The Barn Bootcamp

What's the history of the Barn?

The history of the Barn — we have been open for coming up to four years now. We started with one location in the north of Cambridge.

In October 24, we expanded to open our second gym in the south of Cambridge, and then quite swiftly after, we had the opportunity to open our third gym, which is here in Bottisham, east of Cambridge.

So quite a quick growth over the last few years. Our model is very much looking at helping people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s who want to lose weight, tone up, feel fitter, and maybe wouldn’t have traditionally classed themselves as gym-goers. We run small group personal training — our model is the one-to-six format.

What type of equipment did you purchase?

Now this being our third gym, we had a clear idea of how we wanted to deliver our sessions, and Wolverson were great when it came to understanding our requirements and custom building the space relative to what we needed.

The equipment that we went with was the TITAN Rack series, as well as various other bits such as Ergs, storage equipment, barbell accessories, etc. The guys were great — really flexible when modelling the space initially and offering advice on how to make best use of it.

It’s been probably the most seamless gym opening we've had, if I’m honest, in terms of ordering equipment and having everything ready to go, delivered and installed within a two- or three-day turnaround, which has been great.

Would you recommend Wolverson?

Yes, I absolutely would.

I think they are extremely professional, and the quality of the equipment they have supplied has been fantastic. The service from purchase to installation was pretty flawless.

Our actual turnaround time from purchasing to being able to open and deliver sessions was really quick, meaning we didn’t have to delay opening the gym, miss out on revenue, or upset customers who had bought pre-sale memberships.

Hopefully, it’s going to be a nice long relationship where we can open more gyms and install more Wolverson equipment.

What advice would you give to someone thinking about opening their own space?

My advice to anyone opening their own space from scratch is: don’t bit-part from various different companies. Firstly, I think it will probably cost more in the long run anyway.

Secondly, you can really have an end-to-end service where you design, install, and have everything prepped and ready to go.

There are various options to either purchase outright or lease through providers that Wolverson recommend. It creates a really good experience with fewer barriers to entry — no need for second-hand equipment that may break or fall down.

Even if you’re thinking of upgrading your space, again I would recommend Wolverson because they understand the product you're trying to deliver, rather than just selling you something bought cheaply from China.

That understanding of what the equipment is being used for is really helpful.

What's the future for the Barn?

In the short term, we want to continue growing the three gyms we have, with the goal of opening a further two over the next two years.

The 10-year goal is to have 25 gyms dotted all over the UK — let’s see how stressed I am at that point! But yes, 25 gyms is our 10-year goal starting from this year.

Adam Wright, Owner - The Barn