interview
Fitness4Less
Low-cost operator Fitness4Less has struck a new deal with Topnotch to boost its rapid expansion plans. Kath Hudson talks to the management team
“F
itness4Less is open for business, actively looking for sites and franchisees: we want to open six or
eight clubs a year,” says Steve Bradley, managing director of Fitness4Less’ new licensee, Topnotch Health Clubs. Fitness4Less is one of the operators
currently shaking up the market by offering gym memberships at prices that would have seemed inconceivable a few years ago. For £14.99 a month, members get a well-equipped gym, a ladies-only gym and a great schedule of classes. And now, thanks to a licensing agreement signed in January of this year, the roll-out of the brand will ramp up a gear, with Topnotch also operating Fitness4Less-branded sites. Fitness4Less is owned by husband and
wife team Emma and Neil Edwards, along with Matthew Harris. They developed the concept together in 2006 when the opportunities for expanding Topnotch – Harris’ mid-market chain – were drying up. “Matthew had one of his Eureka! moments and hit on the budget club idea,” explains Bradley. “He did some research
in Europe, the US and Australia and then trialled the concept at the Topnotch club in Bristol, which wasn’t doing so well.” Four years on, the Bristol site
has quadrupled its membership, done “superbly well” profit-wise and has inspired the roll-out of the Fitness4Less chain. There are now sites in Nottingham, Southwark, Cheltenham – all Topnotch-licensed – as well as in Watford, Birmingham and Newport. Two further sites are already in the pipeline – for Cardiff, opening in the summer, and Sutton, opening in January 2012 – both to be run by Topnotch. The first franchised site, which opened
in January 2011 in Cambridge Heath, has been “super successful” according to Bradley, swiftly attracting 2,500 members. Run by a former Topnotch manager, this currently remains the only franchised site. With Harris involved in both Topnotch
and Fitness4Less, co-operation between the two brands was a logical step: Topnotch has used the opportunity to fast-track into the budget sector without diluting its own brand, while Fitness4Less is able to benefit from the
Our strongest brand value is that we strive to deliver a friendly budget club which still has a face and a welcome – a hello and a goodbye
32 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
central resources at Topnotch to grow its portfolio of clubs. The brisk expansion of Fitness4Less will now take place through a combination of Topnotch-licensed, home- grown and franchise-operated clubs. Fitness4Less uses Christie & Co as
site finders. The model for its owned and Topnotch-licensed clubs requires city centre sites with a floorspace of 5,000–6,700sq m (16,000–22,000sq ft). For franchise sites, the model could be scaled down to suit smaller locations in less populous areas, with lower capacity, fewer staff and less equipment.
NO DOWNSIDES So what do members get for their money? When the concept was being put together, Emma says they aimed to take the ‘buts’ out of joining. “We were committed to the idea that, from a customer’s point of view, it should be a no-brainer to join, with no downside,” she says. “We wanted to maintain the experience, the facilities and service that they would get in a mid-market club, doing away with the idea that ‘cheap’ means tatty or dirty. They wouldn’t get the niceties or the added luxuries, but they would get the equipment, the classes, a hello and a goodbye. “Our strongest brand value is that we
strive to deliver a friendly budget club which still has a face and a welcome, so we’ve committed to having a reception.
june 2011 © cybertrek 2011
From left to right: Steve Bradley, MD of Topnotch Health Clubs, and husband- and-wife Fitness4Less team Emma and Neil Edwards
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