![Pure Gym, Cloth Hall Street, Leeds (12th April 2014)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Pure_Gym%2C_Cloth_Hall_Street%2C_Leeds_%2812th_April_2014%29.JPG)
PureGym Limited is a British chain of
no frills health club
A health club (also known as a fitness club, fitness center, health spa, and commonly referred to as a gym) is a place that houses exercise equipment for the purpose of physical exercise.
In recent years, the number of fitness and health se ...
s based in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
with multiple gyms around the world. The chain is headquartered in
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
, West Yorkshire, with additional offices in London and Southampton.
It is Britain's largest gym chain by membership, with over 1,500,000 members registered to their gyms.
In May 2015, PureGym acquired all gyms from rival UK fitness chain
LA Fitness
LA Fitness (doing business as LA Fitness International LLC) is an American gym chain with more than 700 clubs across the United States and Canada. The company was formed in 1984 and is based in Irvine, California.
History
LA Fitness was founde ...
, bringing the total number of gyms across the UK to 141. As of October 2022, PureGym had 327 gyms in the UK, with more than 1.5 million members, making it the largest operator of gyms across the United Kingdom.
PureGym operate gyms across 9 different countries and have over 500 locations worldwide, with the newest territory, UAE opened in 2022.
Facilities
Most locations are open 24 hours a day and offer
cardio equipment,
fixed and free weights, and
exercise classes, there are over 200 pieces of training equipment in most gyms. There are no swimming pools or saunas, which are found in more expensive gyms.
All PureGyms are monitored by real-time TV linked directly to security staff and emergency services. Most gyms also run weekly
fire drill
A fire drill is a method of practicing how a building would be evacuated in the event of a fire or other emergencies. In most cases, the building's existing fire alarm system is activated and the building is evacuated by means of the nearest a ...
s during off-peak hours.
Ownership and management
PureGym was privately owned by
CCMP Capital
CCMP Capital is an American private equity investment firm that focuses on leveraged buyout and growth capital transactions. Formerly known as JP Morgan Partners, the investment professionals of JP Morgan Partners separated from JPMorgan Chase o ...
and other investors. In 2014, rival
The Gym Group
The Gym Group is a chain of 24/7 no contract fitness clubs in the United Kingdom. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2015.
Operations
The company was founded in 2007 and its first site was in West London. It now has ove ...
attempted to take over Pure Gym, but abandoned the takeover after it was referred to the
Competition and Markets Authority
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...
.
In May 2015, PureGym Ltd bought their UK rival LA Fitness for around £60 million to £80 million.
Humphrey Cobbold
Humphrey Michael Cobbold (born Nairobi, Kenya 1964) is the current Chief Executive Officer of Pure Gym which is the UK’s largest Gym operator. He joined the business in 2015 when there were 84 gyms, growing the business to over 200 facilities i ...
took over from Peter Roberts as the
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
. Roberts has, in turn, become the
CFO
The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...
, with Adam Bellamy continuing as the Non-Executive Director.
In November 2017 it was bought by Los Angeles-based
Leonard Green & Partners
Leonard Green & Partners ("LGP") is an American private equity investment firm founded in 1989 and based in Los Angeles. The firm specializes in private equity investments. LGP has invested in over 95 companies since its inception, including Petc ...
for £600 million.
In December 2019 PureGym agreed to buy Danish
Fitness World
Fitness may refer to:
* Physical fitness, a state of health and well-being of the body
* Fitness (biology), an individual's ability to propagate its genes
* Fitness (cereal), a brand of breakfast cereals and granola bars
* ''Fitness'' (magazine) ...
, which also operated in Switzerland and Poland, for £350 million.
In February 2021 Humphrey Cobbold told the BBC that "We are burning about £500,000 a day and that's the average over eight months of closure"
In 2019, PureGym acquired the Swiss basefit.ch. By the end of 2021, all of their facilities will have been renamed and redesigned
It has a 2-star accreditation from Best Companies and a BCI score of 696.6.
PureGym opened in Dubai in 2022. PureGym UAE is headed up by CEO Susan Turner, with operations being handled by John Foy.
References
External links
{{commons category, PureGym
PureGym
Health clubs in the United Kingdom
Companies based in Leeds
British companies established in 2009
2009 establishments in England