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Mathews has seen the boutique fitness sector grow exponentially since she launched her studio brand in 2007
Where did the idea for Ten Health & Fitness come from? I was in a car accident and suffered a number of injuries, including severe whiplash, a fractured coccyx and soft tissue damage. The impact on my quality of life was significant. I was often in pain, I lost a lot of mobility and wasn’t able to work for around six months.
I saw GPs, physios and sport massage therapists, all based in different practices and none very interested in a joined-up approach to my case. I became frustrated by this lack of consistency and joined a local rehab gym where I met David Higgins, a personal trainer who specialised in a dynamic form of pilates.
David had also recognised this lack of joined-up thinking in the sector, and together we saw a gap in the market for a boutique pilates studio that could offer both rehab and functional exercise. By combining my marketing background with David’s fitness expertise, we felt we had a chance to make our business idea a reality.
Can you describe your offering? We’re not one of those ‘get a beasting in a nightclub’ providers. Our focus is on small classes and expert trainers. Combine that with our in-house physiotherapy, massage and rehab offer and we occupy a really interesting place in the boutique fitness sector. We sit at the point where the fitness world meets the medical sector, offering a ‘prehabilitative’ approach to fitness and exercise.
How did you get started? We were lucky to be one of the first entrants into the boutique fitness sector; when we started in 2007, no-one was entering the sector with the amount of funding we’re seeing now. We were (and still pretty much are) self-funded, and had a really tight budget. When we opened, David taught 40 hours of classes a week while I manned the reception.
But we were in the right place at the right time, with a strong product. By the end of 2008, we were doing well enough to hire more trainers and open a second studio.
Where did the name ‘Ten’ come from? We always felt a good name should mean everything and nothing. Think of brands like Apple, Gap, Reebok, Audi… whatever the initial reason for the name, they’ve just become ciphers, a memorable short-hand for a brand or experience. We wanted to get to that point quickly with something short, memorable, different and recognisable, and also something that wouldn’t limit us. Ten seemed to fit the bill.
How has business progressed? Dynamic reformer pilates will always be at the heart of our business, but as we’ve grown we’ve been able to broaden our offering. We’ve recently introduced two new classes: TenStretch, a reformer-based stretch class; and TenYoga, developed in conjunction with physios to make it more suitable for today’s sedentary and desk-bound lifestyles.
We’ve also used the learnings from our own in-house REPs-accredited training academy to launch TenEducation, which offers reformer-based courses for external fitness, rehab and therapy professionals. Our eighth studio opens in Fitzrovia, London, in a couple of months, but I think there’s still room for growth.
How has the market changed? The boutique fitness sector has grown exponentially since we opened. There’s now much more competition for sites and rents have gone through the roof in recent years, which puts pressure on margins. A relatively new challenge affecting us – and the sector – is the arrival of ClassPass and other aggregators. It’s great that they’re encouraging people to experiment and maybe fall in love with something they wouldn’t have otherwise tried, but they’re also in danger of devaluing what we do.
A ClassPass user can do a basic exercise-to-music class in a room full of 50 or 60 other people one day, and a highly specialist class with just a handful of people the next. But they’re doing it all on the same monthly pass. So they’re encouraged to value all classes – and all providers – the same, when they’re patently not. It’s something we have to manage carefully.
Mathews has seen the boutique fitness sector grow exponentially since she launched her studio brand in 2007
Where did the idea for Ten Health & Fitness come from? I was in a car accident and suffered a number of injuries, including severe whiplash, a fractured coccyx and soft tissue damage. The impact on my quality of life was significant. I was often in pain, I lost a lot of mobility and wasn’t able to work for around six months.
I saw GPs, physios and sport massage therapists, all based in different practices and none very interested in a joined-up approach to my case. I became frustrated by this lack of consistency and joined a local rehab gym where I met David Higgins, a personal trainer who specialised in a dynamic form of pilates.
David had also recognised this lack of joined-up thinking in the sector, and together we saw a gap in the market for a boutique pilates studio that could offer both rehab and functional exercise. By combining my marketing background with David’s fitness expertise, we felt we had a chance to make our business idea a reality.
