Game, set and match for gym chain David Lloyd

To Wimbledon fans of a certain generation, David Lloyd and his younger sibling, John, will always be the heart-throbs of British tennis in the Seventies and Eighties.

America had John McEnroe, Sweden had Bjorn Borg, and we had our homegrown pin-ups: the blond, tanned and handsome Lloyd brothers.

John Lloyd, who was married to former women’s champion Chris Evert, was one half of the sport’s golden couple of the day. But David is the better-known of the siblings now, thanks to the business he founded in 1982 that has put his name above upmarket leisure clubs around the country.

From one club in Heston, West London, the David Lloyd Leisure chain now has 130 outlets in nine countries. Lloyd, now 75, is no longer involved, having sold his company to leisure group Whitbread in 1995, but tennis ‘remains a central pillar of the business’, according to chief executive Russell Barnes.

The first club was, he says, ‘a copy of an American country club. It was rooted in tennis, with a modest indoor pool, an outdoor pool and a gym. It is much broader than that now, but we would never build a new club without putting tennis and racket sports in it.’

Fighting fit: Boss Russell Barnes says membership numbers are up 25 per cent on the pre-pandemic figure

Younger members and those outside the UK may not grasp the full resonance of the David Lloyd tennis connection. ‘We would never consider changing the name,’ says Barnes, and the family connection remains. ‘David Lloyd’s brother Tony still does coaching in our Raynes Park club near Wimbledon, and Scott, David’s son, sits on our board.’

John, 68, was an early backer, having put in £20,000, which turned into around £790,000. Unsurprisingly, he has said he wishes he had invested much more.

The current craze in racket sports is padel, Barnes says, which is a mixture between tennis and squash. ‘It’s massive in Spain and Italy, and we want to roll it out across the UK.’ It is popular with older tennis players, Barnes says, because ‘it’s competitive but very social’.

Since David Lloyd sold the business to Whitbread, it has passed through several hands. Property group London & Regional bought it from Whitbread for £925 million in 2007, with finance from HBOS, as the market peaked just before the financial crisis.

L&R sold it in 2013 to private equity group TDR Capital for a significantly lower price of around £750 million.

TDR, which has the Stonegate pubs chain in its portfolio and jointly owns Asda, has, Barnes says, been ‘fabulous’ and has ‘supported management consistently over ten years’.

The firm has hired investment bank Morgan Stanley to look at its options, including a possible sale, with a price of £2 billion upwards being speculated. The process is in the very early stages.

‘They are private equity, so of course at some point they want to crystallise their investment. They have always been utterly supportive. They have backed our vision,’ says Barnes. He joined the company in 2015 as chief operating officer, after 26 years at entertainment group Merlin. He stepped up to be chief executive in 2021.

The chain lost 14 per cent of its members during the pandemic, which he considers a good outcome under the circumstances.

‘It was still a seismic loss of income,’ he concedes.

The business lost £51 million before tax in 2021, the latest figures available. That was less than half of the £108 million of red ink the previous year, when Covid was at its peak, but it was still painful.

There has, he says, been an ‘extraordinary’ bounce-back, with membership back up to 730,000 – an increase of 25 per cent on the pre-Covid numbers. The rise has been led by the UK, which is surprising in the face of the cost-of-living and mortgage crisis and the fact that membership packages, ranging from £100 to £200 a month, are not cheap.

‘Our membership does tend to be middle class and affluent,’ says Barnes. ‘We are monitoring the data. If you are coming off a two-year fixed-rate mortgage, it is pretty brutal. That is exactly the conversation we’re having: at what point does [the cost of living crisis] bite?’

Well-heeled members may not be suffering financially yet, but he admits that some of the 10,000 people working for him are. Barnes gave out free meals in February and March, and every staff member was handed a £100 cash gift at Christmas. The last two pay awards were six per cent – not enough to keep pace with rising prices, but better than many wage settlements.

‘The free meals cost us just under £1 million. We will revisit it as we approach the winter period.’

Barnes’s ambition now is to increase the number of clubs, ‘particularly on the Continent. We have a pipeline that goes out for the next five years.’

He also wants to make the clubs more luxurious, with ‘spa retreats, steam rooms, saunas and outdoor spa pools all in a very high-end environment. We are investing many tens of millions. Last year, it was around £100 million.’

The clubs are no longer concentrated in upper-middle-class enclaves in the South-East, but are scattered round the country.

The fruits of the investment drive are on display in the Teesside club, which has recently undergone a £3.6 million renovation. It has an indoor and outdoor pool, gym, tennis courts, a range of classes and a spa retreat and garden.

When I visit, there are no intimidating physiques on display, just a sociable atmosphere with members of all ages, shapes and sizes.

Visits to the UK clubs in June were up 15 per cent on last year, according to Barnes. ‘More people come when it’s hot. Are they worried about their beach body? There’s definitely a bit of that. There is something about the sunshine that makes people really want to socialise.’

Heyday: Tennis star David Lloyd

The clubs are, he says, a refuge from the stresses of modern life.

‘People don’t necessarily join to get fit any more. It is much more rounded, about balance between physical and mental health.

‘Life gets very complicated. Young people are tied to a screen and have instant feedback from their whole peer group, and the pressures it brings are immense. I have two teenage daughters, so I see it every day.’

Does he think the nation has a health and obesity crisis?

‘Honestly? I spent a couple of years living in America and we think we have problems. I think it is appalling actually, and I say that as a middle aged man.

‘We need more preventative care and to encourage people to watch what they eat and take exercise.

‘We are going to have to cope with an ever-expanding NHS. Either we will pay more, or ultimately we will have to think differently about what the NHS is there to do. It is increasingly going to come under pressure unless there is some radical rethink, unless we deal with preventative care.’

His own fitness regime, he admits with a laugh, comes in fits and starts. He cycles near his home in the New Forest and he has ridden to our interview from Waterloo station on his Brompton bike. He runs at weekends and – naturally – goes to a David Lloyd gym once a week.

‘I don’t think the British way of life necessarily helps us. A bottle of water can be more expensive than a bottle of fizzy soda. The healthy choices in a restaurant are not always easy to identify.

‘Any of our trainers will tell you that you can’t outrun what you put in your mouth.’

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk