Beverley’s first 24-hour fitness club is coming to the Flemingate centre.

Rapidly-expanding Anytime Fitness will offer 24/7 access to the club, which will benefit from an investment of more than £500,000 in fit-out and gym equipment.

It will be the first Anytime Fitness club in East Yorkshire and occupy a 7,500 sq ft first-floor unit with ground-floor entrance close to Debenhams and Outfit at the heart of the Flemingate centre.

The fitness club enhances further the appeal as a retail and leisure destination of the Flemingate centre, which was developed and is owned by Hull-based regeneration company Wykeland Group. Opened in November 2015, Flemingate has seen a series of additions in recent months, including health and beauty retailer Superdrug, Outfit – which brings together leading high street brands including Topshop, Topman, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Miss Selfridge and Burton – fashion retailer River Island and leading coffee brand Starbucks.

Franchise owner Neel Sodha said Anytime Fitness would be the newest, largest and best-equipped gym in Beverley and for miles around, catering for today’s increasingly busy lifestyles and varied work patterns.

He said: “We believe Anytime Fitness will be very popular with professional people who want to be able to work out in a high-quality environment, at times and in a place convenient to them.

“We will draw our members from Beverley and a number of miles around, either because they live or work in Beverley, or want the experience we will offer that they can’t get anywhere else in the area.

“This will be a club, not just a gym, and it will have a club community. It will be a place where the staff will go out of their way to get to know the members and make them feel welcome. It will be a place where members can make friends and take part in social events. For example, we’re looking to tie-up with Flemingate’s Parkway Cinema to organise cinema nights for members.”

Ranked number one in Entrepreneur magazine’s annual Top Global Franchise list in 2016, Anytime Fitness prides itself on providing members with convenient and affordable fitness options in friendly and secure surroundings. Anytime Fitness clubs are scrupulously clean and bright, with expertly-designed workout areas and equipment that is safe and easy to use.

The Flemingate fitness club is due to open in May, following fit-out, which has already begun. Anytime Fitness is planning for 200 openings in 2017 as it aims to become the country’s No.1 gym operator.

Mr Sodha, whose family specialises in running franchise businesses, said the Flemingate club would feature a studio for exercise classes as well as communal workout areas. The changing rooms will have individual shower cubicles.

The club will be brightly-lit with a high-quality finish, while the combination of capped membership numbers and 24-hour opening would ensure a pleasant experience for members, without queues to use the fitness equipment.

Personal trainers will be available and Anytime Fitness plans to use Flemingate’s attractive outdoor public space for exercise classes and group activities in the spring and summer months.

Mr Sodha said Flemingate was perfect for the Anytime Fitness model, which focuses on convenient, well-lit and safe locations, well-served by parking and public transport.

“Flemingate fits the Anytime Fitness model to a tee. It’s a great location, with a large 24-hour car park on site, the rail station just two minutes’ walk away and bus station also close by,” he said.

“Beverley is also a large and affluent community with lots of professional people who are concerned about looking after their health and wellbeing.”

Graham Tait, Flemingate Centre Manager, said: “Anytime Fitness adds yet another element to the mix at Flemingate. It enhances what is already here and brings a unique proposition to Beverley and the surrounding area.

“We’ve been looking for a gym operator for Flemingate and Anytime Fitness was the one we identified as being a perfect fit, in terms of quality and convenience to people’s increasingly busy lives.

“We want to bring businesses to Flemingate that will contribute to the centre as a whole and Anytime Fitness will certainly do that. Anytime Fitness will add footfall to the centre, which will be great for the retail and leisure outlets, and the fitness club will also benefit from access to the 800 people who now work at Flemingate.

“It’s also another example of Flemingate bringing a business to Beverley that otherwise could not be accommodated in the town.”