OPERATOR PERSPECTIVE
OPERATOR PERSPECTIVE
interventions, but with evidence to show the significant benefits of physical activity, we have an important role to play. Last year we were involved in a cancer campaign, health literacy and mental wellbeing initiatives; this year in a campaign around pre- and post-natal wellbeing. We’ve also continued to focus on partnerships with national agencies that work in health – organisations such as Diabetes UK, Alzheimer’s Society, Cancer UK and Carers UK. We know that if you have diabetes, for example, you will already be connected with Diabetes UK – that’s your point of information and knowledge – so if we want to reach these individuals, partnering with Diabetes UK is the best way to do it. It is the best way for us to have an impact, which is always our ultimate goal. Working with these larger organisations also allows us to keep an eye not only on what will drive success at GLL, but what will help the whole sector. These aren’t exclusive relationships, either. Our scale means we’ve been able to quickly demonstrate the merit in partnering, but in doing so we’ve paved the way for other smaller organisations to now do the same. That’s important to us: that we not only drive our own success but that we collaborate and help others in the sector. Beyond all of this, there’s still so much to talk about, from our GLL Sport Foundation – which has passed the milestone of £17m in support value to over 31,000 athletes over 17 years – to our new GLL Literary Foundation across our library services. We’ve also had some real success with investments in getting children and younger people more active.
GLL has good engagement with the Department of Health, becoming a direct partner in its public health campaigns
swim, the amount of waste we recycle and a reduction in our energy usage. These aren’t one-dimensional targets around membership sales. They’re about the impact we’re having on our communities, on social infrastructure and on the planet. Anything you’d particularly like to spotlight? We have a strong team of specialists running health programmes on a very impressive scale and making a real difference to communities. I think this is part of the reason why we’re getting such good engagement with the Department of Health (DH), with whom we’re about to sign a partnership agreement. Moving forward, GLL will be a direct partner in DH’s public health campaigns. These are awareness-building campaigns for a broad audience rather than targeted
PETER BUNDEY
There is growing demand for our sector’s services, but with rising costs, we must be creative with funding and do more to grow and demonstrate our impact, says the CEO of GLL
What’s the latest from GLL? Figures from the first week of April 2025 show significant growth in the GLL business. In like-for-like terms, usage of our centres is up 6.5 per cent year-on-year and memberships up 6.4 per cent. We also took on three significant new partnerships in 2024, plus a further two that began on 1 April 2025. In addition to more customers being more active, people are also keeping their memberships for longer, prioritising spend on their health and wellbeing in a way we haven’t seen before. It’s creating a more resilient member base.
Both in terms of gender and age profile, ours is also a very balanced membership. Our largest age group are the millennials – those aged 30–44 years – who account for 27 per cent of our member base. But what really satisfies me is that up to the age of 74 years – when it drops to single figures – every age band accounts for a double-digit percentage of our member base. We’re really pleased with this broad base of engagement. We’re also on track to deliver all the key performance indicators we published two years ago as part of our five- year plan: the social value we’re delivering, the number of customer visits, the number of people we’re teaching to
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STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2025
STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2025
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