Six million Britons are now members of public and private health clubs in the UK, but 2003 saw a significant slowdown as membership growth fell to just 4.5 per cent – two thirds of the growth figures for 2002.

The figures were released by the Fitness Industry Association (FIA) in its The State of the Industry Report 2004 and compiled by The Leisure Database Company.

The report also showed that only 88 new private health clubs opened last year, compared to 146 in 2002. This figure is the lowest since its peak in 1996.

With the number of private club closures in 2003 higher than 2002, the net number of new clubs added to the UK total was just 13 last year.

There are also just 69 clubs currently planned to open in 2004.

The public sector is faring much better, however, with 2003 seeing 124 new publicly-owned sports centres opening, compared with 91 in 2002. Of UK sports centres, 64 per cent offer fitness facilities while membership of public sector sites stands at 2.5 million people.

The report says there are now 1,982 private health clubs (with over 500 members or part of a group) and 2,403 public fitness facilities now operating in the UK. Adding sports centres to the public fitness facilities total, the public sector offering in the UK is 3,738 sites.

Despite the slowdown in membership growth, it is still growing, so the membership penetration rate – the percentage of the population who are members of a health club – has increased from 9.9 per cent in 2002 to 10.3 per cent in 2003.

This is closing the gap on the US, which, according to the International Health, Racquets and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA), has a penetration rate of 13.5 per cent. Details: www.fia.org.uk or www.theleisuredatabase.com