As low-cost brands such as Pure Gym and The Gym Group launched and then expanded across the UK, offering clean, spacious self-service gyms, open around the clock, without contracts and for half the price of a standard private health club membership, brands like Fitness First and LA fitness – which were still locking members in with contracts – started to feel the pinch.

Yes they offered more facilities, but for those who only used the gym, this didn’t really matter.

Despite bringing in management from the hospitality sector, investing in research and creating some innovative new formats such as BEAT and a High Performance Club in Australia, Fitness First – formerly the leading global health club chain – couldn’t turn things around fast enough. The UK estate has just been sold to DW Fitness; some of the clubs will be sold on to other operators and presumably rebranded.

Another of the UK industry’s original brands, LA fitness – which occupied the mid-market space, in spite of launching a handful of higher-end LAX clubs in London – was sold to Pure Gym in 2015.

Meanwhile, mid-market operator Bannatyne’s is now heading upmarket, aiming to reposition itself as a premium operator by placing more focus on the customer journey and improving synergies with its spa and hotel brands.

Virgin Active has also adjusted its strategy, selling 35 clubs – one-third of its estate – to Nuffield, so it can invest in and focus on its high-end Collection clubs, family clubs and racquets clubs.

Does all this activity mean the mid-market is finally disappearing, or can operators in this segment of the market evolve to survive? We ask the experts…