High street leisure group PureGym has announced that it will be opening at a County Durham retail park in the next couple of months after revealing the news online. 

After already opening several facilities across the North East, PureGym said that Durham City Retail Park would be its next destination to open one of its branches. 

Confirming the news on its social media channels, the gym brand has started up its own Facebook and Twitter pages for its Durham City venture, while advertising for jobs, memberships and the fact that it will be a 24-hour gym.

Since February this year, PureGym has been advertising all of the 'mod cons' that will be available in their gym, including dedicated weight sections, all of the machines of any other PureGym branch, alongside the option for personal trainers. 

The gym prides itself on no contracts and monthly payments on memberships, which start at £12.99 a month as a starting price with a £15 joining fee.

Durham City Retail Park gym will be fitted with over 220+ pieces of equipment, including free weights, fixed resistance machines, and cardio equipment.

Despite no fixed opening date being set as of yet, it's expected that Durham City PureGym will open in mid-May or the start of June at the latest.

This planned PureGym opening follows its announcement about opening on the Washington Galleries site.

Earlier this year, PureGym hit the headlines after it spoke about the difficulty of bringing people to the gym.

According to a report by PureGym, some 16 per cent of people in the UK currently have a gym membership, and a quarter of the population choose to only workout at home, with reasons for this including gym memberships being too expensive, not having enough time, and feeling intimidated by the gym.

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More than half (54 per cent) of people say they use YouTube for fitness advice, 40 per cent use Facebook, and 37 per cent use Instagram, the report suggests. For Gen Z respondents, TikTok is the preferred platform, with 71 per cent of those aged 16-24 saying they use the video-sharing platform for fitness and exercise inspiration.

For industry insiders, this trend comes as no surprise.

“What we’re seeing is this shift to where online workouts are becoming far more accessible, and this means more people can access good quality information and education about how to move their bodies through social media, which is a huge positive,” says personal trainer and fitness influencer, Alice Liveing.