CHANGING LANDSCAPES

John Treharne is one of the fitness industry’s true pioneers. From his front-row seat – as founder of The Gym Group and Dragons Health Clubs – he has not only witnessed, but played a huge role in the sector’s transformation over the past 40 years

With more than a million members and around 70 million visits each year, The Gym Group is one of the defining success stories of the UK’s fitness industry. As founder and chair, John Treharne has spent two decades helping reshape the market through the group’s high-value, low-cost model that has made gym membership accessible to millions. His influence stretches far beyond the foundation of The Gym Group, though. He started his first gym business, Dragons Health Clubs in 1991. The company listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1997 with 22 clubs, before being sold in 2000. He then lent his expertise to premium gym chain Esporta, before launching The Gym Group in 2007.

Today, alongside his continuing role at The Gym Group and board positions with ukactive and EuropeActive, Treharne is also chair of The Padel Club, one of the UK’s fastest-growing padel operators. While the two businesses operate in different sectors, he sees striking similarities between the evolution of budget gyms in the late 2000s and the rapid emergence of padel today. Speaking to WellNation, Treharne discusses why Gen Z is changing the fitness landscape, how AI and GLP-1 medications could influence participation, why activity-based leisure has a brighter future than entertainment-led attractions and the lessons he believes the padel sector can learn from the development of the UK’s gym market.

The Gym Group surpassed one million members this year. How would you describe the business today? Reaching one million members is obviously a significant achievement, but, for me, the more important statistic is that around 60 million visits are made to our gyms every year. Those visits represent people choosing to be active, whether they’re members or using day passes, and that’s what ultimately matters. The more people exercising regularly, the stronger the long-term health of both our business and the wider sector.

We’re continuing to expand and planning to open c.75 sites over three years, but growth for us hasnever simply been about opening more sites. Every new location has to meet strict return-on-capital criteria and has to be the right site in the right place.

The research being produced by organisations such as ukactive continues to show that participation is increasing. Around one in five adults in the UK now use gyms, health clubs or leisure centres. When we launched The Gym Group in 2007, penetration was below 10%.

There’s still an enormous opportunity. If 80% of adults aren’t currently using these facilities, then our industry still has a huge job to do.

Much of that growth has come from younger generations. How significant has Gen Z been? Gen Z has probably been one of the biggest drivers of change. Not only are younger people joining gyms in greater numbers, they’re also using them much more frequently than previous generations.

They’re typically visiting around twice as often as older members, and that’s important because regular exercise creates habit. Someone who visits every week is far more likely to continue exercising than someone who goes once every few months. What’s also different is the social aspect.

Twenty years ago, people largely came to the gym, completed their workout and went home. Today’s younger members still value the exercise, but they also see the gym as somewhere to meet friends and spend time together.

People often talk about gyms replacing pubs for younger generations. Whether that’s entirely true or not, there has undoubtedly been a cultural shift. They’re drinking less than previous generations, but they still want places where they can be active and social at the same time.

I don’t see any reason why those habits shouldn’t continue as they get older.

PEOPLE

Any other factors that will continue driving participation? There are several. Working patterns have changed dramatically since COVID. Residential gyms that perhaps weren’t performing as strongly before the pandemic have benefited because more people now work from home for at least part of the week.

We’re also seeing increasing demand for multi-site memberships, allowing people to use one gym close to home and another near their workplace. That’s become an important advantage for larger operators with extensive networks.

Another interesting development is the growth of GLP-1 weight-loss medications.

If these treatments become more widely prescribed, particularly through the NHS, they’ll almost certainly encourage more people to use gyms because resistance training is such an important part of maintaining muscle mass while losing weight.

We’re already beginning to see that influence. None of these factors, on their own, will suddenly transform the market overnight, but together they all contribute to sustained growth.

You describe The Gym Group as “high value, low cost” rather than simply “budget”. Why is that distinction important? Because customers don’t choose us simply because we’re cheap. The biggest drivers of gym membership are value for money and convenience.

People want quality equipment, clean facilities and locations that fit around their daily lives. If you provide those things at an affordable price, you’re delivering value rather than simply discounting. That philosophy has underpinned The Gym Group since the beginning and continues to guide the business today.

THE BIGGEST DRIVERS OF GYM MEMBERSHIP ARE VALUE FOR MONEY AND CONVENIENCE

You’re also chair of The Padel Club. Have you been surprised by the pace of padel’s growth in the UK? In some ways, yes. Padel has existed internationally for around 60 years, so you could argue that it’s taken a remarkably long time to establish itself here. At the same time, when I compare it with what happened in the gym sector, the similarities are striking.

When we launched The Gym Group, low-cost gyms were already well established in countries such as Germany and the United States. We learnt from those markets before adapting the model for the UK.

Padel feels very similar today. The UK still has only around 1,500 courts, whereas Spain has tens of thousands. If you simply compare the two populations, it’s difficult to argue that the UK couldn’t ultimately support many times more courts than it has today.

Of course, there are still lots of questions that nobody genuinely knows the answer to. What’s the ideal club size? How many courts should a venue have? What’s the right mix of indoor and outdoor facilities? Those answers will only emerge as the market matures. What I do know is that the opportunity remains very significant.

