Gym group fit for expansion with business angel
EXPANDING budget gym group Xercise4less has welcomed West Yorkshire business angel Neil Ewin on board as a non-executive director to coincide with the launch of its latest £1m fitness centre.
Mr Ewin is an experienced business angel who built up Leeds-based legal software group Visualfiles before selling out to LexisNexis, part of the publishing giant Reed Elsevier, in 2006.
This month he joins Xercise4less’ managing director Jon Wright to support the ambitious company’s expansion across Yorkshire and the North.
Terms were agreed this week on the new Stockton-on-Tees fitness centre on New Street.
It follows the launch of the Wakefield health centre, which opened last October and has already tripled membership to more than 6000.
The new facility will open this summer, creating 40 new jobs, and is housed in a 32,000 sq ft former retail warehouse.
Mr Ewin is now co-director of Ewin Woodward Developments of Boston Spa in Leeds with Mark Woodward, his former managing director at Visualfiles.
The company invests in and advises small and medium size companies in the Yorkshire area.
Mr Ewin said: “I have known Jon for many years and have followed his progress with Xercise4less with great interest. Jon was a pioneer of the budget gym model in Northern England at his gym in Xscape, Castleford.
“He then repeated, if not surpassed that success, at his second gym in the old Allied Carpets Warehouse on Denby Dale Road, Wakefield, where it continues to grow rapidly. The objective is now to accelerate our expansion plans across Yorkshire and the North East.”
Mr Wright added: “We are delighted to be working with Neil who is a real business heavyweight, and that’s what we wanted at Xercise4less as we begin a major roll out across the North.”
