That new gym that's opening on Lordship Lane

[Guest]

Today they had an open day. Why? Its not finished; plaster still drying; wires sticking out of the walls ;, virtually no equipment... nice floors though.

But they did have a price list available

Get this

?59 per month for off-peak membership 10am - 4pm Mon to Fri, ?79 per month for full membership, classes extra. Oh there's no swimming pool btw.

Now maybe I'm just a curmudgeon but that seems an awful lot of money. Bearing in mind the leisure centre is ?42 a month, JAGS is ?34 a month and Dulwich College is ?42.

Who would pay that kind of price for a gym? Would you?

[Bellenden Belle]

Absolutely not! What is happening to that end of Lordship Lane - such pretension, such extravagance - it makes me quite cross actually. And yes they can talk about trained physiotherapists, blah blah blah - but really, it's a gym! Just like a ?12 sandwich across the road is simply a sandwich. Madness.

[Ganapati]

That's ridiculous if you have to pay EXTRA for classes.

[Andyng]

If there full opening hours are 10-4 then its no use to anyone with a 9-5 job,even

if it was a ?5 a month.I use saddlers gym in the barbican special company discount ?25

a month great equipment but changing rooms are a bit crap.Works okay for me.Just across

the road from work

[Bellenden Belle]

I think the 10am-4pm refers to the opening hours of off-peak membership ,

[Pickle]

I used to pay silly money for a Cannons membership when I worked in the city, but then I used it almost every day, it had a swimming pool, squash courts etc etc and there were no extra charges for anything.

There's no way I'd pay that much for a local membership, and the off-peak membership (which really should appeal to people like me as I'm a stay at home Mum) is ridiculous for the limited hours it can be used! Good luck to them!

[zephyr]

where is this gym?

[East Dulwich Angst]

Where abouts on LL is it situated?

[ed_pete]

Here between Blackwater Street and Bassano Street, next door to the Thomas Moore Hall

[macroban]

Full membership works out at ?18.17 per week.

Some may see this as better value than one and a half Le Chandelier sandwiches per week.

[kford]

That would be ?18.17 a session for me then.

[Spangles30]

You are quite right to mention the extortionate cost of this new gym! I had a fit when I saw how much they intended to charge. I shall stick to the East Dulwich Leisure Centre on Goose Green. Ok, so it's not perfect, but the exercise classes are fab and the monthly membership I pay is reasonable. ?79 per month for full membership at this new gym is outrageous and more than I paid for a gym in Kensington!!!!

Will anyone be daft enough to pay that amount of money? Oh and there isn't even a creche to cater for the many parents who may wish to work out during the day!

[snowboarder]

I really MIGHT pay that if there was a pool, loads of classes all included, nice and big, maybe with cafe etc - like the amida place in Beckenham. Would need to be very lovely though - towels included, molton brown toiletries etc.!

It's a lot more than most city gyms - the cottons fitness first at London Bridge is I think about ?60 - if that, and has a pool and squash courts too.

[macroban]

100 off-peak and 100 full members (roughly 0.5% of the East Dulwich adult population) would generate an annual turnover of ?165.6k.

Just another example of how I fail to understand the business models of the most recent East Dulwich businesses.

[neilly1973]

what gym is it? sounds like ridiculous pricing! day light robbery - esp if no pool! what gym is it anyway?

[Spangles30]

It is round the corner from the Butchers - or one of those roads near there.

[Quaywe]

OK here goes:

I met Elizabeth, the owner of ES Physical Health, a few months ago when they had only recently secured the building. I have to say, as the owner of a nearby flat, I was over the moon to hear ESPH was going to be occupying the building that had remained vacant for three years (and was a prime location for a big nasty chain store to move into). Apparently it stood vacant for so long because the owner (who was also living in the building) wanted to turn it into a bar/restaurant and a dense block of flats, however he couldn't get planning permission.

