Best Fitness & Gym Franchises UK (2024)

The fitness sector is continuing to grow each year and one aspect that has dramatically grown is the fitness and gym franchise market.

In this guide we will give you a non-biased (unlike most articles on this subject) examination of the top fitness and gym franchises broken down by sector, cost, and target demographic.

Here is the breakdown so you can jump to what fitness franchise appeals to you the most:

• Gym Franchises 
• PT Studio Franchises 
• Martial Arts Franchises 
• Personal Training Franchises 

Before you jump in, it is advisable when starting a fitness franchise, to be qualified in what you're preaching. Get yourself qualified as Personal Trainer with OriGym's internationally recognised PT Courses or learn via the comfort of your own home with OriGym's online personal training courses. Feel free to download our course prospectus here.

When starting any fitness or gym franchise you will tend to follow the below key 5 steps to getting started, which does vary from franchise to franchise:

1. Welcome Call

• Establish the size of gym you’re looking for
• Establish the location you wish to set-up your gym in
• Establish your experience, motives and credentials

2. Specialist Call /Meeting

• Predicted costs based off the size of the gym
• Sign NDA and sent Brochure of testimonials, predicted costs and fees.
• Understand the brand's market position, ethos' and USPs

 3. Meet Finance Partners

• Finance and credit checks on your sustainability
• Meet third party partners for funding (if required)

4. Paperwork & Location

• Review the franchise paperwork and agreement
• Review available territory and demographics
• Sit down with property consultants for potential locations

5. Getting Started

• Pay your franchise fees and related costs
• Plan gym layout and marketing
• Start relevant training

Let’s jump straight in to the list of best fitness franchises (UK)….

Gym Franchises (UK)

The following companies our the largest gym franchises that operate in thre UK and either have multiple locations or are searching for franchisees within the UK market:

1. Anytime Fitness

You may have already heard of Anytime Fitness? They are the world’s largest gym franchises with almost 2,500 sites in the US, 1,700 Internationally of which 163 sites are right here in the UK. Anytime fitness has built their brand and reputation on a model of providing state of the art gym equipment, 24-hour access and securing great locations for their franchisees, which is has led them to becoming the biggest health and fitness franchise in the world. 

60% of Anytime fitness franchisees own more than one club and many own dozens and with a 97% franchise retention rate it seems a solid investment.

How much is an anytime fitness franchise?  

Costs vary depending on the size of the proposed site and location but typically you can start an Anytime Fitness franchise from £350,000, which includes all your equipment, training policies, procedures, refurbishment, marketing and sales support.

Estimated Cost: £350,000 - £550,000

Enquire: Anytime Fitness Franchise

2. Jetts Fitness

Jetts Fitness is a 24-hour gym franchise that started back in 2007 on Australia’s Gold Coast from humble beginnings with the essence on putting the “member first”. Now 13 years later they have more than 300 clubs worldwide and was named by BRW as Australia's #1 Fastest Growing Franchise. Jetts makes our list of best gym franchises (UK) after arriving on UK shores a few years back, as their business ethos prides on quality over quantity during the onboarding process by providing more dedicated support and limiting the number of new franchisees they bring on at one time to make your business a real success!

Estimated Jetts Fitness Franchise Cost: £450,000 - £570,000

Enquire: Jetts Fitness Franchise

3. Snap Fitness

From one 24-hour fitness franchise to another comes Snap Fitness. Over 70 sites have opened in rapid succession from just 21 owners in the UK, Snap Fitness has exploded into the UK market and already has over 2000 sites worldwide. If you have not stepped foot in a Snap Fitness branch as of yet, you will find a common theme of their gyms being open plan, inclusive environments that have a functional feel to them. They are ideal for almost every location, from big cities, suburban areas or even for rural locations and have an average membership base of 1,300 members per club.

