The last 20 years haven’t quite lived up to expectations when it comes to investment into our sector.
Yet it seems this investment hiatus is coming to an end, with notable recent transactions including those of Fitness First, Pure Gym, The Gym Group and David Lloyd Leisure. With these transactions in mind, ukactive – along with the global financial advisory institution Rothschild – recently hosted a unique event that brought together members of the Vanguard Group with a number of private equity and venture capitalist organisations.
The event looked at why investors have recently been attracted back to our sector, and the potential the sector holds for growth. Oren Peleg, MD at Oaktree Capital Management, was just one of the experts who identified how a series of ‘mega-trends’ were creating unique opportunities for physical activity provision: the most notable mega-trend being the decline of the nation’s health and the activity sector’s opportunity to provide a solution for this issue.
An emerging role As I said at this year’s Leisure Industry Week, if our sector is to grow, we must move away from a solely fitness solution towards delivering health outcomes.
Through a mix of technological advancement, changes in behaviour and modern lifestyles, we’ve witnessed a drastic decline of more than 35 per cent in physical activity levels.
Sedentary lifestyles go hand-in-hand with obesity, and we’re now at a point where there are more deaths globally from obesity than from malnutrition.
I’m not being flippant when I say this could bankrupt the NHS: it’s impossible to continue paying out huge sums due to the health problems linked with inactive lifestyles. Reports say the NHS will be bankrupt by 2050 if trends continue.
And this is where our sector comes in, and why investors are looking at us: we have the potential to be a leading vehicle in helping get the nation active and healthy, with physical activity proven to reduce the risk of developing over 20 chronic diseases, improve quality of life and even aid rehabilitation from injury.
Investors are also looking at our sector because of the changes that have been made to the health system, with an emphasis on local commissioning of local delivery for local needs. A new executive agency now exists – Public Health England – with a remit ranging from protecting and improving the nation’s health to building the public health system. It’s also the first time public health funding has ever been ring-fenced in the UK, giving clinicians much more responsibility for spending the £80m budget in England.
Proving our worth Our local communities need our services, as do the NHS and local authority public health. We now have a route in. However, we can’t simply assume government and health will naturally come to our sector: we have to adapt and change towards a health delivery focus to be considered a worthy partner.
Regarding the public health agenda, we must start by establishing the true impact we’re making, and can make, on the nation’s health. We must provide evidence that competes with existing health service providers. The ukactive Research Institute at the Universities of Greenwich and Aberystwyth is a body to take on this challenge, and is leading the largest study of its kind into the impact of physical activity in prevention, management and treatment of chronic diseases.
We must also must look at the skills of our professionals, at our facilities, and at the outcomes we collect on a daily basis. The investment community is now paying attention due to national trends like obesity. We also know our sector will only grow if we actively capitalise on such trends and opportunities. If we do this, investors will continue to stand up, pay attention, and investment will flow.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
If you would like more information on ukactive’s public affairs and policy work, please contact Stephen Wilson, director of public affairs and policy: [email protected]
Investors are now looking at the fitness sector as a valuable potential solution to the nation’s health issues
Active Blackpool is deploying Cornerstone Connect, a new digital interface allowing
disparate information from multiple systems to be aggregated into one dataset, to support
its focus on reducing health inequalities and improving healthy life expectancy. [more...]
CoverMe, the global leader in fitness workforce management, today launches CoverMe PT, an
on-demand personal training platform that connects the right personal trainer to the right
client in under 10 seconds. [more...]
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The last 20 years haven’t quite lived up to expectations when it comes to investment into our sector.
Yet it seems this investment hiatus is coming to an end, with notable recent transactions including those of Fitness First, Pure Gym, The Gym Group and David Lloyd Leisure. With these transactions in mind, ukactive – along with the global financial advisory institution Rothschild – recently hosted a unique event that brought together members of the Vanguard Group with a number of private equity and venture capitalist organisations.
The event looked at why investors have recently been attracted back to our sector, and the potential the sector holds for growth. Oren Peleg, MD at Oaktree Capital Management, was just one of the experts who identified how a series of ‘mega-trends’ were creating unique opportunities for physical activity provision: the most notable mega-trend being the decline of the nation’s health and the activity sector’s opportunity to provide a solution for this issue.