All of this time ESPH was trying to buy the building, but not at the price the current owner was willing to consider selling it at. Sufficed to say he held out for his price, and got it in the end. As ESPH couldn't afford to buy the building they found someone else to buy it that they could lease from - you guessed it Parkhill Properties! During the negotiating process with ESPH, Parkhill had Tesco and Natwest approaching them as well. Parkhill being who they are were naturally interested in getting the best lease price they could for their newest acquisition. Both Tesco and Natwest failed to succeed in securing the building because the Southwark planning office would not give either of them planning permission due to parking issues around the surrounding streets. Tesco even went so far as to try and bully Southwark into selling them the private car park in Bassano St so they could demolish the garages in there and turn it into a supermarket car park.

All the while ESPH were knocking on Parkhill's door saying "hello, we have planning permission and are ready to move in!". Finally they got it and on September 29 they open their doors. As a property owner with a vested interest in that immediate area I must congratulate ESPH for fighting off the vultures and using Parkhill to their advantage to secure the property. I dread to think of what it would have been like having a Tesco parked on that corner. It would have been another nail in the coffin of Lordship Lanes takeover by chain stores. This is not supposed to be a post on chain stores as we already have enough of these on the EDF but it is supposed to highlight the pain that ESPH has gone through to secure this property.

So I popped in to the open day on the weekend and checked the place with eager anticipation. The concept looks fantastic: Pilates (3 people per class), Yoga and circuit training (around 8 per class) all run in a class based format. Additional to that is the gym upstairs which looks state of the art. On top of that is the core of ESPH's business which is the physio and rehabilitation services. All of which are accessible via private health insurance as well if you have it. All of their staff are degree educated physiotherapists with the more senior one's running the rehab and pilates/yoga. The graduates will be working in the gym. Membership is going to initially be restricted/open to 500 members. It all sounds great to me so far.

Then the prices - as Curmudgeon mentioned:

GYM (including basic pilates, yoga, circuit training classes)

- ?59/mth off peak,

- ?79 anytime (opening hrs 7am-10pm at this stage but they will open earlier if there is a demand for it).

PILATES (3 people per class max)

- ?99/mth going to one class per week

- ?129 going to as many as you like.

GYM ANYTIME + PILATES (1 per week)

- ?159

GYM ANYTIME + PILATES (Anytime)

- ?199

There's small discounts for couples joining together and if you pay for 12 months up front as well.

Now if you're like me then you'd probably like to do maybe one class per week and have use of the gym as you want. That's going to set you back ?79 (does not include the Pilates studio). I'm (ignorantly) guessing that this is probably your average membership as well at most gyms. Before I baulked at the price I decided to take a few things into consideration;

1) This is a small family run business that does not have the purchasing power of LA Fitness or Canons,

2) They are leasing the property from Parkhill Properties, who have no doubt just shelled out a small fortune to purchase this building. We all know about the prices these guys charge.

3) all of their staff are degree qualified physiotherapists and the gym is decked out in state of the art equipment,

4) you get a very personalised service and for that price should not expect to be queuing up for machines at the gym either.

5) There is no joining fee or contractual commitment.

VERDICT: While I accept all of the factors just mentioned are going to make a reasonable difference to the membership price it still doesn't make me feel any better about shelling out ?79/mth to get fit. This is month on month too. For ?79 I could get a full membership at the crappy ED Leisure Centre including (very busy) pool use AND (very busy) classes for ?42 and a (one-on-one) session with a personal trainer of my choice once a month. While ESPH could argue that their membership provides an equivalent service or better (it just might) I don't see it being they way the average person trains or spends.

I wish ESPH all the best in their new venture and congratulate them in securing the location. It's a hell of a step up coming from Cambersmell (throws a hook out for Alan Dale ;-)). I AM going to join for Oct/Nov but only because I have a specific need to prepare for an event, and because I want to know first hand if all that money is really worth it. I seriously doubt however that the average ED gym goer is going to be able to justify spending that much money on their fitness. Only time will tell however and I know that if ESPH aren't getting the member numbers through the door that they want then prices will come down. I hope they are still able to remain profitable if this does happen. Then everyone wins!