Estimated Snap Fitness Franchise Cost: £358,000 - £471,000

Enquire: Snap Fitness Franchise

4. truGym

truGym is a UK gym franchise that was founded by entrepreneur Parm Singh in 2010 that operates over 12 sites across the UK where members can access low gym prices, high quality equipment and even grab a sauna and steam. With a minimum investment of just 100k TruGym is a low-cost gym franchises and with scope to customise your club requirements with regards to equipment, fitness classes and services, which makes truGym a very viable option for investment.

Estimated Cost: £100,000 - £300,000

Enquire: Find out more

5. Easy Gym

Easy Gym is a fitness gym franchise that has over 100k members across their clubs and stems from the Easy Group family that dates back to 1995 and despite them only having 5 gyms in the UK, they arguably have the biggest brand recognition with a 98% brand recognition amongst UK consumers. Easy Gym claims with their vigilant help support and access to their centralised marketing team that you will break even within a month and then regain your investment in just three years making this one of the most appealing fitness club franchises around.

With Easy Gym you can opt for a small box at 8,000 - 12,000 sqft or big box which ranges from 12,000 - 16,000 sqft and with the average gym membership base of 2,750, revenue of £660,000 and net profit of £228,000 you get a great return on investment and be part of a global brand.

This UK gym franchise has a large support network for HR, training, marketing, management systems, club design and discounts with leading vendors to ensure you get all the support to make your Easy Gym a success.

Estimated Cost: £250,000 - £500,000

Enquire: Find out more here

6. Energie Fitness

Energie Fitness is a top gym franchise and is ranked number 2 in Elite Magazine’s top 100 UK Franchises of 2019. Energie Fitness now has an astounding 109 sites and 140,000 gym members across the UK and Ireland and with both the budget gym market booming and a board of Directors with a proven track record of scaling a franchise company, investing in an Energie fitness franchise is very good calculated risk. 

They will provide you with a thorough business plan, support, and continuous professional development in the format of a business course and fitness CPD Training for staff as well as sourcing the best venues to meet your requirements. Energie 24 hour gym franchises are renowned for their big site launches with the average gym opening with over 1,200 members which is higher than the break-even numbers required to sustain your franchise fees and licenses.

Estimated Cost: £130,000

Enquire: Request a brochure

7. Curves

Curves is a women’s gym franchise that has 38 venues in the UK and 4,500 venues across 76 countries. Curves is a circuits instructor led workout for women (sorry guys) that helps women get fit, stronger and lose weight. Curves has a proven business model that has been in operation since 1992 and provides you with all your initial and ongoing training and has a simple to learn and implement model.

With this women’s gym franchise, you will pay a franchise fee between £10,300 and £12,300 depending on the size of the premises but like all gym franchises there are set-up and running costs, including; the equipment, certification, advertising, royalty fees and many others which we have estimated below:

Estimated Cost: £40,900 - £62,100

Enquire: Find out More

PT Studio Franchises

The private sector is the fastest growing aspect of the UK market, with more privately-owned gyms than all major National chain including the likes of Virgin Active, David Lloyds, Pure Gym and The Gym Group combined.

The demand for quality training and qualified support in a more personalised setting has led to some of the world’s largest fitness and gym franchises being in the boutique sector. See below our list of the best fitness franchises (UK).

1. Orangetheory Fitness

Orangetheory Fitness is a unique fitness franchise opportunity that has a one of a kind science-based workout concept and is one of the fastest growing companies not just in fitness but in the world. It’s group-based interval training concept has been adopted by 1,100 franchisees in the US and now has scaled to 22 countries and 1,600 sites worldwide.

Orangetheory Fitness has landed in the UK and boasts “that they have never closed a single franchise” a statement which no other company on this best fitness franchise list can make. Orange Fitness Theory is a class-based studio that is both expertly led, and results driven where members have the option to go to unlimited classes that harness a combination of gym based cardio equipment and strength training with no contracts and low fees.

Estimated Cost: £450,000 - £814,000

Enquire: Find out more

2. F45 Studios

F45 is a revolutionary fitness concept that incorporates 45-minute engaging group HIIT classes with cutting edge technology to monitor performance and results. The F45 model has gone global since its first studio opened in Australia back in 2012 and has 57 studios open or due to open in the UK alone. With the added bonus of investment from Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg whose consortium have invested over 450 million dollars and the F45 model has been refined for both members and franchisees and has generated a huge global following. 

