A fast-growing North East gym chain is set for further expansion after securing funding to launch new sites.
OneGym, run by brothers David and Paul Pearson, has grown from its original site in County Durham to 11 gyms across the region in towns such as Darlington, Stockton, Bishop Auckland, Newton Aycliffe, Redcar, and Durham. The pair wanted to give gym users access to all the latest fitness equipment and classes without costly add-ons such as swimming pools which they don’t necessarily want to use.
The family firm’s gyms offer flexible low-cost memberships which give access to all gyms at no extra cost. Now ThinCats, an alternative lender to mid-sized SMEs, has provided undisclosed but significant growth funding to the brand for the acquisition of new sites.
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In 2022, the business received investment from Newcastle-based Middleton Enterprises to aid its recent expansion, which has seen it add six sites to the chain in the last 18 months. Further investment has seen the team grow to over 70 employees, while new software has been used to root out the most suitable sites to build new gym operations.
With the ThinCats funding in place, the management team is looking to acquire three to four sites per year, targeting units in the heart of local communities in the North, with several sites already in the pipeline and set to open in the coming months. Earlier this year the company took on the 20,000sqft former Wilko unit in Chester-le-Street, which closed its doors for the last time in September last year after the 海角视频 retailer collapsed into administration.
Co-founder David Pearson said: “ThinCats has a strong track record of supporting scaling businesses like ours and, together with our partners Middleton Enterprises, we are well positioned to continue to acquire and build the best new gyms. Middleton’s ‘Growth Capital’ and this new growth funding line from ThinCats has given us the firepower and confidence to scale at pace.”
Ben Kimball, senior director at ThinCats, added: “We are delighted to be backing David, Paul and the wider team at OneGym. Their high-value fitness proposition is taking the North East by storm and their gyms have become a real hub for the communities they operate in.
“It was a pleasure working with Middleton, who are likeminded in their approach to funding, providing established businesses with long-term patient capital and a solid platform from which to build. We are excited to be on this journey with them and look forward to supporting their expansion across the North of England.”
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David Alprovich, COO of Middleton Enterprises, added: “When we started on this journey with Paul and David, we were confident that OneGym was a brand that had huge growth potential. In the last two years the business has gone from strength to strength, opening numerous state-of-the-art gyms and building a strong reputation across the North East.
“To meet growing demand, we need to continue sourcing and opening new sites, so it was important to find a funding partner who could match our ambitions. Ben and the team at ThinCats understood the vision and provided funding that will enable us to accelerate our growth plans.”