Making money from gyms is a tricky business. Even with thousands of members forking out anything up to £130 a month, the overheads are many and varied, not least onerous rents for those in prime city centre locations.
Fitness First may be the world’s biggest gym chain, but it will not be the favourite of many fitness enthusiasts. All gyms face a balancing act between selling as many memberships as possible and then hoping that not everyone wants to work out at lunchtime, in the case of those near offices, or after 5pm for all the others.
Unfortunately, these times are when most people do want to exercise. That means there is often an unholy crush in the changing rooms and on the gym floor of many Fitness Firsts at peak hours.
As a regular user of two London Fitness Firsts, being able to find an empty locker with a door not falling off its hinges and with a lock that actually works would be a pleasant surprise.
I am also slightly perplexed as to why the cramped Brixton gym now has shiny new flatscreen televisions, but the mould on the ceiling of the men’s changing room and in some lockers lives on. Cutting down the relentless promotion of Fitness First offers on said televisions would also be a welcome move.
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With cutting costs a priority ahead of a flotation, Fitness First’s experiment with a bargain basement chain is understandable. But if the chain has trouble maintaining basic standards of maintenance in its existing gyms, slashing the membership fee and staffing levels is unlikely to improve the lot of budget fitness fans.