This low-cost fitness franchise provides you with 24-hour support, top of the range functional equipment, 1,650-2,400 sq ft open plan studio, branded F45 kit, systems and processes manual and marketing to make your F45 studio profitable. 

Estimated Cost: £200,000

Enquire: Learn More

3. Yourzone45

The bootcamp market is one of the fastest growing aspects of the fitness sector and is appealing to fitness enthusiasts and qualified trainers due to the large margins and low overheads and all-inclusive functionality. 

Enter Yourzone45! A fitness bootcamp franchise that offers groups up to 24 people at one time and each workout follows their philosophies of the afterburn effect utilising heart rate monitors to keep clients in the optimised training zone for their fitness goals. 

With YourZone45 fitness franchise, you will get a 2,000 sqft studio packed with brand new fucntional based equipment, 

Cost: £15,995

Enquire: Find out More

4. Hybrid Fitness

Hybrid Fitness is a gym franchise with a boutique feel where you can tailor your club based off your needs and local competition to fulfil the market demands. This flexibility means you can find some fitness club franchises ranging from 3,000 sqft through to 10,000 sq ft and each has a unique look, feel and member experience.

Members can go to unlimited “standard classes” from £44.9 per month with unlimited gym use on all packages but if they elect to go for the higher tier package at £59,99, they can get access to 13 extra premium classes and bring a non-member along for a session once per month.

Hybrid Fitness is a low cost fitness franchise that costs just £20,000 and then a minimum of £10,000 for PT and gym equipment costs and working capital being required. 

Estimated Cost: £20,000 minimum

Enquire: Request Brochure

5. Fit20

Fit20 is a fitness industry franchise that focuses on their client base doing 20 minutes of exercise with a qualified personal trainer either on your own or with a friend or family member just once per week. Their sessions target all muscle fibre types to improve strength, endurance, energy levels and immune function from just 20 minutes of exercise that is scientifically backed by multiple journals and leading health professionals.

Fit20 has 120 sites across Europe and now has 5 sites now in the UK and 15,000 members across all clubs. Their studios are sized at just 600 square ft to keep studio overheads to a minimum, allowing you to maximise revenue with low overheads. You can open a site for just £15,000 depending on the level of equipment you desire, and you will get training via their academy and marketing guidance and business support.

Estimated Cost: £15,000

Enquire: Find out More

6. Trib3

Trib3 is a boutique fitness studio franchise that focuses on HIIT training aimed towards the high end of the market, which is mirrored by their high-end facilities, gym equipment, complimentary toiletries and shakes as well as the general luxury feel and ambience you simply don’t find at any other fitness studio. 

Trib3 already operates in Spain, Russia, Finland, China and the UK and is rapid expanding into more countries. Trib3’s workouts challenges their members through a 45 minute instructor led fully body HIIT workout set in dimmed lighting and with fast paced music playlists. 

If you decide to invest in aTrib3 bootcamp franchise you will be joining a fast-moving brand that will provide you with both centralised support sand a consultant to help you launch and with day to day operations.

Estimated Cost: Minimum £130,000

Enquire: Find out more

7. Body Street

Body Street is a German born personal training franchise, where the concept revolves around a 20-minute workout once per week that combines Personal Training with EMS (Electro Muscle Stimulation) that is both high effective, engaging and fun. 

Body Street has more than 300 locations across Germany, Austria, Italy, USA, Tanzania and the UK with more than 160,000 sessions delivered each month. 

With this established fitness franchise, they will provide you get the support of their franchise management team, marketing and their tried and tested infrastructure and processes to follow and they will help you with hiring of highly qualified trainers to deliver your service. You will also get all your equipment, purpose studio management software, fully furnished studio, exclusive territory and comprehensive training. 

The average Body Street Fitness Franchise (UK) earns a net profit of £81,500 by the end of year 3 with a turnover of £232,000 and with the option to set-up multiple studios you can really scale this business into a vastly growing market. 