An emerging role As I said at this year’s Leisure Industry Week, if our sector is to grow, we must move away from a solely fitness solution towards delivering health outcomes.
Through a mix of technological advancement, changes in behaviour and modern lifestyles, we’ve witnessed a drastic decline of more than 35 per cent in physical activity levels.
Sedentary lifestyles go hand-in-hand with obesity, and we’re now at a point where there are more deaths globally from obesity than from malnutrition.
I’m not being flippant when I say this could bankrupt the NHS: it’s impossible to continue paying out huge sums due to the health problems linked with inactive lifestyles. Reports say the NHS will be bankrupt by 2050 if trends continue.
And this is where our sector comes in, and why investors are looking at us: we have the potential to be a leading vehicle in helping get the nation active and healthy, with physical activity proven to reduce the risk of developing over 20 chronic diseases, improve quality of life and even aid rehabilitation from injury.
Investors are also looking at our sector because of the changes that have been made to the health system, with an emphasis on local commissioning of local delivery for local needs. A new executive agency now exists – Public Health England – with a remit ranging from protecting and improving the nation’s health to building the public health system. It’s also the first time public health funding has ever been ring-fenced in the UK, giving clinicians much more responsibility for spending the £80m budget in England.
Proving our worth Our local communities need our services, as do the NHS and local authority public health. We now have a route in. However, we can’t simply assume government and health will naturally come to our sector: we have to adapt and change towards a health delivery focus to be considered a worthy partner.
Regarding the public health agenda, we must start by establishing the true impact we’re making, and can make, on the nation’s health. We must provide evidence that competes with existing health service providers. The ukactive Research Institute at the Universities of Greenwich and Aberystwyth is a body to take on this challenge, and is leading the largest study of its kind into the impact of physical activity in prevention, management and treatment of chronic diseases.
We must also must look at the skills of our professionals, at our facilities, and at the outcomes we collect on a daily basis. The investment community is now paying attention due to national trends like obesity. We also know our sector will only grow if we actively capitalise on such trends and opportunities. If we do this, investors will continue to stand up, pay attention, and investment will flow.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
If you would like more information on ukactive’s public affairs and policy work, please contact Stephen Wilson, director of public affairs and policy: [email protected]
Investors are now looking at the fitness sector as a valuable potential solution to the nation’s health issues
The UK's four Chief Medical Officers have published a refreshed edition of Physical activity
guidelines: UK Chief Medical Officers' report, updating the evidence that underpins the nation's
physical activity recommendations and placing greater emphasis on strength, balance, reducing
sedentary behaviour and, for the first time, supporting people taking weight loss medications.
Places Leisure has exchanged contracts to build and operate a flagship £60m water and leisure
destination on behalf of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.
The Republic of Ireland will become the latest market in PureGym’s expanding international
portfolio, with the first launch planned for Dublin in 2027.
Anytime Fitness opened more than one club a day in 2025 and is on track to maintain this rate
of growth this year, as parent company Purpose Brands targets further international expansion.
The £33.9 million Leighton Leisure and Community Centre has opened in Leighton Buzzard, UK,
creating a next-generation public leisure, health and wellbeing hub for the local community.
Walnuts Leisure Centre in Orpington, in the London Borough of Bromley, has reopened following
a £17m transformation designed to secure the long-term future of the public leisure asset and
reposition it as a community wellbeing hub.
The Gym Group, has announced that it's sustained positive trading momentum has continued
through the first half of 2026 and the company remains confident about the outlook.
Luxury boutique Pilates and wellness studio, X-Club, officially launches a
4,000sq ft flagship at
Marylebone on 16 July Built around X-Club’s four pillars of wellness – mind,
movement,
nutrition and therapy – the facility features two group exercise studi
Active Blackpool is deploying Cornerstone Connect, a new digital interface allowing
disparate information from multiple systems to be aggregated into one dataset, to support
its focus on reducing health inequalities and improving healthy life expectancy. [more...]
CoverMe, the global leader in fitness workforce management, today launches CoverMe PT, an
on-demand personal training platform that connects the right personal trainer to the right
client in under 10 seconds. [more...]
+ More featured suppliers
COMPANY PROFILES
Everyone Active Everyone Active operates leisure centres in partnership with local councils across the UK. Today, Ev [more...]
