Tuesday 31 May 2011

No gym contracts? That's not a problem!

Innovative offering opens up gym membership to all.

In the light of the Office of Fair Trading announcing a high court ruling deeming that deals locking gym-goers into long-term contracts are ‘unfair’ and ‘unenforceable’, there is an even greater need for more flexible options such as those offered by the affordable gym chain, Pure Gym.

It was announced recently that anyone locked into a gym contract of a year or more should be free to cancel it without incurring any cost to themselves.

The court action was brought by the OFT against Ashbourne Management Services, who operate membership schemes for 500,000 members of small independent gyms across Britain.

Removing industry stereotypes like inflexible contracts, limited opening hours and high cost memberships, Pure Gym offers low cost membership including ‘Price for life’, 24 hour opening and no contract. The concept is already proving a big hit with a quarter (25%) of their members having never joined a gym before.

In the biggest shake-up of the £2.5bn fitness industry in some two decades, Pure Gym has been starting a fitness revolution following its own survey results that reveal the biggest barriers to joining a gym are high membership fees (72%), fixed contracts (40%) and lack of time (55%).

Peter Roberts, Pure Gym Founder and CEO said: “This is positive news for gym users across the UK, many of whom have suffered heavy-handed tactics like threats to damage credit ratings if members are unable or unwilling to pay the minimum term of long contracts.

“The Pure Gym model aims to encourage those who have never joined a gym before,plus providing an affordable and flexible option for those who expect more from their memberships and who do not want to commit to long-term contracts.”

Pure Gym launched in 2009 and currently has 15 gyms open and an additional five sites secured. By the end of 2011 Pure Gym hopes to have opened 25 sites across the country in total.

For more details you can visit www.puregym.co.uk.

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