- London, Colney – March 28
The leisure company revealed that revenues grew 15% to £549 million for the year, compared with 2022.
It said it also benefited from a rise in membership, which increased 11% across the business and 16% in the UK.
Humphrey Cobbold, PureGym’s chief executive, has said the group has seen particularly strong performance from its new gyms in recent months, giving it confidence in its continued expansion programme.
He said: “We have found with our new sites that there are still plenty of pools of latent demand, and those have been particularly robust,” he said.
“In these locations where we haven’t been before – like Sittingbourne, Selby, Dewsbury, Merthyr Tydfil – we have seen really good pockets of demand.”
The company said it has made some pricing increases but that the cost per visit for customers has remained broadly flat as people have increased how regularly they use the gym.
Mr Cobbold added: “Our proposition – providing accessible, flexible and affordable fitness – continues to be extremely attractive given growing awareness of the need to look after physical and mental health and with cost-conscious consumers seeking out the best value.
“As a result, we have seen robust demand in our core estate, with the volume of gym visits back to pre-pandemic levels.”
OTHER HIGH STREET NEWS
A major fashion chain will return to the high street in days after collapsing into administration and closing all stores.
M&Co are opening a brand new store on May 3 in Newton Mearns, Scotland.
Primark has shared a big update on the future of its click and collect service.
The retailer has confirmed that, following a successful trial, the service will be expanded to all stores in England, Scotland, and Wales.
Several major retailers are also expanding their presence on UK high streets.
Aldi has announced that it will open 35 new UK stores.
The openings form part of Aldi‘s long-term target of 1,500 stores in the UK.
The supermarket is set to invest £550million in expanding its UK footprint this year alone.
Aldi said that each new store opening will create around 40 new jobs on average.
Asda has been opening hundreds of convenience stores in recent months as it looks to rival major players Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
B&M plans to open “not less than” 45 brand new stores across the UK in each of the next two consecutive years.
The parent company of Bonmarché, Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM) and Peacocks, Purepay Retail Limited, has said it wants to open 100 new high street stores over the next 18 months.
It has yet to give the exact locations where it will open the 100 stores or when they will open.
One of the UK’s favourite bakery chain, Greggs, has exclusively revealed to The Sun plans to open more outlet branches by the end of 2025.
Home Bargains, which was running just under 600 branches as of last June, has said it wants to “eventually have between 800 and 1,000 retail outlets open”.
The major discounter has stopped short of saying when it wants to reach the 1,000 store target however.
Primark is also opening new branches and investing and renovating more than a dozen of its existing shops.
Screwfix is set to open 40 new stores nationwide as its owner, Kingfisher, seeks to expand the DIY brand’s national presence.
The brand opened two new stores in March, and a further three new shops will open this month.
Tesco has revealed plans to open 70 more stores across the UK over the next year as part of major expansion plans.
WHSmith has turned its focus to the travel side of its business, with plans to open new sites in airports, railway stations and hospitals.
Lidl is also looking to open 12 new stores across the UK as it bids to raise £91million in funding from investors.