Anytime Fitness Pumps Up 90 New Clubs This Year

Last December, Anytime Fitness opened its 100th UK club in North West London and plans on acquiring 200 franchises by the end of 2017. Despite the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, the fitness group has experienced steady growth with 113 franchises across the country and is confident to hit its target.

Anytime Fitness UK general manager, Brett Edwards, says: “We’ve accelerated growth at the moment. We aim to have 200 clubs open by the end of the year. We are very comfortable with the properties we have and the ones we are negotiating on. We will open 90 clubs this year, with a target of 550 clubs by the early 2020’s.”

The company employs acquisition managers to scout for sites that range between 4,500sq ft to 5,000sa ft and it takes roughly six to eight months from finding a property to opening a club. Edward adds: "We are looking from top to bottom for properties – England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. We are seeing more activity in the North where there are more properties available. When we first started everyone wanted to be in London but you can run a really profitable club outside of London if you find a great town.

"The fitness sector is growing. The government is promoting wellbeing and we see this as a positive opportunity. While we have Brexit and there is a lot of uncertainty, we are comfortable that our model will stand up to a recession. We are confident the sector will grow. We are confident we will ride through any recession." Launched in the US in 2002, Anytime Fitness has over 3,000 clubs worldwide with its first UK club opening in 2010.