Fitness First’s fruitless bid to acquire rival LA fitness has proved a ‘blessing in disguise’ says UK managing director Martin Seibold, helping the gym chain to assert its dominance in the booming London health club market.

Having started to reap the benefits of its £200m+ transformation programme, Fitness First had high hopes of acquiring its longstanding rival when LA fitness was put up for sale in early 2015. However, potential competition issues caused by one London-centric mid-market operator taking over another meant Fitness First decided to abort its bid, with budget operator Pure Gym taking over LA fitness and its 43 clubs in May 2015.

With Pure Gym converting the bulk of the LA fitness estate into low cost clubs, the benefits have been huge for Fitness First, said Seibold, with membership growth of 15 per cent in London since the deal was announced.

“We were gutted that we couldn’t buy LA fitness, but our due diligence suggested we wouldn’t be able to keep the whole estate and this would have included some of the best-located clubs,” Seibold told Health Club Management.

“But it’s been a blessing in disguise and our performance in London over the past year has been so strong that we’re now back in a position where we can look at signing new sites. We have such a strong opportunity in London.”

Fitness First now has 24 clubs in central London – putting the chain far ahead of nearest upmarket rivals Virgin Active and Gymbox – and Seibold believes this footprint will pay dividends as the population in the capital continues to grow.

With London’s population set to increase by more than 500,000 over the next five years, whoever owns Fitness First – the company is currently considering its options ahead of a potential sale – will have plenty of potential customers to chase.