06 Sweatboxes will shop for new premises

Some gyms may spring back to their pre-pandemic shape, but the outlook is less bright for those in office catchment areas, with limits on occupancy biting hard even without the continued appetite for working from home. “It’s exactly the same as for Pret and other retailers that opened to cater for huge numbers,” says LeisureDB’s David Minton. As well as relocating to residential areas, gyms could find a new home on the high street, thanks to changein-usage legislation to reinvigorate ghost-town centres and a fall in rents. This could lead to a spread of studio-style options, which lend themselves to smaller retail units – so you can go shopping for your workout of the day.