Can you describe your offering? We’re not one of those ‘get a beasting in a nightclub’ providers. Our focus is on small classes and expert trainers. Combine that with our in-house physiotherapy, massage and rehab offer and we occupy a really interesting place in the boutique fitness sector. We sit at the point where the fitness world meets the medical sector, offering a ‘prehabilitative’ approach to fitness and exercise.
How did you get started? We were lucky to be one of the first entrants into the boutique fitness sector; when we started in 2007, no-one was entering the sector with the amount of funding we’re seeing now. We were (and still pretty much are) self-funded, and had a really tight budget. When we opened, David taught 40 hours of classes a week while I manned the reception.
But we were in the right place at the right time, with a strong product. By the end of 2008, we were doing well enough to hire more trainers and open a second studio.
Where did the name ‘Ten’ come from? We always felt a good name should mean everything and nothing. Think of brands like Apple, Gap, Reebok, Audi… whatever the initial reason for the name, they’ve just become ciphers, a memorable short-hand for a brand or experience. We wanted to get to that point quickly with something short, memorable, different and recognisable, and also something that wouldn’t limit us. Ten seemed to fit the bill.
How has business progressed? Dynamic reformer pilates will always be at the heart of our business, but as we’ve grown we’ve been able to broaden our offering. We’ve recently introduced two new classes: TenStretch, a reformer-based stretch class; and TenYoga, developed in conjunction with physios to make it more suitable for today’s sedentary and desk-bound lifestyles.
We’ve also used the learnings from our own in-house REPs-accredited training academy to launch TenEducation, which offers reformer-based courses for external fitness, rehab and therapy professionals. Our eighth studio opens in Fitzrovia, London, in a couple of months, but I think there’s still room for growth.
How has the market changed? The boutique fitness sector has grown exponentially since we opened. There’s now much more competition for sites and rents have gone through the roof in recent years, which puts pressure on margins. A relatively new challenge affecting us – and the sector – is the arrival of ClassPass and other aggregators. It’s great that they’re encouraging people to experiment and maybe fall in love with something they wouldn’t have otherwise tried, but they’re also in danger of devaluing what we do.
A ClassPass user can do a basic exercise-to-music class in a room full of 50 or 60 other people one day, and a highly specialist class with just a handful of people the next. But they’re doing it all on the same monthly pass. So they’re encouraged to value all classes – and all providers – the same, when they’re patently not. It’s something we have to manage carefully.
Private hotel owner and developer HVL Hotels will open a new luxury resort and tourism
destination called Laval Hunter Valley in the second half of 2027 in Pokolbin, Australia.
The annual wellness festival dedicated to wellbeing, culture, longevity and human connection,
called Alma, will be hosted by Rocco Forte hotel, Verdura Resort in Sicily, Italy.
Capella Hotel Group has appointed Feisal Jaffer as chief development officer as the company
ramps up its global expansion of both its Capella and Patina brands.
People taking GLP-1 weight loss medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound
may be losing weight, but they’re also becoming less physically active, according to new
research presented at the ENDO 2026 annual meeting of the Endocrine Society
Abu Dhabi-based investment firm Mubadala Capital has made a binding, fully financed
€1 billion
offer to acquire Pierre and Vacances SA, the European holiday resort operator behind the
continental European Center Parcs business.
Global retreat trade show, Synergy The Retreat Show, has launched a resource called The
Source, which hosts an open-access online Transformation Series programme.
The Standards Authority for Touch in Cancer Care (SATCC) charity has announced its first five-
day Living with Cancer and Beyond retreat, which will be held at Carden Park Hotel and Spa in
Cheshire, UK, between 1 and 5 September.
Patmos Aktis, a Luxury Collection Resort and Spa, has opened in Greece, with a renovated and
rebranded wellness offering called Ansana Wellness and Spa.
The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, an Autograph Collection property in Hawaii, US, has opened its
22,000 sq ft indoor-outdoor Spa at Mauna Kea as the final step in the property’s overall
renovation, which has cost more than US$180 million (€166 million, £140 mill
The UK spa review and discovery platform for consumers, the Good Spa Guide, has announced
it will host the Good Spa Guide Awards 2026 during an event on 16 November at Sopwell House
Hotel in St Albans, UK.
