If you're a gym fanatic, probably you have heard about
Fitness First. It's actually one of the famous fitness clubs in the world. But did you know how it became as popular as it is today?
In 1993 in Bournemouth,
Mike Balfour and Christopher Pearce established a health club that would give an high-quality and affordable fitness experience to everyone. The rapid growth of the clubs reached to 7 new facilities in 1997, and almost doubled in 1988. It was the pioneer fitness club operator in UK that penetrated the Continental Europe in 1988. In 2002, 49 Fitness First clubs were established in UK, with 100,000 members, and 3,000 employees. The expansion did not stop there. In year 2000, Fitness First reached the
countries of Asia as well as Australia. When John Lovering became its Chairman in 2003, Pearce assigned to a non-executive director post. On the following year, Balfour became a Deputy Chairman; from his original post as Chief Executive. He still participates in continuous growth of the club. In 2005, Fitness First made its name as the world's biggest health club, having 424 total clubs with over a million members. Today they have 434 facilities worldwide.