Estimated Cost: £60,000

Enquire: Find out More

8. Fitness Space

Fitness Space is a PT studio franchise that was founded by former professional athlete Tim Benjamin and they have no launched over 20 UK sites.

Members can access classes 7 days per week and every member has their own personal trainer with a fully customised programme, nutrition plan, body composition tested, all of which is tracked via the Fitness Space app. 

Fitness Space adopts a very flexible approach to ensuring you get your studio set up the way you want and in the ideal location for you with studios ranging between 2,000 – 4,000 sqft. Fitness Space targets the higher end of the market with prices ranging from £59 per month through to £229 depending on the service level, number of classes and PT you want.

The Fitness Space gym franchise is aimed at generating high levels of return per square ft with a typical revenue return on a 4,000 sqft venue of £616,256, which equates to £216,516 in total operating profit.

Estimated Cost: £75,000

Enquire: Find out More

Martial Art Fitness Franchises

This section focuses on Martial Art franchises that combine both Martial arts with fitness concepts, making them appeal to the masses and have huge potential growth and profitability.

1. Hitio Gym

Sometimes some of the best ideas are the simplest and Hitio Gym franchise certainty fits that mould. It combines general gym access with martial arts for all ages and abilities and has just launched their first UK site in London. Hitio members can access a range of fitness and martial art classes from Brazilian Ju Jitsu and Karate through to yoga and cross training as well as general gym use from just £61, which in Central London is a steal! 

With interest and participation in combat sports and martial arts combined with the boom in general health and wellbeing, Hitio has experienced substantial growth over the past 6 years and the average martial arts franchise accumulates over half a million in turnover in the first year.

Hitio studios are 6000 – 12000sqft and with minimal ongoing costs and a low fitness franchise set-up fee, you can become cash positive in a matter of months. 

Estimated Cost: £80,000

Enquire: Find out More

2. Tap Out Fitness

Tap Out Fitness has recently released they will now be looking for the first time for franchise owners in the UK, which is why they have made our list of fitness franchises for sale.

Currently they have 22 open sites and 33 in active launch and with significant backing from powerhouse brands ABG and World Wrestling Entertainment it is a very exciting franchise to be a part of. 

What makes Tap Out Fitness a different to most Martial Art or gym Franchises for that matter is that they fuse the energy of weights, cardio and HIIT Training with the mental disciplines of martial arts to formulate their own trademarked classes, but still give members the option to access the gym or train on their own. 

Studios are 3,000 – 7,000 sqft depending on the level of investment you input, and the larger ones have gyms, lockers and showers and some open 24 hours per day. As Tap Out Fitness caters for kids as well as adults, this provides an additional revenue stream as well as their branded merchandise, supplements store and personal training, that all contribute towards your potential income. 

Estimated Cost: £129,000

Enquire: Find out More

3. UFC Gym

UFC is the biggest name in martial arts with 284million fans worldwide and now you can be a part of their amazing story with by investing in their top martial arts franchise (UK). UFC have opened 4 gym franchises in the UK already with locations in Kent, Woking, Nottingham and Reading, but they’re actively pursuing the UK market and looking to expand their franchise network. 

The UFC has 3 types of Martial art franchise that you can invest in, Class Gym, Core Gym or their signature gym which range in size from just 25,000 through to 45,000 square ft. UFC gyms come with state of the art strength and conditioning equipment such as mats, bags, kettlebells as well as free weights and cardio equipment, but what really disguises the UFC martial arts franchise is the UFC style Octagon for grappling and martial art training and classes.

This martial arts franchise opportunity also has multiple revenue streams especially at their signature clubs which have Café & Retail, private coaching, supplements, gym us and class access, giving you a steady return mon your investment as your member base grows.

Estimated Cost: £85,000 Minimum

Enquire: Find out More

4. 9 Round

9 Round is one of the fastest growing fitness franchises in the world and was placed 121st of the best franchises in the world by Entrepreneur Magazine, up 322 places from 2013. Founded by Shannon “The Cannon” Hudson, an IKF Light Middleweight Kickboxing World Champion and his wife Heather in 2008 where they tested their unique kickboxing circuit concept. Now there are over 800 9 round facilities and a further 500 in various stages of development across 20 countries.

