The market size of the Gyms & Fitness Centres industry is expected to increase 5.5% in 2023. And they are certainly breathing new life into the high street by bringing high footfall.
When it started to change –
1st September 2020, saw a huge change in high street legislation, following intense lobbying from the fitness industry body, Ukactive.
The changes relate to the Use Classes Order regulation, which has obstructed gyms and leisure facilities from opening previously. Gyms became free to open on high streets, the new rules now mean commercial and retail properties can be quickly repurposed to help revive high streets.
A ‘Commercial, Business and Service E Use’ Class was created, which enabled health clubs, gyms, -plus restaurants and a whole wide range of other leisure operators- to move into retail units without requiring a planning application or local authority approval.
In addition to allowing gyms to open, a new ‘Local Community’ F2 Use Class was created which recognised the important role that outdoor sports and swimming pools play in the essential needs of local communities.
All the Stats –
So thats why you’ve seen so many gyms spring up on the high streets and in the shopping centres, but just what are the stats behind this growing sector?
According to Statista, over 10 million Brits are members of health and fitness clubs, in fact as of 2021, 10.3 million people held a gym membership; that is over 15% of the total UK population.
Every single day, thousands of fitness fanatics hit the gym to keep in shape. More than half of UK gym members are female. As you would’ve probably expected, a report by IHRSA shows that 18–34 year olds hold the majority of gym memberships (30.9%), closely followed by 35-54 year olds (30.7%) but memberships held by 55+ are now the fastest growing demographic.
Throughout the lockdown and pandemic, we were made aware that your personal fitness can affect the ability to fight coronavirus. As the older you are increases your vulnerability, physical health is the only change-able attribute to increase your immunity, general health and length of life. Because of this, there has been a marked increase in older people attending the gym.
Jonathan Pritchard, a retail analyst at Peel Hunt, predicts further expansion for the sector. “The demand for health and wellbeing is high after Covid; people are placing a high price on their own health,” he said.
Who are the sector leaders-
The gym and fitness sector generates revenue of approximately £2 billion. As of February 2023 there are 3,496 gyms and fitness centres in the UK.
Sector leader PureGym had 327 gyms in the UK (figure as of October 2022) with more than 1.5 million members, making it the largest operator of gyms across the UK. PureGym operate gyms across 9 different countries and actually have over 500 locations worldwide, with the newest territory, UAE opened in 2022.
Anytime Fitness, the UK’s third-largest private operator, announced a 20-site expansion in April 2022 – and say it isn’t stopping there.
Will this growth continue into 2023 with the impact of the cost of living crisis likely to make it difficult to recruit and retain key staff? The energy cost issue has also been a concern for many operators regarding cashflow, not just those with spas and swimming pools.
Digital uprise –
The gyms may be on the rise but not without serious competition; last year more than 10 billion fitness workouts were viewed on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Amazon, and connected fitness channels like Peloton logged in excess of 200 million workouts in 2021. More and more people are staying home to work out; Peloton, Tonal, Mirror, and similar are seeing huge increases in memberships.
And that gives them a big edge on the average high street gym – because just like social media channels, these connected fitness suppliers know a lot more about their users than just their age and are prepared to use that to further exactly the right thing for exactly their market.
Perhaps the way forward is the blurring of these markets – with the high street gyms offering online and home fitness apps too, leading to a seamless integration of a variety of fitness offerings.
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