HEALTH & FITNESS SPACE TO GROW
As The Third Space prepares to open its second club in Marylebone in the spring, CEO Eric Dunmore speaks to Kate Cracknell about his rollout plans
“I Dunmore became CEO in 2007
left university with a his- tory degree,” says Eric Dunmore, CEO of The Third Space. “What was I going to do with that? I decided
to train in something more voca- tional and qualifi ed as an accountant. It sounded desperately dull, but my careers advisor suggested it would at least open doors, not close them.” Having worked his way up to man- aging partner in an accountancy fi rm by his early 30s, Dunmore then left to pursue other interests, joining leisure business Longshot. The owner of a number of restaurants, Longshot also acquired the famous Groucho Club in June 2001 and, at the same time, opened The Third Space, a 3,716sq m (40,000sq ft) independent health club in Piccadilly Circus, central London.
“Longshot carried on trading suc- cessfully until 2006 when, in order to provide a return to our shareholders, we embarked on a series of dispos- als, selling the Groucho Club and the restaurants. But we held on to The Third Space and I woke up one day in December 2006 thinking: ‘It’s sim- ply the best business I’ve ever been involved in. It’s fun, it’s exciting, it’s energetic.’ So I put together a plan for a management buyout, backed by the private equity company Graphite Capital, and on 1 August 2007 we completed the deal.”
A NICHE OFFERING
Dunmore readily admits to having “no fi tness expertise at all, only business expertise”, but he surrounded him- self with experts from the fi tness and medical sectors to develop a strong concept for The Third Space. “We saw the fi tness industry as being quite like the pub sector in the ‘80s, with big chains operating what we felt were tired concepts. They
The design is very open, allowing members to see what’s happening throughout 50 Read Leisure Management online
leisuremanagement.co.uk/digital ISSUE 1 2011 © cybertrek 2011
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76