Berlin follows Brussels with Uber ban | City A.M. April 17, 2014 Germany’s capital city has followed the lead of Brussels and banned the insurgent taxi service Uber. The San-Francisco based company was served with an injunction by a Berlin court for hurting competition. In a sign that European taxi drivers are increasingly worried they may have to provide a quality service at a decent price, the [...]
Berlin follows Brussels with Uber ban April 17, 2014 Germany's capital city has followed the lead of Brussels and banned the insurgent taxi service Uber. The San-Francisco based company was served with an injunction by a Berlin court for hurting competition. In a sign that European taxi drivers are increasingly worried they may have to provide a quality service at a decent price, the [...]
10-Week fitness challenge the get-fit diary of an out of shape office worker April 7, 2014 Steve is undertaking a 10 week “total body transformation” programme with No.1 Fitness, which involves four sessions at the gym a week, a strictly controlled diet and absolutely no alcohol under any circumstances whatsoever (not even a little bit, just to take the edge off…). Here’s how it’s going: BEFORE I started I thought giving [...]
Marriage of the old and the new in St John’s Wood February 13, 2014 Meet the modern townhouse with six floors, a home cinema, a gym, and a spare studio apartment LONDON TOWNHOUSES are the last traditonal homes in this thoroughly modern city. But increasing demand has inspired a developer to see if it could build one that would take the contemporary market by storm. Park View, in St [...]
Virgin Active to spend £100m to kit out gyms January 5, 2014 VIRGIN Active, one of the world’s largest gym chains, today said it will invest £100m in its UK sites over the next three years, part of a campaign to lure the traditional post-Christmas influx of new gym users to sign up to the chain. The company, which was founded in 1999 and is controlled by [...]
Here’s how Goldman is gambling on Russian fitness February 3, 2014 Gym investment is seeing Goldman Sachs raise the bar when it comes to deals it makes in Russia. The bank has upped its investment in an upmarket chain of fitness clubs, World Class, which was founded by a Russian former fencer, reports Reuters. It’s Special Situations Group (SSG) has been bagging modest deals in the [...]
3i gets in shape after acquiring gym chain November 21, 2013 LISTED private equity firm 3i made its latest foray into the buyout market yesterday by taking a controlling stake in European budget gym chain Basic-Fit for €110m (£91.7m). The deal will give 3i, the UK’s oldest private equity investor, a 55 per cent stake in the Dutch company after the gym’s founder chief executive Rene [...]
Fitness expert November 18, 2013 WORKING OUT FOR THE HARD-WORKING You want more muscle and less fat, but you don’t have hours to spend in the gym. What’s the minimum amount of training time required to get into shape? And what should you do in that time to get the fastest possible results? The first step is to lift weights [...]
Get Fit Diary: Balancing newfound fitness with Christmas indulgence December 17, 2013 @AlexDymoke WHEN I tell people I’m doing a 12-week Get Fit challenge, everyone always asks the same thing, “What about when it finishes? Are you going to carry it on?” Short term at least, the answer is simple: no. Christmas is around the corner, and if you think I’m going to spend the party season [...]
Watchdog tells gyms to make contracts fairer September 10, 2013 GYM members will be able to cancel their contracts more easily, after the Office of Fair Trading struck a deal with LA Fitness, Dave Whelan Sports and gym management firm Harlands Group. The companies have agreed to let customers end their membership if they lose their job or suffer an injury, and have pledged to [...]