Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of easyJet, has entered the fitness market with a no-frills gym chain.
The easyGym venture, with private equity-owned Fore Fitness, will focus on value for money, with prices starting at £15 a month, and an option for users to pay as they exercise. Its gyms will also cut out “wet facilities” such as pools, saunas and steam rooms, in an effort to cut costs and maximise the amount of space available for gym equipment.
There are already a growing number of so-called pay-as-you-go gyms, with services like payasugym signing up gyms in London which can be visited by anyone with an e-pass.
The new Sir Stelios-backed chain will start out with two sites in Slough and Wood Green, with other branches planned this year, and the aim of opening ten clubs annually from 2012.
The easyGym clubs will start signing up members on April 15.
Advertisement
The first two sites are former Virgin Active gyms.
The gym venture is the latest started under the easyGroup banner by Sir Stelios, none of which have achieved the success of the budget airline he started in 1995. These include easyBus, a low-cost bus and coach service that serves London airports; easyHotel, a budget-hotel operator; and easyOffice, which rents out office space to entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Paul Lorimer-Wing, joint chief executive of easyGym, said: “We’re ripping up the rule-book in the fitness sector by ensuring members pay for the stuff they use, not the stuff they never use! We’ve worked closely with some of the best brains in the business to develop a proposition which we are confident will make us a leading player in the European market in the coming years.”