Club Pilates Debuts in the UK

Club Pilates is launching two London studios.

What’s happening: The Xponential Fitness-owned brand debuted in Bankside, with a second studio opening in Fulham Broadway next week.

Scaling up from ~935 studios and ~720K members worldwide, 50–75 UK sites are planned for the next five years across the capital and cities such as Manchester, Glasgow and Belfast.

Reformer revolution. Club Pilates’ 50-minute reformer-based sessions combine cardio, strength and interval training with equipment like the BOSU ball and TRX.

Richard Uku, CEO of Club Pilates UK, believes UK interest will drive brand expansion, which grew its global footprint ~37% between 2019–2022.

“I’m excited to introduce our accessible concept to a UK audience who we know have a rapidly growing interest in Pilates. We truly believe we can revolutionise the Pilates landscape in the UK.”

Pilates power. Reformer Pilates is taking off worldwide, and the equipment market is pitched to reach $521M by 2031, led by numerous operators seeking to upgrade.

• Virgin Active is retrofitting gyms to pack in more reformers, targeting 20 operational studios in 2024.
• Aiming for 10 UK club openings by March 2024, Aussie-born STRONG Pilates came to London and Leicester last year.
• F45 launched Pilates-yoga concept FS8 and bought Australian Pilates brand Vive Active, scaling it in the US as VAURA.
• JETSET Pilates is expanding across the US and internationally in Australia.

Takeaway: Engagement in low-impact activity for mental and physical strength pushed reformer Pilates into the spotlight – so much so that Virgin Active says demand almost killed off mat Pilates. As more machines find their way to local gyms, and reimagined concepts spice up the experience, growth is all but guaranteed.