9 round is a kickboxing themed workout which fuses circuit, HIIT, cardio and kickboxing into a tough 30 minute workout. Their proprietary workout consists of completing 9 challenging workout stations, which change every day and always instructor led and unlike most traditional classes there are not set start times, so you will never be late! 

Studio’s are boutique style in appearance with no fixed or clunky cardio machines and equipment which keeps overheads, set-up and running costs low for new franchise owners. You can start a martial arts franchise with 9 round for a minimum spend of £115,000, which covers you for your studio, which ranges between 850 and 1500 square ft and you will get the help and support of their HQ team to get your business profitable.

Estimated Cost: Average total investment £115,000 - £213,500 

Enquire: Find out More

Personal Training Franchises

Of course, personal trainers are valid for any of these franchises on this entire list, however this section is for those that must hold a valid Level 3 PT certificate or above to be eligible or do not have the financial backing to start a gym franchise.

1. At Home Personal Training

If you have just completed your level 3 personal trainer qualification and want to set-up your own personal training business, a viable option is to buy a mobile personal training franchise.

At Home personal training is an in-home personal training franchise where there are no set-up costs like a traditional franchise, but you pay an ongoing license fee which starts at just £199 per month for the first three months, then increases to £249 per month for the next three months and then fixes at £299 per month thereafter.

At Home Personal training has been in operation since 2004 and provides centralised marketing support from a team of developers, and marketers to fuel your PT business with dozens of fresh enquiries each and every month.

Additionally, their unique model only allows for one trainer per territory of the same gender thus you’re never in direct competition with another At Home personal training franchisee.

Estimated Cost: £0 Set-Up Fees

Monthly License Fee: £299

Enquire: Find out More

2. Train Learn Go

Train Learn go operates in a similar fashion to At Home Personal training in that it’s a home personal training franchise, but the big difference lies in what is included and the fees associated.

With Train Learn Go you will get a custom-built website that is SEO optimised for generating leads, all your functional equipment included to run in home PT sessions, classroom training and ongoing support as well as access to their procedures manual and online client management system.

Train Learn go focuses on 45-minute workouts and includes nutrition plans and affordable pricing to the end consumer, which has led to it being adopted by over a hundred personal trainers from almost every major town and city across the UK. You can get involved with this fitness franchise by either paying £8,000 + VAT and then paying a license fee of £400 + VAT per month or paying an upfront £30,000 + VAT and no monthly fees, the choice is yours!

Estimated Cost: £8,000

Monthly License Fee: £400 for 5 years

Enquire: Find out More

3. Gym Guyz

One of the biggest fitness industry franchises to hit the UK is Gym Guyz, which is a home personal training franchise with a twist! With Gym Guyz you will operate in a very similar mannerism to many other mobile personal training franchise opportunities, but the possibility of scaling your business and earnings beyond your hourly rate is what truly excites potential investors. As your business grows with Gym Guyz and your diary packs out, you can expand into multiple territories and start hiring your own trainers to fulfil the business needs, which makes this model very appealing.

Even if you’re not already a qualified personal trainer or someone’s who has little to no business pedigree, as part of your fitness franchise all training and support is provided and with help from their centralised marketing campaigns they will even create bespoke personal training adverts to match your ideal demographic.

Estimated Cost: £25,000 minimum investment

Enquire: Find out More

Before You Go!

If you're looking to start a fitness or gym franchise you must do your due diligence and research, including finding out the costs, upfront and ongoing fees, the size of the brand, break even points and the revenue streams to be able to make an informed decision. A fitness franchise should help you with all the systems, processes and training to be successful and run a business with confidence.

It is advisable to get qualified within the niche you’re trying to operate in and with OriGym's Level 2 gym instructor or the Level 3 Personal Training diploma you will have the skill set to lead a team of fitness professionals.