photo: pure gym
Rebecca Passmore Pure Gym
W
photo: pure gym
e’re very pleased with the recovery after the UK’s lockdown three, which has been stronger and faster than the reopening after lockdown one. In the UK we have almost fully recovered, and are operating at 97 per cent of the December 2019 member levels. When gyms were allowed to reopen in April, we logged a million workouts in the first week in England alone. Across the UK we gained a net 150,000 members from the end of March to 9 May, taking the UK membership base to 1.09m. Our city-centre clubs have been slower to bounce back than suburban areas, particularly at some of our worker-driven London clubs, where we saw 52 per cent fewer visits in May 2021 compared with May 2019. Now restrictions have lifted and businesses can move back to their offices we expect to see the demand start to increase at these clubs. Members are working out more often than they did before the start of the pandemic. In May 2019 members came to PureGym on
Passmore says Pure Gym has seen an increase in news joiners
In the UK we’re operating at 97 per cent of December 2019 member levels average 1.21 times per week, but this increased to 1.43 times per week in May 2021. Usage has spread much more across the day and late evenings, rather than being concentrated between 5.00pm and 8.00pm. The joiner mix is what we’d regard as being very healthy, with a diverse and well-balanced range of ages. We’ve seen slightly more joiners between the ages of 18-22 in 2021, compared with 2019, but overall the mix remains consistent. We’ve also seen a similarly strong proportion of brand new joiners (as opposed to ex-members, rejoiners or transfers), with 51 per cent new joiners in 2021 compared with 50 per cent in 2019.