Fitness advice: A beginner’s guide to weight training February 5, 2020 Weight training in the gym can be overwhelming at times, especially if you’re new to exercise. There are so many different machines and loads of people all doing strange, inscrutable things: grunting, posing, texting, swinging heavy stuff above their heads in ways that look painful and dangerous. Unlike running or cycling, which are pretty straightforward, [...]
The Gym Group’s low-cost fitness centres bulk up in 2016 January 12, 2017 Britain's fastest-growing operator of low-cost gyms said total revenue for 2016 bulked up with more branch openings and membership sales. The figures The Gym Group today said 15 new branches were added in 2016 for a total of 89 in a year-end trading update. The pay-as-you-go gym operator has 17 new branches in the works for 2017. [...]
Queen’s Birthday Honours: the full 2021 list June 12, 2021 Below the full list of names for this year ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) The Rt. Hon. Frederick Richard Penn Curzon, The Earl Howe. For political and parliamentary service. (Amersham, Buckinghamshire) ORDER OF THE BATH Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) [...]
How gyms are filling spaces left vacant by retailers and restaurants around London April 8, 2018 Exercise is basically the new clubbing. At least, that’s what Casey Phillips, a property agent at Shelley Sandzer, tells me as we’re discussing why the fitness industry is currently booming. “Instead of getting drunk, you do a class together,” he says. “You just feel incredible afterwards.” The wellness and fitness industry is estimated to reach [...]
How pay-as-you-go chain The Gym Group built up its muscle and plans to bulk up further March 6, 2017 Since opening in 2008, pay-as-you-go chain The Gym Group has grown at a rate of knots. Led by chief executive John Treharne, the gym operator is the second largest budget gym in the UK with 89 sites and 448,000 members as of December. The group has a plan to open a further 15 to 20 [...]
Cycling – a perfect blend of business and pleasure July 31, 2019 Every July, our TV screens are dominated by two major sporting events – the green grass of Wimbledon, and the men in lycra cycling across France for what is often regarded as the toughest sporting challenge in the world, the Tour de France. While even the most reluctant of fans is suddenly gripped by the [...]
Seeking solace in the Square Mile: Rise in stressed City workers turning to churches April 22, 2019 Stressed City workers have always sought a variety of antidotes to their fast-paced life – ranging from the gym to the pub – but many are now turning to a more traditional form of relaxation: finding a moment of peace in the City’s historic Wren churches. Church authorities are welcoming a distinct rise in attendance [...]
Bangkok 2049: What do the next three decades hold for this neon metropolis? December 11, 2019 It looked like volleyball from afar. Up close, I realised the players were only using their feet. And the ball was hollow; a spherical rattan of bamboo. Sepak Takraw (or “Muzzle”) was being played with brio by a group of local boys on Phutharet Square, a Thai time capsule in Old City Bangkok. They invited [...]
Bounce founder signs lease for 1 Poultry as flagship for Puttshack crazy golf concept January 31, 2018 The founder of Bounce ping-pong bars and co-founder of Flight Club darts bars has tapped the City of London for his latest social entertainment venture. Entrepreneur Adam Breeden, who also founded All Star Lanes bowling, is to open a crazy golf bar in the basement of the iconic 1 Poultry building. Puttshack is a new [...]
Why everybody should be doing the conservation work workout November 30, 2018 If we compress human evolution into 24 hours, then for around 23 hours and 58 minutes – over 99 per cent of our existence – we lived, worked and thrived in the great outdoors. In this mostly challenging environment, despite the lack of medicines, technology, communications and our relative weakness to many predators, we became the world’s [...]