UK CLUBS – OVERVIEW
UK CLUBS – OVERVIEW
PRIVATE SECTOR
PRIVATE SECTOR
A GROWTH STORY
details of “revenues rising by 7.7 per cent to £149.7m and pre-tax profits increasing by more than 40 per cent to £14.4m for the year ending 31 December 2024”. Meanwhile – although not sitting among the top 10 operators – Third Space’s continued growth trajectory reflects a strong appetite for premium offerings in the London market. Having reached 13 clubs in the 2024 calendar year – a growth of four locations – Third Space now has a number of exciting developments in the pipeline, including two clubs in mixed-use redevelopments of former department stores. At iconic west London landmark The Whiteley, Third Space will sit adjacent to Six Senses, the latter launching its first ever UK site. Meanwhile, on Oxford Street, the former House of Fraser is currently undergoing a £132m revamp. It is here that Third Space will launch the largest health club in the West End: a 30,000sq ft club that’s set to open in 2027. At the other end of the scale, the low-cost segment continues to expand, with club numbers rising from 743 to 806 – an 8.5% increase. Indeed, of the 155 new private clubs opened in the 12 months to 31 March 2025, 41% (64 clubs) were low-cost.
There is great buoyancy in the UK’s private fitness sector, with data for the 12 months ending 31 March 2025 showing all-time highs being achieved across all key metrics. There are now 4,727 private health and fitness clubs across the UK, up from 4,513 clubs in 2024 – a rise of +4.7%. Membership of these clubs reached almost 7.8 million – an increase of 427,000 members (+5.8%) over the course of the 12 months. Meanwhile, market value rose by £423m to surpass £4.9bn, marking a +9.4% year- on-year growth. This is supported by a continued rise in average fee, which now sits at £48.45 – an increase of +2.6% in the 12 months to 31 March 2025, compared to over 5% in the 12 months to 31 March 2024. Private sector penetration has also reached a new all-time high, up from 10.9% in 2024 to 11.4% in 2025. PureGym remains the UK’s leading private sector operator by both number of clubs and number of members. With a net gain of 43 clubs in the past year, it now operates 422 clubs nationwide. The Gym Group follows with 244 clubs, having added 10 new locations over the same period. There are three other private sector operators with more than 100 clubs: Anytime Fitness, Nuffield Health (see interview, page 50) and David Lloyd Clubs. A further five brands each operate between 50 and 100 sites: Snap Fitness, JD Gyms (see interview, page 62), The Bannatyne Group (see interview, page 78), Everlast Gyms and énergie Fitness.
Clubs
4,727
Members
7.76 m
Membership in the low-cost segment has reached 3.2 million – 41% of all private sector members and 4.7% of the total UK population
Market value
£4.91 bn
Membership in the low-cost segment has now reached 3.2 million – 41% of all private sector members and 4.7% of the total UK population. Market value in this segment is also up significantly, from £888m in 2024 to £986m. At this pace, the £1bn threshold should be easily surpassed in 2026. The ambitious growth plans of the low-cost operators interviewed in this report therefore come as little surprise. “Our data and analytics work tells us we have a runway of in excess of 300 sites in the UK,” says Shafiq Ahmed, founder of NRG Gyms. “This, coupled with an increasingly fitness-centred population, means there is an opportunity for all of us in this space.” (See interview, page 89.) Meanwhile, JD Gyms has an average of over 6,000 members per gym and is on the verge of its 100-club milestone. In his interview on page 62, CEO Alun Peacock says: “Organically, we’ll open 10–15 sites a year moving forward, with further opportunistic acquisitions on top of this; we are still actively looking to further consolidate the market.” With average fees in the low-cost sector rising above £25 for the first time this year, Peacock also offers a fascinating insight into price elasticity. At JD Gyms, yield per member has risen by £2 a month over the last year and, says Peacock: “Members aren’t as price-sensitive as we expected. Putting the price up hasn’t materially affected overall member numbers.”
Given mid-market challenges over recent years, it is interesting to see The Bannatyne Group reporting a record year
Average fee
£48.45
These brands make up the top 10 private sector operators in the UK and between them operate 1,429 clubs – up from 1,365 in 2024 (a net gain of 64). Collectively, these leading brands have added more than 230,000 members over the past 12 months and boosted their combined market value by £315m to reach £2.9bn. New site openings among the top 10 brands reached 76 in the past year, up from 65 in the previous 12 months. Of these, over 60% are operated by PureGym. Meanwhile, club closures across the top 10 operators have decreased in the same period, with just 20 logged this year – down from 32 in 2024. Given mid-market challenges over recent years, it is interesting to see The Bannatyne Group not only sitting among the top 10 operators, but reporting a record year. In her interview on page 78, managing director Karen Wilkinson shares
Penetration rate
11.4 %
58
59
STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2025
STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2025
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