Simply Gym Needed A Club Manager To Support Their Fitness Empire
We are going to admit our bias here, as an independent family-run business ourselves here at Ashbourne, we have a soft spot for family-run independent gyms. In our twenty five years of experience in the fitness industry, some of the hardest workers, the most dedicated managers and the most innovative owners have come from family-run enterprises.
There is a unique energy and collaborative spirit that comes with a family-run business, a unity of purpose and values that can create strong, dynamic and lasting businesses in a short time. A solid core and foundation from which a great, thriving business can spring.
And to put it Simply (you can see where we are going with this), that is what happened with Simply Gyms. From the time they first opened the doors of their first gym in 2011, this family-run enterprise was born from a simple desire. The desire for an affordable place to exercise that didn’t compromise on the quality of equipment on offer.
While we don’t want to skip ahead in the story, it is safe to say that it is another example of a family-run success story. Simply Gym now stands at eight gyms strong, from their original base and flagship Gym in Cheltenham, to Coventry, Crewe, Swindon and Walsall.
Reduced
Admin Time
Secure
Access Control
Expanded
Customer Base

Location
9 Facilities Across The UK
Gym Size
2000+ Members Per Site
Facilities
Open Gym, Classes, Personal Training, Spa, Sauna
Access Control
Unmanned, 24/7, Full-Height Turnstiles, Fingerprint Reader & Magnetic Lock
Price Point
££ (out of £££££)
Most Valued Ashbourne Feature
Seamless Connection Between Direct Debit & Membership Access
"Ashbourne offer great customer service from both a business and members perspective."
Both Simply Gym and Ashbourne know that sometimes, things go wrong. Whether it is members not paying, access control equipment breaking or any number of issues that can occur during the day-to-day functionality of a busy chain of independent gyms.
Luckily, that is where our fantastic, in-house customer service and support team come in. Trained not only to support amazing independent gyms like Simply Gym, but also to assist their members.
They are Ashbourne’s first and best line of defence against the trial and tribulations that can occur on any given day. Simply Gym isn’t the first of our partners to praise them and they certainly won’t be the last!
We have heard time and time again that many membership management services make it tricky or impossible to speak to an actual human, let alone one within the main office. Simply Gym was happy to attest that they’ve never had this issue. With Ashbourne, a caring, well-trained and dedicated member of the team is only ever a call away, situated in the right location to help your gym resolve whatever issue may have occurred.
“Growth is the continued goal, having Ashbourne removes time and stress from the head office and allows us to focus on improving and expanding our business”.
Simply Gym values growth, and rightly so. Theirs is a model worth sharing and we are proud to have helped them focus on what really matters to their close-knit team.
Rather than endlessly crunching the numbers and worrying about direct debit reconciliations, their team is able to focus on improving their gyms and expanding their network of gyms further.
Ashbourne removes time and stress from head office and allows us to focus on improving and expanding our business.
Simply Gym now has an invaluable infrastructure and up-to-date reports that have allowed them to reduce arduous admin tasks and reduce complaints.
Whether it is receiving immediate support for their members, regarding tech or with troubleshooting for the day-to-day. Or something as big as requesting new features be added to our software.
Like Simply Gym, we are constantly looking to improve our offerings and we recognise how invaluable our partners are for this.
In this way, as in many, Simply Gym represented an ideal partner and client. Always interested in expanding and improving.
They were keen to get the most out of our access control capabilities, opting for an entirely unmanned, full-height turnstile system that utilises fingerprint readers. Part of the aforementioned measures that greatly reduced/all but eliminated pass-sharing.
In the same way their goal was to create a series of budget-gyms that still had a family-feel about them, Ashbourne has tried to bring this feel to membership management.
Rather than a vast, impersonal and slow to respond juggernaut, we pride ourselves in being agile and proactive, personal whilst being professional.
And it is testimony like Simply Gym that helps us understand where we are succeeding and what like-minded businesses require.
When you have the number of gyms and features that Simply Gym has, you need a service that is going to lift you up, not weigh you down. Whether it is organising classes, arranging personal trainers or ensuring correct access to the spa and sauna activities. Across eight gyms you can always wager that there is a task that needs doing above and beyond simple admin.
That is why one of the most consistent questions we end up asking our partners is the biggest operational benefits. We know from first hand experience that running an independent gym is never simple, and any additional capacity can go a long way in putting an independent gym ahead of its competitors in this competitive industry.
Our support has allowed them to focus on growth. And it is with invaluable infrastructure such as our BI dashboards and reports generated by our cutting edge software that have allowed them to reduce arduous admin tasks and reduce complaints.
In addition, they have gained unparalleled insight into their business through our BI (Business Intelligence) dashboards, allowing them to access, store and report on the data that represents the lifeblood of their business, their membership, at a single click.
A highly prized feature, we have helped countless gyms gain eyes in the parts of their business that were previously lost behind a fog of confusion. With Simply Gym’s ambition, it was important that they always understand what has worked and what hasn’t, enabling them to compare gym against gym and understand what should be implemented and what can be dropped.
As you might have gathered from how Simply Gym talk, their journey is far from over.
Their dynamic, family-run business model has already taken them from one gym to eight through some challenging years for the industry at large.
We at Ashbourne Membership Management can take pride in the role we have played, focusing on our areas of expertise to ensure they can focus on the growth and value-driven approach that has made their expansion possible. But both of our businesses know there is always to be done.
From the moment the bulk transfers commenced to the time of writing, we have supported Simply Gym as they deliver their services across an ever-increasing number of locations. We are pleased that their feedback for us was so positive, but as much as they won’t sit back, neither will we.
Whether it will be through providing additional requested features or through increasing the power and sophistication of the data and BI tools that we have provided, the future looks exciting and we simply can’t wait.
Get your club in shape.
Want to discover how? Let us show you.
Simply select your preferred timeslot and we’ll be in touch to have a chat about your health club,
the goals you want to achieve, and how our system can help you.
the goals you want to achieve, and how our system can help you.
Get your club in shape.
Want to discover how? Let us show you.
Simply select your preferred timeslot and we’ll be in touch to have a chat about your health club, the goals you want to achieve, and how our system can help you.
Get your club in shape.
Want to discover how? Let us show you.
Simply select your preferred timeslot and we’ll be in touch to have a chat about your health club, the goals you want to achieve, and how our system can help you.