Thank you for your interest in this story
To continue reading this article, subscribe to the Stray Ferret for as little as £1 a week
Already a subscriber? Log in here.
18
Feb
New £250,000 Harrogate gym opens its doors to the public
A new £250,000 gym in Harrogate opened its doors to the public yesterday (February 17).
Lift Club is a new six-room gym on Thirkhill Park in Pannal. It occupies one of the units on the business park.
The 3000 square foot gym will offer different activities in each room.
It will have a dedicated gym space, a room for scheduled classes, a recovery room (including both a sauna and an ice bath), a refuel bar for refreshments, a co-working space, a massage room and a reformer studio.
Lift Club currently employs 8 members of staff, which Ms Johnson said they would be "looking to increase in the future."
Lift Club's refuel bar
The Stray Ferret spoke to Lift Club owner Beth Johnson about her love for exercise and why she had decided to open her gym:
I was always really sporty as a kid. I swam, played netball, and owned horses when I was younger.
But I fell out of love with sport a bit after I left school, as the opportunities to play got scarcer. That’s where I found my passion for the gym and solo exercise.
I decided to set up this gym because I wanted to unlock other people’s enjoyment of that physical exercise.
I’ve based it around the way that I like to train. I love having a small group element in my training, but I rarely found that anywhere else, so it was a big inspiration for what I wanted to do here. We are basically offering personal coaching but in small groups.
Ms Johnson said that Lift Club is her first business, but that she has multiple years of experience managing gyms.
She spent a number of years as area manager at North Studio, a gym chain in Leeds and Harrogate.
Her aim for Lift Club is for it to become a "one-stop-shop for physical, mental and social well-being" for its customers.
The gym had its launch event on Saturday, where clients and customers enjoyed free classes alongside free protein shakes and meal prep from the refuel bar.
Beth Johnson talks to customers during Lift Club's launch event
Ms Johnson believes Lift Club will compete with bigger chains, and explained how she felt to be setting up her own business:
We have top quality new equipment at our gym. I’m pretty sure there isn’t another gym with an ice bath in the area, and a recovery area with both that and a sauna isn’t something I’ve seen anywhere else.
We also want to create a community feel that you don’t often see in other gyms, where everyone knows everyone.
I want to make it the space I’ve always dreamt a gym to be for people.
I feel overwhelmed but ecstatic about the opportunity. I’m so excited about the future.
The gym will open seven days a week.
0