The Gym Group aims to raise £31m from investors to fund 40 new sites around the UK.

The equity raise will be followed by the group setting off on an 18-month period of "accelerated expansion" as it looks to benefit from the "unique opportunities" in the commercial property market – largely caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Richard Darwin, CEO of The Gym Group, said: ”Our new gym pipeline is the strongest it has ever been and we thank shareholders for their support in today’s successful placing which allows the Company to accelerate its rollout to 40 new sites over the next 18 months.

"Gyms have an essential role to play in the nation’s physical and mental health and growing our portfolio will widen access to affordable fitness for more communities across the UK.”

Since reopening its sites following the pandemic lockdowns, the group has made ground quickly in recovering its membership base.

The company said it had outperformed all of its own expectations in the six weeks of operations since reopening its 180+ clubs.

Gym Group had a total of 794,000 members in December 2019 – a figure that had fallen to 547,000 by the end of February 2021.

Total membership had, however, recovered to 729,000 by 24 May 2021.