Good luck ESPH!

Regards

EDKiwi

PS - This post edited to show correct details which I originally got wrong. Note that all classes except for the Pilates exercise lab are included in the full gym membership. While still the most expensive gym membership that I know of it's actually not that much more than a good city gym and although it missing a pool it has other added value which is the personalised service from degree qualified professionals. Let the market demands dictate esph's success I say. Good luck to them!

[Alan Dale]

Sounds rubbish.

[Bellenden Belle]

Can I just say thank you to Quaywe for such an informative post. I would love to know what market research ES Physical Health have done and who they perceive as their competitors since I really can't find an example of a more expensive gym anywhere! Particularly one that is so limited - ie no pool, a very small selection of classes.

I will be very interested to see how the prices come down.I reckon come January there will be a marketing campaign with lots of special offers for the new year. Or it will be dead in the water within two years.

[maxsharp]

At the risk of being shot down in flames, I'd like to add a few comments to the debate. I'm one of the owners of esph and have been following the recent debate.

First things first: price

The cost of joining the gym is ?79 per month for peak membership and ?59 for off-peak. For this price you get a full musculoskeletal sreening by a physio (basically an MOT)and a fitness test (heart rate, blood pressure, hip-waist ratio etc), access to all the exercise classes except the pilates equipment studio and an exercise programme tailored to you. Classes are limited to a maximum of 8 and include yoga, circuit training, mattwork pilates amongst others. The gym is staffed by physios who will offer you all the supervision and help you want to achieve your goals. In most gyms you have to pay extra for this on top of the cost of your membership. There is no fee to sign up and no 12 month contract.

Membership

There are 2 types of membership - gym (details above) and Pilates. The pilates equipment studio runs at a maximum ratio of 3 members to 1 instructor and classes last an hour. Membership costs ?99 per month for one class per week and ?139 per month for unlimited classes. That is the maximum equivalent of ?25 per hour class which is below the industry standard. As with all classes the empahsis is on supervision, and tailored programmes for each member.

Creche

We don't have a creche yet but have allocated space for one if there is the demand from members. There will be classes for kids (circus classes, martial arts etc).

Bathrooms

The bathrooms will be quite plush. There are egyptian cotton towels and products by Korres.

Cafe

There is a cafe which will be run by Trinity Stores. They have a deli in Balham and sell well-sourced, mostly organic produce.

Treatments

Will include physiotherapy, osteopathy, podiatry, massage, acupuncture, diet clinics, sports medicine amongst others. Full members are entitled to 10% discount on all treatments.

Pool

There isn't a pool to start with. But one has been planned for the second phase.

Opening Hours

We will be open from 7-10 weekdays and 8-8 at weekends.

Business model

Membership will be limited to 550 in the first phase (combined pilates and gym). In addition we are relocating our Camberwell physio practice which has been trading since 1979.

Happy to field any specific questions you have.

Best wishes,

Max

Max Sharp

esph

[neilly1973]

do you have a website yet?

i'm just interested!

[maxsharp]

www.esphysicalhealth.com

[fractionater]

And a timetable for the classes would be useful also.

what style of yoga are you doing?

[SeanMacGabhann]

Thanks to Quaywe and maxsharp for providing the info (and good luck to Max and family with the whole enterprise)

I'm not a gym person myself (as anyone who knows me can testify) but this sounds like a welcome addition to the area

Very best of luck

(If SOME people feel the need to come on and rubbish it without trying then it's a free world I guess but really....)

[maxsharp]

Yoga types will be iyengar, hatha and rehab yoga with possibly some ashtanga.

A full timetable of classes will be posted on our website soon. You don't have to be a member to come to the classes but as stated previously gym membership entitles you to all the classes you want.