September 1 • 2019 The Mail on Sunday^ FINANCIAL 97
E
VEN though he’s working
out in his suit and tie rather
than his usual sports kit,
Glenn Earlam is a living,
breathing advert for the
health club chain he heads.
Gamely clutching weights and
donning boxing gloves for photo-
graphs at David Lloyd Leisure’s
Harbour Club in Kensington, West
London, there’s no sign that just the
day before he flew back from holi-
day in Indonesia and is struggling
with jet lag...nor that he went on a
17km run as soon as he got home in
preparation for the Great North
Run half-marathon next weekend.
He’s also preparing to greet
another wave of fitness enthusiasts
- September is the second busiest
month of the year for the gym
industry as people try to get back
into shape after the summer.
Earlam is expecting an extra
25,000 members this month at the
99-strong gym chain (the 100th
David Lloyd Leisure in the UK will
open in Bristol later this year).
But the chief executive admits it’s
one thing getting new members
and an entirely different game
keeping them, even at his company
where its members tend to be sub-
urban, middle-aged and middle-
class – attracted by its large sites
with swimming pools, gyms, tennis
courts, fitness classes and cafes.
While the drop-out rate (known in
the industry as attrition) at David
Lloyd was 37 per cent when Earlam
joined – compared to an industry
average of 55 per cent – he has
brought it down to 32 per cent and
intends to reduce it further with
what he calls ‘clubbiness’.
‘It’s a simple thing, but if you’re
going to a group exercise class and
you’re meeting friends there, then
you’re more likely to turn up,’ he
says. ‘You might then go for a cof-
fee afterwards and the whole thing
adds up to a sense of belonging
which makes a massive difference
to how long you stay a member.
‘People join with great intentions,
but those who stay the longest are
those who get the habit early on.
People who do group exercise
have an attrition rate of around
6 per cent, but for those who don’t,
it’s 38 per cent. It’s all about the
“clubbiness”.’
As well as providing social events
such as book clubs and wine-tast-
ing, members are given free per-
sonal training sessions when they
join to promote good gym habits
from the start, and lapsed mem-
bers are offered perks such as ten-
nis inductions. Do some people who
have forgotten about their mem-
bership cancel when they get the
reminder phone call?
‘Yes!’ says Earlam, who admits it
‘can be controversial commer-
cially’, but adds: ‘It’s the right thing
to do’. It’s a refreshing comment in
the light of recent figures showing
Britons waste £4 billion a year on
unused gym memberships.
While Earlam worked hard build-
ing up the business – ‘we had450,000 members and we’ve now
got 625,000, and we’ve more than
doubled profitability’ – he also set
about a ‘cultural transformation’.
‘We now run the clubs from a local
level rather than making decisions
centrally and we’ve been asking our
members what they want, because
members in Kensington and Chel-
sea want very different things to
members in Dundee and Glasgow.’
Spotting an opportunity in the
over-55s sector – following Govern-
ment advice for older people to be
more active – he found a potential
stumbling block. Personal trainers,
he says ‘tend to be young and male’
which may be intimidating, so Ear-
lam has a target to have at least one
over-55 personal trainer (PT) per
club by 2021.
‘We want PTs to be able to relate
to their core customer,’ he says.
‘People want people who are more
like them. If they’re female theytend to like female trainers and if
they’re older they tend to like older
trainers.’
Much of the recent rise in national
gym membership has been down to
the rise of budget gyms and, per-
haps surprisingly, Earlam is a fan.
‘Budget operators have really
been driving total gym member-
ship and target younger, urban-
based members,’ he says. ‘When
those people get a bit older and
move to the suburbs they’ve built
up a fitness habit and at that point
we’re often the only offering
around. We don’t see the budget
operators cannibalising the market
but ultimately being good for us.’
Being aimed at an older demo-
graphic doesn’t mean David Lloydis slacking on the intensive work-
outs though and it is working on
expanding its range of own-brand
high-intensity interval classes with
names such as Blaze, Synergy and
Rhythm, with many appealing to
competitive gym-goers by means
of large screens linked to heart rate
monitors.