What role has technology played in The Gym Group’s model and how do you see AI influencing it (and the wider sector in general)? Technology has always been one of our biggest competitive advantages. Back in 2007, people thought we were slightly mad because we allowed customers to join online, rather than filling in paper forms in reception. Today, around 97% of our members join remotely – and increasingly that’s through our app, rather than a website.

AI is simply the next stage of that evolution. We’re currently upgrading our tech platforms and AI is already beginning to transform areas such as customer service. One obvious example is our contact centre. AI will allow us to provide support 24 hours a day in a way that simply wouldn’t be practical using people

John Treharne: My five lessons from building up The Gym Group

Value beats low prices

The Gym Group isn’t a “budget” operator. It delivers high value at an affordable price – quality equipment, clean facilities and locations that fit around their daily lives. The biggest drivers of gym membership are value for money and convenience.

Participation is the future of leisure Many leisure attractions rely on novelty, but long-term growth lies in activities that become part of people’s weekly routines. Encouraging regular participation creates habits that can last for decades.

Never stop learning

Never assume you’ve found the perfect formula, no matter how successful you are. The product that works today won’t necessarily be the product customers want in five years’ time.

Technology should improve the customer experience Introducing technologies, including AI, should be about making life easier for customers – technology should enhance the experience, not complicate it.

Remove barriers to participation

Affordability, convenience and fl exibility are far more important than exclusivity. With younger generations embracing exercise as part of their lifestyles, the industry’s biggest opportunity still lies ahead.

alone. The technology is still learning, so there always has to be human oversight, but it’s already improving the customer experience and I think that will continue.

Technology has also changed customer behaviour dramatically. Back in 2007 we actively discouraged mobile phones in our gyms because we wanted people to concentrate on their workouts rather than being distracted. Today, we’d struggle to operate without them. Members expect excellent Wi-Fi because they’re listening to music, tracking workouts, filming content or sharing their progress on social media. It’s a completely different environment, and operators have to evolve alongside those changes.

Accessibility has clearly been central to The Gym Group’s success. Do you think that principle applies equally to other participation sports? Absolutely. One of the biggest reasons The Gym Group succeeded was because we removed many of the barriers that prevented people from joining. We focused on affordability, convenience and value rather than exclusivity.

I think every participation-based activity has to think carefully about those same principles. People often assume price is the deciding factor, but it isn’t. Value for money and proximity are usually much more important.

If facilities are accessible, offer a quality experience and fi t into people’s everyday lives, participation will continue to grow. That’s ultimately what matters – getting more people active.

You draw a number of parallels between the fitness industry and padel. What are the biggest similarities? For me, the biggest similarity is that both are participation-led markets. I actually think participation is becoming a bigger driver than entertainment across the wider leisure sector.

If you look at attractions that are primarily entertainment-based, lots of people might try them once for a birthday party, corporate event or family day out, but they don’t necessarily become part of someone’s weekly routine. Gyms are different because people build habits. I think padel has exactly the same potential.

People enjoy playing because it’s active, it’s social and they want to improve. That encourages them to come back again and again.

It’s also why I don’t particularly agree when people describe padel as “simply a game”, rather than a sport. Padel is being considered for inclusion in the Olympic Games, so clearly it has sporting credibility. I think over time you’ll see county leagues, club competitions and stronger competitive pathways developing in exactly the same way they did in squash and other racket sports.

The social side will remain incredibly important for padel, but I don’t see that being at odds with becoming a recognised competitive sport.

After building The Gym Group into one of the UK’s largest gym operators, what lessons are you taking into expanding The Padel Club? The biggest lesson is that you never stop learning. When we launched The Gym Group, I spent months visiting operators in Germany and the United States to understand what worked well and, just as importantly, what could be improved. We didn’t simply copy what they were doing – we adapted it for the UK and introduced ideas that weren’t common elsewhere, such as online joining and a fully 24-hour operating model.

We’re approaching padel in exactly the same way, visiting clubs across Europe, looking at different construction methods, operating models and customer experiences. The market is still so young that anyone claiming to have all the answers probably hasn’t asked enough questions.

We’ll continue testing and refining what we do because the product that works today almost certainly won’t be identical to the one customers expect five years from now.

Looking ahead, how optimistic are you about the future of the fitness industry? Very optimistic. The participation numbers continue to move in the right direction, and I don’t see any reason why that should suddenly stop.

IF FACILITIES ARE ACCESSIBLE, OFFER A QUALITY EXPERIENCE AND FIT INTO PEOPLE’S EVERYDAY LIVES, PARTICIPATION WILL CONTINUE TO GROW

There will always be new influences – whether that’s changing working patterns, advances in technology, new healthcare interventions such as GLP-1 medications or trends we simply can’t predict yet, but the overall direction of travel feels very positive.

The industry also benefits from a growing public understanding of the importance of exercise, not just for physical health but for mental wellbeing too. That’s creating a much broader customer base than existed 20 years ago.

There’s still enormous potential. If around one in five adults currently use gyms or health clubs, then there’s a much larger proportion of the population that we haven’t yet reached. For me, that’s the real opportunity.

The challenge isn’t simply opening more gyms—it’s continuing to remove barriers, improve value and encourage more people to make physical activity part of their everyday lives.