gymBUG’s Livestrong group cycling studio features a vibrant, high-energy design


All gymBUG interiors will offer members an upmarket feel


The fitness floor at gymBUG will look just like Hale, with its bold colour scheme


to grow the FX Leisure brand,” says Taylor. “Fundamentally, that’s what a large percentage of the gym-going population will always want. But there are some interesting niche markets out there, and ultimately we always wanted to do something high-end – from a personal, lifestyle perspective as much as anything, creating somewhere special to spend time with our families. “Then the opportunity came at Hale, on a site that formerly accommodated the British Airways staff sports centre. Before we saw it, we’d imagined we might do another FX club here, but as soon as we arrived we knew it was our chance to try out our high-end concept.” That decision was driven, in large part,


by the sheer demographics of the area. The new-build club sits on a 10-acre plot right in the middle of an area whose affluence is matched only by the likes of Kensington & Chelsea in London, and whose residents – and therefore now club members – include a number of top professional footballers. But in spite of the demographics, buying the site around three years ago


November/December © cybertrek 2012


and opening in May of this year – with the UK’s financial troubles still far from over – was, I suggest, still a bold move. “Recessions come and go,” shrugs Taylor. “If we hadn’t built this club, we’d have built other FX facilities during that time. It helps that, as a family-owned company, we don’t have to produce monthly numbers for shareholders – we just stay true to our own long-term vision.”


FIVE-STAR OFFERING The cost management expertise of all involved also helped, as Peacock explains: “We micro-manage the finances and act as the main contractor on all our projects – we design, oversee the build, buy everything ourselves right down to the fixtures and fittings. Then we just get someone in to put it all together. And that means serious cost- savings.” Indeed, while visiting architects have guesstimated a price tag of £15–20m for Hale, in fact total expenditure on the build was nearer £7.5m. But it’s easy to understand the


architects’ estimates. Understated from the outside, other than the glass-sided infinity spa pool on the roof, once you


get inside it’s high class all the way, with an intimate, boutique feel and amazing attention to design detail. The five-star restaurant on the


ground floor is, according to Taylor, “the best in Manchester”, while the top floor encompasses an ESPA day spa, accessible to all members, alongside a champagne bar for those holding Country membership only. Unsurprisingly, at just £120 a month, Country memberships sold out fast, but with Club membership costing just £65 a month – and giving access to everything except the champagne bar – a little bit of luxury is affordable for all. Although the club has a strong focus on family, the atmosphere is very grown- up and sensuous, from the choice of materials – marble floors, granite-tiled swimming pools, walls lined with padded velvet or smooth black pebbles – to the subdued, atmospheric lighting in the pool, the six tasteful treatment rooms in the spa, and the fire pits in the Veuve Clicquot-sponsored, granite-paved patio area. Going back to our adjective of the day, it’s much funkier than your average


Read Health Club Management online at healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 37


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