Champneys: retreat of the stars. Four luxurious country locations offering health and beauty treatments and ultimate relaxation in sprawling grounds fit for kings or queens – or at least princesses (Diana was a regular visitor). Yet, soon you’ll find your very own Champneys spa on your local high street.
Name: Stephen Purdew
Age: 46
Company: Champneys Health Resorts
Position: Director and co-owner
Proposition: Health resorts and associated
brand products
Employees: 1,600
Turnover: Approximately £50m
Equity: 96.5%
Once the brand of the privileged set, Champneys is reaching out to the masses, and the man behind this unpredicted nosedive down the class system, co-owner Stephen Purdew, is thoroughly embracing it. Indeed, sneering with contempt at the prospect of David Cameron as the next elected Prime Minister, he could be mistaken for having a personal quest for a classless society. “I thought we’d had enough of being run by fucking Etonians who haven’t done a day’s work in their lives patronising us,” he says. “He won’t get my vote.”
Purdew’s no Red, though. Nor is he looking to dramatically reposition the Champneys brand. His take is that he’s simply opening it to more people and moving with market trends, something that he passionately maintains won’t lower quality, dilute brand or drive away the big names.
Purdew’s desire to unlock Champneys’ doors to those less privileged perhaps owes much to his own family’s rise to its helm through acquisition in 2002. His mother, Dorothy, now chairman, started the process in 1970 when, after shedding weight in a manner that impressed others, she started a slimming club that within a couple of years grew to a chain of 80. “She left school at 14, married at 25, had a child at 27 and just fancied a part-time job,” says Purdew. “She was very driven.”
Dorothy, keen to move into health farms, rented a farm in Northamptonshire in 1975, naming it Frimleys. In September 1981, she finally secured her own site at Henlow Grange, in Befordshire. The Purdews had to juggle £90,000 of debt without telling the bank, which was giving them a £180,000 loan, and sell a family home for another £90,000 to pull it off.
Purdew, who began helping out around the time of the purchase before going off “to do my own thing in accountancy” for two years, insists it was a risky acquisition. “Frimleys was a financial disaster,” he recalls. “The economic climate from ‘79 to ‘81 was tough, the finance plan didn’t make sense, we had no experience of running a hotel and in ‘81 no one was going to health farms.”
Thatcher’s 1980s changed Britain irreversibly and one cultural shift that resonated from the boom and survived the bust was the uptake of healthy living. From fluorescent shell suits to aerobics slots on breakfast TV, the UK went fitness crazy – and it couldn’t have come sooner for the Purdews. “Trends like Jane Fonda aerobics, healthy eating and jogging came along,” says Purdew. “At the same time, the London Marathon started. People became more health conscious,
from simply wanting to lose weight in the ‘70s. We were part of that revolution.”
Purdew also looked at perfecting a business model that mirrored the shift. “We started the popular health farm concept,” he says. “We cut costs and instead of just being a place for the very rich, we made it more accessible. We lowered some of the pricing, but made it better value.”
Purdew concentrated on installing a high level of customer service and leading fitness and beauty treatments. “Henlow Grange’s mark of quality was value,” he says. “We didn’t necessarily have the facilities, but we were renowned for our service and people.” It worked. Henlow Grange established itself as a haven for both celebrities and the public wanting a taste of the high life – particularly in more affordable day visits. It took market share from established players such as Champneys, which relied heavily on its heritage and a loyal, but ageing, clientele.
The Purdews reinvested profits to acquire a second site, Springs in Leicestershire, out of receivership for £3m in 1990 and then bought Forest Mere for £1.4m from the Savoy Group in 1996. In 1998, Hotel de la Paix in Switzerland was also added.
