It’s a super-exclusive health club with a waiting list to become a member – this is what you get for your £360-a-month at the National Gym of the Year
CPASE in Cheshire has been named National Gym of the Year(Image: CPASE)
This is the luxury gym named the best in the UK – with members including sports stars and celebrities. CPASE, nestled in a quiet rural village near Knutsford in Cheshire, has been racking up the awards ever since first opening five years ago.
This year it claimed the top prize at the National Fitness Awards – being named National Gym of the Year as well as Health Club of the Year. And walking around the place, which costs £360-a-month to use, it’s not hard to see why.
Drive through the security gates at the health club in Great Warford, and you’ll park up next to Range Rovers, Ferraris and Porsche. You then walk into the gym past a fountain and manicured topiaries, through the stylish April’s restaurant and cafe area.
It’s then through the barriers (accessed with your own wristband once you pay up your £500 joining fee) and in to the main gym space billed as a “revolutionary fitness playground”.
The main gym space inside CPASE, with slide (Image: Dave Thompson)
While it may not be in everyone’s price range at £360-a-month, this is a health club in high demand. Membership is capped at 500 and there’s now a waiting list to join.
Among members are boxer Tommy Fury – who shared some of his weight lifting regime at the gym with UFC star Tom Aspinall on his Youtube just before Christmas.
The duo were seen pressing 90kg weights on the main gym floor at CPASE, before checking out the big slide in the gym’s “Playground”.
Tommy Fury at CPASE gym on Tom Aspinall’s Youtube channel(Image: Youtube Tom Aspinall)
The duo also used the freezing cryotherapy chamber after their workouts, which aids with recovery. They then fuelled up at April’s Kitchen, the white and neon-lit cafe at the front of the gym, eating a whole host of health-focussed dishes on the terrace.
When Ronaldo was still with Manchester United, he was also a regular here, and posted pictures after using the cryotherapy chamber at the gym. Fellow former United star Dion Dublin has also posted pictures of workouts here.
CPASE is owned by health and fitness entrepreneur Clare Stobart. It’s prononuced “Space” and is also known as “Clare’s Space” after its owner.
She has worked in the fitness industry since teenage years, and dreamed of creating the perfect gym space – after spending years researching the world’s best gyms and heading to the biggest fitness conventions.
Owner Clare Stobart on the new padel courts at CPASE(Image: CPASE)
And when the former health club on the site came up for sale she seized the chance to make it her own.
The result in October 2020 was the super-exclusive CPASE which includes state-of-the-art equipment, treatment rooms, and a dazzling pool.
Here you can swim as well as relax on loungers arond the pool, and even order a glass of fizz after your workout or gym class. Members are allowed to take children here on Saturday mornings only, with the rest of the time the pool being an adult-only zone.
The pool area inside CPASE gym(Image: Dave Thompson)
The gym has also expanded massively since Clare first opened – with the latest developments two new padel courts at the front of the gym’s grounds. They were officially opened by another of the gym’s famous members, comedy star Jason Manford.
Plans have also just been submitted to Cheshire East Council to expand the padel courts further and to create a new double storey fitness hub to include a new state-of-the-art studio space and wellness rooms.
Meanwhile inside the club work is already underway to create a new bar next to the venue’s cafe April’s Kitchen. The bar will be a “social media free zone” where members can socialise after their training sessions.
Classes at the gym include spin classes and high-intensity workouts, with the latest set to launch next month called Volt. It will be CPASE’s own version of HIIT training in a new dedicated studio space.
Inside a sauna at CPASE(Image: CPASE)
There’s also a Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy tank for use of members – where you can relax and watch TV inside an exclusive two person luxury chamber. It’s said to be effective at treating a variety of conditions, and it involves wearing an oxygen mask and “breathing pure oxygen” throughout the duration of the session.
Also in the main gym space is a quirky step workout – where you can see just how many steps you need to walk up to do the equivalent of landmarks like Big Ben (186 steps), the Eiffel Tower (926 steps) or even to the top of Mount Everest (25,280 steps). The reward for dashing up the steps though, is that you can always use the large adult tube slide to get back down again.
Clare said of winning the awards again this year: “We are incredibly proud to have won not only Health Club of the Year but the title of National Gym of the Year.
Clare working out with the Eltectrical Muscle Stimulation machine at the gym(Image: CPASE)
“It would not have been possible without the unwavering support of our amazing members and the dedication, passion, and hard work of the CPASE Dream Team. Every year we are constantly investing and developing the facilities.”
Clare added: “We first opened right in the middle of the pandemic, but it has just grown and grown from there.
“Now, more than 80 per cent of our members use the spaces regularly, that’s unheard of really. Most people when they pay a membership to a gym only then use it a couple of times.
“But we have members who spend the whole day here. It’s more of a lifestyle, they have a class, do a bit of padel and then eat here.”
Due to the number of famous faces who use the gym, there’s a strict policy of no approaches for selfies. Clare adds: “You’ve got to respect everybody’s privacy. We have asked members to leave who have taken photographs of celebrities.”