There’s also the ‘unstoppable rise’
of yoga and Pilates while other
sports such as squash are taking a
back seat, angering squash players
who have seen their courts turned
into Blaze studios. Earlam explains
that it’s simple economics, saying
that an average of 20 people per club
play squash compared to around 570
who attend Blaze classes.
The chain – founded by former
tennis pro David Lloyd in 1982 –
was bought from Whitbread in 2013
by private equity outfit TDR Capi-
tal which has pumped more than
£ 3 50 million into the company.
The latest accounts for 2018 show
an annual turnover up 7 per cent to
£287 million and profits of £35.2 mil-
lion. The company is expanding
into Europe with 15 clubs in Ger-
many, Italy, Ireland, Spain and even
one club in India.
The next big thing in the UK is the
launch of its ‘destination spa retreats’
of which there are three so far – in
Farnham, Surrey; Purley, South Lon-
don; and Bracknell, Royal Berkshire.
The company has identified 20 sites
which will suit a spa and at £3 million
each, they’re not cheap.
Earlam expects the return on
investment to be in higher member-
ship fees – but existing members
will not see an increase. ‘New
members will have to spend quite a
lot more to join,’ he says, with the
top Platinum membership coming
in at £165 a month. ‘The spas are as
good quality as you’ll find in any
five-star hotel.’
Perks include meditation classes,
sound baths and advice on sleep and
nutrition and it should also reduce
that all-important attrition rate. Ear-
lam is a convert, explaining: ‘My
wife and I went to the spa in the
Royal Berkshire club the other
week. We meant to go in the gym
but we went to the spa – and stayed
there for two and a half hours.’Interview
I’ll give David
Lloyd gyms a
workout – so
they’re fit for
the over-55s
By Sarah Bridge
GLenn earLam, 53: man CITY-LOVInG maraTHOn man
People who do
group exercise are a
lot less likely to give
up membership
Health chain boss is cashing in on a later life boom...
Best thing I ever did, says personal trainer of 58
LEAP OF FAITH: Mark Jerling, left, with one of his clients
Picture:crAiG HiBBertHANDS ON:
Glenn Earlam,
boss of David
Lloyd Leisuren^ Sarah BridgeLives: Guildford, Surrey.
Family: Wife Geraldine,
daughters Hollie and
Aimee (both at university).
Favourite book:
Heroes by John Pilger.
Favourite film: Babel.
Favourite marathon/
triathlon: London
Marathon (left) – afantastic atmosphere.
Fastest marathon
time: 3 hours 34 mins.
Favourite gym class:
Blaze at David Lloyd.
Hobbies: Manchester
City, running, cycling,
drinking beer.
A typical day at work:
Visiting the David LloydClubs and talking to
general managers and
understanding what his
members want.
Most annoying habit:
Supporting Manchester
City!
Favourite holiday
destination: Flores,
Indonesia.AT THE age of 58 Mark
Jerling is not your typical
personal trainer – but then
neither was his career.
Having worked as a
distribution manager for
logistics company Menzies
for years, he took a career
break to help his wife
through an illness. When he
rejoined the workforce it
was his wife who said: ‘Why
don’t you do something you
really enjoy?’
A six-week intensive
personal trainer course and
£4,000 later, keen rugby-
player Mark was a qualifiedinstructor working at David
Lloyd Leisure Worthing.
The health club is trying to
take advantage of the rise in
health conscious over-55s –
and believes it can convince
them to become members if
it offers personal training by
people of a similar age.
‘It was a leap of faith but
it’s the best thing I ever did,’
says Mark who works
around 30 hours a week on a
mix of personal clients and
group exercise classes.
Rather than being a
hindrance, Mark’s age is a
selling point. ‘It’s my USP,’he says. ‘It doesn’t limit me
to teaching a certain age but
it does mean I can relate to a
wide group of people and
arguably have more life
experience and
interpersonal skills than
someone who’s 20.’
Mark’s youngest client is a
15-year-old tennis player and
his oldest is ‘a 65-year-old
lady who’s had two knee
ops’. He adds: ‘You can
really improve people’s
lives.’ And his own, too, it
seems, because Mark is
fitter than he’s ever been.