Pure Gym invests £1m in the fit-out of each site,

including 170–200 pieces of Matrix equipment per club

launched in Manchester in November 2009] and we’re very much learning as we go. The food industry, for example, would never launch a new product without endless research, and I think the leisure sector has perhaps been a bit lax about this in the past. “However, I believe there will always

be a section of the market, even post- recession, that wants value. In fact, genuine value for money is probably something we all want.”

SEGMENTED MARKETS

Roberts trained as a chartered surveyor and has a background in property. A move into leisure-specific property came after 15 years, with a hotel and indoor leisure-based business – the Langdale Group – that was eventually sold to Scottish & Newcastle. His next

june 2010 © cybertrek 2010

ventures – Luminar Leisure and Country Style Inns – were both sold at around the same time, at which point he moved into hotels. Following the establishment – build, development and management – of three successful hotels, Roberts became involved with Manchester United FC, developing the hotel next to the club and with the club coming onboard as a shareholder in his company. And then, he explains: “I came up with

the idea of a chain of value for money hotels – one above budget. I teamed up with Golden Tulip, a Dutch group, and my concept was rolled out as Tulip Inns. We actually opened the fi rst one on 9/11, but even then it was a fl ying success, so we knew we were roughly on the right road. “We went into the market, raised

money from the City and rolled out the concept from 2002. We built it up to

a group which we sold to Whitbread in 2007. I helped Whitbread on the property side for about a year and then got itchy feet and started looking around for the next opportunity. And that’s when I came across low-cost gyms.” Roberts already had some

experience in health and fi tness, having served as non-executive director on the board of Dragons Health Clubs for eight years. “I was drawn to low-cost gyms because of the success of budget operators in other fi elds – Primark, easyjet, Travelodge and so on,” he says.

“We felt there was a gap in the market to do the same in the fi tness business. “My own view is that, as things go

along, the budget and the top end will be fi ne, but mid-range clubs might get squeezed. That’s exactly what happened in the hotel industry.”

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