Founder David Lloyd Owner TDR Capital Headquarters Hatfield | Area served UK, Europe Founded 1982 Type Limited company | |
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Industry Health club, gym, tennis Number of locations 95 total
83 in the UK
12 across Europe Key people Glenn Earlam, Chief executive Services Premium Racquets and Leisure Clubs CEO Glenn Earlam (30 Jun 2015–) Subsidiaries Real Club de Tenis - Padel Aravaca Profiles | ||
David Lloyd Leisure is a British sports, health and leisure business that runs health clubs and gyms across Europe.
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History
David Lloyd established David Lloyd Leisure in 1982 and opened the first club, aimed at providing a family orientated, high quality fitness and leisure facility. This was somewhat distinct from the traditional gyms and sports centres of the time. There was also an emphasis on racquet sports.
By 1995, there were 18 David Lloyd Leisure clubs when Whitbread PLC acquired the company for £182 million, incorporating it into its Restaurants & Leisure Division. Gerrard Duxbury remained as managing director of the division until 1996.
Whitbread ran more than 50 David Lloyd Leisure (DLL) clubs in the UK with a further number in Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium. However, by the mid-2000s, the business was giving Whitbread a poor financial return, and on 2 August 2007 they sold it to London & Regional Properties and Bank of Scotland for £925 million. Whitbread used the proceeds from the sale to repay debt.
London & Regional Properties already owned and operated Next Generation Clubs; the businesses were merged under the Next Generation Clubs' management team led by Scott Lloyd, David Lloyd's son.
On 5 September 2013 London & Regional Properties agreed to sell David Lloyd Leisure to TDR Capital for £750m. TDR Capital will invest £50m into existing clubs and to further expand its UK & European operations
In February 2017, David Lloyd Clubs was named as number 21 in the Sunday Times’ Top 30 Best Companies to work for in the UK. The recognition is due to it achieving a high engagement score on the Best Companies’ survey, which was completed by a random sample of its teams in which it asked them for their views on working for the company, revealing how proud and engaged their team members are to work for David Lloyd Clubs.
The accreditation comes on the back of a £120million investment over the last two years, made by owners TDR, to refurbish and develop its existing clubs, as well as construct a further five new clubs in Newbury, Rouken Glen (Glasgow) and Colchester, plus Antwerp in Belgium and Aravaca in Madrid.
Current operations
DLL is Britain's biggest tennis operator and manages 800 tennis courts. There are 88 clubs in the UK which also include 150 swimming pools, 180 badminton courts and 140 squash courts.