LA Fitness co-founder David Turner acquires the assets of The Leisure Database Company following its liquidation

Co-founder of LA Fitness, David Turner has acquired the assets of The Leisure Database Company out of liquidation.

Turner’s company, Addleisure Ltd is the new owner of the business – it will trade as LeisureDB with Minton as a director

Following a funding injection, Minton confirms the company will operate as usual, honouring all customer obligations

Turner and Minton plan to work together to extend LeisureDB’s research and report delivery

LA Fitness co-founder, David Turner, has acquired the assets and IPs of The Leisure Database Company Ltd out of liquidation via his company, Addleisure. It will trade as LeisureDB.

The Leisure Database Company – led by David Minton – has been providing market intelligence and research-driven reports on the fitness industry since 1980, with its annual State of the Fitness Industry Report.

LeisureDB is expected to benefit from significant investment from Turner, who will work side by side with Minton and his team to drive the business forward.

The Leisure Database Company Ltd went into liquidation on 23 May, with Minton officially joining Addleisure as a director on 30 May 2022 following a Registration of a Charge filing at Companies House on 25 May 2022 by Addleisure Ltd and liquidators Begbies Traynor.

Minton confirmed to HCM that the refinanced business will continue to operate as usual within the new business structure, underlining that all existing customers and clients will experience no change to their current working relationships or contracts.

“We’ve just finished researching the first State of the UK Fitness Industry Report for three years,” he said, “with the most thorough industry-wide research since 2019.

“The report has just been published and is available now for purchase and we’ve embarked on a new pipeline of additional industry reports scheduled throughout the coming year.”

Headline numbers from The State of the UK Fitness Industry Report 2022 were released on 25 May, on the same day as LeisureDB’s industry conference – Evolve – in London, which was attended by many prominent members of the fitness industry. The full report was published on 30 May.

Turner has been in the industry since 1978 and following the sale of LA Fitness in 2005 for £168m, he joined Esporta Health and Fitness Clubs in 2007 to help prepare the company for sale. For the last forty years, he has also acted as a consultant, specialising in business analysis and strategic planning.

Both Minton and Turner are dedicated to a future that envisions a deeper investment into resources that will extend LeisureDB’s research and report delivery.

“We have plans in place to enable LeisureDB to support the industry with more useful analytics and data, and with regular updates in different formats, which is so vital for both operators and investors,” said Minton.