The company was founded in Bournemouth in 1993 opened by Mike Balfour and Christopher Pearce.
Three years and six clubs later, Fitness First was the first health and fitness club to float on the alternative investment market.
It was the turning point as it provided the funds to roll out a chain of fitness clubs across the UK.
Growth was rapid with seven new clubs in 1997 and nearly doubled again the following year.
In 1998 Fitness First was the first UK health club operator to enter continental Europe. In 2000 the business expanded further into Asia and Australia.
By 2002 there were 49 clubs in the UK alone employing 3,000 full and part time staff who looked after over 100,000 members.
In 2003 Fitness First was taken into private ownership with Cinven, one of the leading UK private equity houses as the major shareholder.
In August 2004 Mike Balfour moved from chief executive of Fitness First to become deputy chairman and is now joint chairman helping the business achieve the most dramatic growth on a virtually uninterrupted basis since its inception.
In 2005 the company was acquired by BC partners a European private equity group at this time Fitness First was officially recognised as the largest health club group in the world.
In 2010 we have over 540 clubs worldwide with over 1.4 million members, 160 clubs in the UK with over 405,000 members and growing.
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