Burnley Leisure and Culture (BLC) has been shortlisted for two awards at this year’s prestigious National Fitness Awards, which recognise excellence and achievement in gyms throughout the country.
We are delighted and excited to be shortlisted for Local Authority/Leisure Trust Gym of the Year and Gym Team of the Year.
These awards are seen as the UK’s biggest free-to-enter fitness accolades, and it means we will be among entries from as far north as Aberdeen and as far south as Devon.
Along with every finalist, we’ll now be visited by a member of the awards team, who will take a look around the facilities and chat to members and staff before compiling a comprehensive report, which will then be passed on to an expert judging panel to decide the winners.
Scott Bryce, our Chief Operating Officer, says: “We are absolutely thrilled to be shortlisted for not just one, but two awards at the National Fitness Awards 2025.
“This recognition reflects the hard work, passion, and commitment of all our incredible teams in providing the ultimate health and wellbeing experiences to our local community.
“Our teams continue to inspire me every day, supporting our members and making a huge impact with enriching healthier happier communities.
“At BLC we believe in creating more than a gym, we are building a community focused on health, wellness, fun, growth, and connectivity. To be acknowledged at this national level is an honour and a proud moment for us all.”
We’re now hoping we can go one better than last year, when we were runners-up, and emulate our success of four years ago when St Peter’s was named Local Authority/Leisure Trust Gym of the Year, emerging triumphant from an extended shortlist of entries from 2020 and 2021 following the covid-19 pandemic.
Since then, our facilities at St Peter’s and Padiham have benefited from a £750,000 significant refurbishment that included new equipment and cycle studios at both sites, as well as an extension of the gym and the upgrading of changing areas and lockers at St Peter’s.
As a not-for-profit organisation, we reinvest all of our surplus revenue to fund such work and we’re currently developing a Jurassic Golf attraction at Prairie Sports Village, which is due to open later in the autumn.
National Fitness Awards’ event director Dominic Musgrave says: “The National Fitness Awards are now in their 15th year and with more entries than ever before, our finalists really have reason to celebrate too as it’s a huge achievement to have made the shortlist, which is testament to the teams behind each entry.”
The winners will be announced by television, radio and podcast presenter Natalie Sawyer at a glittering awards ceremony on Friday, November 28th at The Athena in Leicester.
Working in partnership with the council, BLC is responsible for the operation, management and development of St Peter’s and Padiham leisure centres, Prairie Sports Village, Barden athletics track, Thompson Park boating lake, Burnley Mechanics Theatre, numerous hospitality venues and Towneley golf courses and clubhouse, along with borough-wide arts development, community health and wellbeing, sport and play development programmes.
