The UK’s best cities for gym lovers

• Manchester is the UK’s best city for gym lovers
• Bristol and Norwich take second and third, respectively
• Oxford, Southampton, and Glasgow also make the top ten

Manchester is the UK’s best city for gym lovers, according to new research.

A new study by fitness experts BarBend analysed the locations of seven of the UK’s most popular gym brands such as PureGym, The Gym Group and Nuffield Health to see which of 53 major UK cities had the highest number of gyms per 100,000 people.

The study found that Manchester, with 26 gyms from the UK’s most popular brands, had the highest number of gyms per 100,000 people with 4.7. The most common gym brand in the city was PureGym, with 13 locations in the area serving the city’s population of 553,230. Manchester’s ratio of gyms to people is nearly double the average of the cities included in the study, which equates to 2.468 gyms per 100,000 residents.

Bristol is the second-best city on the list, with 4.282 gyms per 100,000 people. The city is one of the only entries home to at least one gym from all the brands studied. PureGym was again the most common gym chain in the city, with seven locations.

Coming in a close third place with 4.22 gyms per 100,000 people is Norwich. With nine gyms studied in the city, Norwich’s most common gym chains are PureGym, The Gym Group, and Bannatyne’s Fitness.

Rank	City	Population	Total gyms studied	Gyms per 100,000 people
1	Manchester	553,230	26	4.700
2	Bristol	467,099	20	4.282
3	Norwich	213,166	9	4.222
4	Carlisle	74,366	3	4.034
5	Oxford	152,450	6	3.936
6	Southampton	254,361	10	3.931
7	Exeter	131,099	5	3.814
8	Glasgow	632,330	24	3.795
9	Aberdeen	213,224	8	3.752
10	Liverpool	496,784	18	3.623

The Cumbrian city of Carlisle comes in fourth place, with 4.034 gyms per 100,000 people. It is one of only three cities on the list not to have a PureGym establishment and is also the smallest area in the top ten, with a population of around 74,366.

Oxford comes in fifth place on the list with 3.936 gyms per 100,000 people. Found to be one of the UK’s fittest cities in several past studies, it’s no surprise to see it place in the top ten.

The Hampshire city of Southampton makes it onto the list in sixth place, following Oxford very closely with 3.931 gyms per 100,000 people. It is also one of the only entries in the study to not have a PureGym monopoly, with The Gym Group instead having the most locations in the city.

With 3.814 gyms per 100,000 people, Exeter sits in seventh place in the top ten.

Glasgow and Aberdeen place back-to-back as the only two Scottish locations in the top ten. Glasgow sits in eighth place with 3.795 gyms per 100,000 people, and Aberdeen follows with 3.752 gyms per 100,000 people. Dundee, the next best performing Scottish city, placed in the middle of the pack with 2.698 gyms per 100,000 people.

The Merseyside hub of Liverpool also makes it in tenth place, with 3.623 per 100,000 people. JD Gyms is the most common gym chain in the city, with six locations across Liverpool in total.

PureGym is the most common gym chain across the cities studied, with 217 locations being found in total. Bannatyne’s Fitness and Snap Fitness were the least common brands, with 26 and 29 locations respectively, across the areas studied.

Commenting on the findings, a spokesperson from Barbend said: “With many people coming out of the past two years of lockdown with the goals of a lifestyle change, this study shows the cities where it might be easiest to access a gym. Nowadays, there’s a competition for gyms to attract customers, with competitive fees and monthly costs, and from this data, it’s clear which cities also offer the best choice between brands.”

This study was conducted by BarBend, which offers a range of fitness and health advice and links to the best gym equipment and products.