Gym chain Gymbox has secured funding to triple the size of its London estate.
The group, which has just opened its largest gym in a 42,000 sq ft site in Farrington, EC1, has received a £35m cash injection from the Business Growth Fund and HSBC to fuel the next stage of its expansion.
Gimbal has eight gyms in London, and the cash will fund its plans to have as many as 25 gyms in the city by 2020.
Following Farringdon, which opened on 14 November, Gymbox will sign imminently in Elephant & Castle, SE1, with another three sites already in the pipeline to open next year.
The chain is looking for sites of between 10,000 sq ft and 40,000 sq ft, where it can replicate the model of its new Farringdon flagship, which includes a 40m running track and Olympic lifting areas.
Gymbox typically operates on a 20-25 year lease, paying between £10 and £20 per sq ft.
Managing director Mark Diaper said: “The beauty from our perspective is that landlords are opting for us in terms of what they are looking for in a building, and in some instances they can put their rental values up in office blocks if they have us for a tenant.”
There are still no Gymbox sites outside London, and while the new expansion will be London focused, Diaper added that the company is considering opportunities in other UK cities and abroad.
He said: “The main thing for us after this considerable investment is to have more sites in London, but we are open to opportunities in cities such as Leeds, Manchester, Brighton and Liverpool where we would eventually aim to do more than one. We also get plenty of approaches from international markets, such as Canada, Mexico and Dubai.”
Montagu Evans acts for Gymbox.
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