At a time when many of the region's leisure centres and gyms are either closing or reducing their facilities, the Village Hotel on the Cobalt Business Park in Newcastle has invested significantly in its leisure club.
The number of pieces of equipment now easily exceeds 150, a lot of which are brand new Technogym, Speedflex and Origin Fitness pieces of kit. There are also numerous new fitness suites where they deliver in excess of 100 group fitness classes per week. And if you thought the pool was going to be a bit chilly as the temperature is reduced to save money…think again. It’s as welcoming as ever.
Leading from the front is Leisure Club Manager, Terry Musgrave, although he’s arrived at the Village Hotel by a rather unusual route. Via Spain.
“When I left school I qualified as an Architectural Technician and spent six years designing and drawing house plans for a local builder,” said Terry. “Unfortunately the builder was taken over and all of the staff were made redundant. My fiancée and I decided to have a complete change of lifestyle and move to Australia. We applied for our visas. In the meantime we visited my brother-in-law in Spain and stayed for thirteen years. We were based in Barcelona; I ran a bar and my fiancée ran a restaurant. We loved it there, it really was a fantastic lifestyle, but there came a point where we wanted to start a family and it was then that we decided to return to the UK.
“Because of my experience in the hospitality industry in Spain, I went down that route once we arrived in the UK and started working in the Front Office for the Marriott Hotel Group, before becoming Leisure Club Manager, and later on Food & Beverage Services Manager.
Then I joined the Village Hotel, firstly as Leisure Operations Manager, before switching to Meeting & Events Operations Manager. Early 2020 saw me return to Leisure to take over as Club Manager and I was just getting my feet under the table when COVID hit and we were forced to close. It was a tricky time for everyone at the hotel, especially for us in the leisure department because we work so closely with our members and hotel guests, but I really do believe that we’ve actually come out of COVID in a better place.
“To be honest, before COVID, a reasonable percentage of our members were what we’d call casual members in that they rarely visited us and even when they did they rarely used the gym equipment. That’s now changed. COVID saw a lot of memberships cancelled or allowed to lapse, but last month saw us return to our pre-COVID number and the entire club is now much busier. The majority of members are now regular users. When members arrive, they swipe their card through the entry barrier, and we’ve noticed a dramatic increase in the number of daily visits. Last month we had over 25,000 visits and all of the facilities and equipment are being used.
“People are certainly more interested in keeping healthy…both from a physical and mental point of view. They’re more determined to keep fit and this has led to us providing more fitness and exercise classes. There’s also a fantastic, friendly community feel in our club. We hold several social events each month for our members, all free of charge and this social aspect really can help with the general wellbeing of our members’ mental health.
“As well as our standard memberships, Corporate Memberships are available if you work on the Cobalt Business Park and other surrounding companies. There is definitely an emphasis by firms to focus on the wellbeing of their staff.” (If you work on the business park, you get a £5 monthly discount on membership.) However, every single one of our members get to enjoy the relaxing 25m pool, with whirlpool, steam room and sauna, as well as the 25% discount off food and drinks in our Pub & Grill, and 20% discount off hotel stays nationwide.’
The gym and pool facilities are top notch at Village Hotel. The investment has not only seen new equipment installed, but there are more fitness studios than ever before. There are additional classes, and if you are interested in becoming a member and aren’t quite sure what you need to do…don’t worry. All new members get a personal one hour session with one of the trainers. You’ll be enlisted onto the Village Advance Programme which was launched in December. After six weeks, you’ll be given a catch-up session to check whether you are achieving your aims.
In other words, Terry and his team at the Village Hotel will put you on the road to fitness and keep you there.
Interested? The best idea is to contact the club and arrange a visit. You’ll be given a tour and taken through the various membership options. And once you’ve joined and had a workout, you can pop upstairs and have a three course meal. Well, that’s what the Northern Insight editor does anyway!