December 2009
The UK’s No 1 fitness industry magazine
Ashley wins fight to stop rival club
Gym owners fears over VAT moves By Mary Ferguson GYM owners claim a further rise in VAT will cause more damage to their businesses which are already suffering from competition with council-run leisure centres exempt from the tax. Workout has spoken to a number of operators who fear the government could use more increases in VAT to heal holes in the economy caused by the recession. Steve Hammond, owner of Sundance Health and Fitness in Bristol, is worried that if this happens, independent clubs will suffer. He said: “We are not talking about a percentage of turnover being taken from us, but percentage straight from the bottom line profit. “I feel that whichever party gets into power will see raising VAT as an easy way of balancing the economic deficit caused by the recession so this is the time to make our voices heard and convince government to make some exceptions. The effect of such an increase on the already struggling independent gym sector is likely to be disastrous.” Other operators have been voicing frustrations with council-run facilities. John Burns, who has owned Burns
Fitness in Swansea for 28 years, said: “If VAT increases then the advantage that council-run centres have on us will increase even further, because it won’t affect them. I’ve heard it could go up to as much as 20 per cent, which worries me. I spoke to a former employee at my local council-run centre and he said new staff are told that I am their ’biggest enemy’ and their ‘biggest competition’ – which is proof that they are competing against me.” Paul Evans, owner of First Class Gym in Bridgend, is in talks with his local council about how they can work alongside each other, claiming he will ‘never win the battle’. And Paul Taylor, owner of PT Fitness in Mold, contacted Workout with concerns that a gym opened for council workers at the local town hall would take his business. He added: “I’ve already lost some members who work for the council, as they can use those facilities for free. It makes my blood boil that my business rates are being used to fund a gym that is effectively in direct competition with me. Government say they are supporting small businesses, but I really can’t see how they are.”
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American bodybuilder Chris Cormier visited a handful of independent gyms during a whistle-stop UK tour to mark his return to the international stage. An IFBB Pro, he visited Ironworks Gym and Temple Gym in Birmingham, Ripped Gym in Harlow and Monster Gym in Cheshunt, where he enjoyed workouts, signed autographs and chatted to members about training techniques. Chris, who is sponsored by QNT, told Workout he will be back in the country soon.
GYM owner Ashley Roberts is breathing a sigh of relief after plans to open a rival club were quashed. Ashley, who operates Optimum Gym in Ruislip, said he was shocked and angry when a planning application was submitted to turn an empty shop just yards away into a Gymophobics club. So he put together a petition containing 190 signatures from members, friends and family and said he was ‘over the moon’ when the plans were refused by Hillingdon Council. He told Workout: “By the time I’d found out about the application, I only had five days to get the petition together but I even had people I didn’t know coming into the gym wanting to sign it. “I was worried because I’ve worked hard to get the gym up to the standard it is and didn’t want anything to threaten that. I know my members are very loyal, but there was a possibility that people would walk past Gymophobics and be signed up there before even finding out about me – especially because they would have had a more prominent position on the high street.”