NEW OPENING
THINK OUT OF THE BOX
Gymbox Westfield Stratford has inherited all the colour and buzz of its Olympic next-door neighbour, says Kate Cracknell, as she pays a visit and chats to CEO Richard Hilton about creativity, classes and more new clubs
I
visit the new Gymbox in Westfield Stratford, east London, just two weeks after its opening, with the club still in the final stages of decoration and snagging – but it
already has a real buzz to it, not to mention a much busier gym floor than I’d expect at 10.00am on a Monday. “We opened with 2,000 members and
already have 800 people using the club each day,” confi rms Gymbox founder and CEO Richard Hilton when we sit down for a chat after a tour of the facilities. Although he admits there’s always
an early days surge of people using the gym at a brand new club, nevertheless this sort of usage seems to be pretty standard across all Gymbox sites.
“Eighty-seven per cent of members use Gymbox clubs once a week,” Hilton tells me. “And each club is visited by around 1,000 members a day from a typical membership base of around 3,000. “We’re also at a record number of
members: all but one of our seven clubs are at their highest ever membership; the one that isn’t is just 50 members short.”
Welcome to Gymbox Westfi eld Stratford
Opened: 9 March 2015 Build cost: £2.2m Size: 20,000sq ft Membership: From £62/month Capacity: Approx 3,200 members Suppliers: Life Fitness, Precor, Stairmaster, Schwinn, Ivanko, Hammer Strength, Concept2, Jacobs Ladder, Freemotion
42 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital June 2015 © Cybertrek 2015 A big part of that is down to the
company’s ongoing investment in its sites. “We have a policy of ‘no tired clubs’,” says Hilton. “People are always very keen to throw the spotlight on their new sites, but for me you have to look at an operator’s old clubs. That’s how you see the strength of the brand. “Similarly, although people have been
calling this our fl agship club, actually I’d just call it a well-executed club. I don’t think you should create one fl agship: all your clubs should be fl agships. If we do something that works well in a new club, we’ll put it into our old clubs too.”
Establishing a heartbeat All that said, I’m in Stratford to see the new club – and it’s one I’d very happily be a member of, even though the pumping dance music reminds me I’m at the upper end of its target age range. Created within a space built
specifi cally for Gymbox by Westfi eld – “Westfi eld understands brands and wanted Gymbox as its gym brand,” says Hilton – it’s colourful and light and it
Hilton brought his advertising talents to the Gymbox brand
makes you want to work out. There are fl oor to ceiling windows in the three studios – although blackout blinds and a top-of-the-range lighting system allow the instructor to create whatever mood they require – and a glass-sided gym with fantastic views over the Olympic stadium and the ArcelorMittal Orbit (the curving red sculpture next to the stadium). The CV fl oor has even been tiered so, no matter which row you’re in, you get a view of the stadium while you’re working out. The main gym fl oor also offers a
large resistance area – there’s a fairly equal split space-wise between CV and strength – and the whole room is brought to life with brightly striped metal girders as pillars, neon lighting and Bose speakers overhead, and live DJs.
The gym at Stratford is a colourful, light space, with brightly striped pillars
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