Would this idea interest you?

[FactFinder]

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I wonder if it would be of interest to others.
When it comes to providing services, people between the ages of 50 and 65 are usually forgotten about. Services tend to be aimed at children, teenagers, young adults, and parents, and then it feels like anyone over the age of 55 is considered decrepit, which, as we all know, is not the case. It's a bit like on X-factor when they tried to tell us, the over 25s were ancient when they really weren't. The actress Vicky McClure has proved this with her daytime club events - clearly, there's a market for social events and things for people of this age range. I know there is the women's institute and things like that, but to me, that doesn't exactly appeal, and a lot of the activities make me feel ancient. I'm considering starting a Business and the best way to describe it is 'like a students union mixed with a David Lloyd gym', but aimed at people 50 plus. It would have cool events, a gym and spa, classes and education services, as well as creative workshops and local volunteer programmes. The aim is to harness a sense of community and wellness and allow people who want to achieve things to actually do it!

So my questions are these...
Do you think there is a gap in the market for this?
Would you get involved?

No Student Union I ever went to had a spa! With the cost of energy crisis local leisure centres are struggling to heat their pools. Can your venture afford to? Are the classes and events included in the membership fee or an additional charge?

Where I live we have community hubs which are the leisure centre and library all in one with "rent a desk" office space for those needing a change from WFH, a big hall for kid's parties/ sport competitions, a cafe, and they host "classes" (eg: French, guitar, judo) in the evenings. The cost to have a swim / hire a badminton court is considerably less than a DL membership.

The cost to rent, heat, insure and staff your gym/spa is not going to be sustainable if it can only be used by those over 50. You are also putting yourself at risk of "age discrimination".

Your idea has merit but as PP, you might be better trying to set up a U3A for a younger demographic. Have you actually identified a lack of evening activities is an issue in your area?

This says absolutely everything I was thinking of as I scrolled through the thread. Thanks to @kerminim for saving me some typing!

If you go ahead OP, bear in mnd that adults in a target age range typically don't attend at the threshold, but somewhere in the middle. So current over 50 activities are filled with people in their 60's and so on. If you make your target age 45 plus, you'll have more chance of attracting 50-55 year olds. I don't think that's necessarily about having free time and the activities being local. More people's 'perception of themselves' and gradually becoming at ease with their age.

In theory sure sounds ok but I cant imangine the cost needed to be charged in order for it to run and at a profit

There is so many issues I can see although I get the idea

I'm in that age range and it's a huge no from me.

I am a member of David Lloyd, still play sports with kids young enough to be my grandkids. And have an good social life with friends of all ages.

The thought of hanging round with what you call old decrepit people doing "cool events" sounds horrendous. Sorry!

And most of the people in that age range won't be retired. Most will still be working full time.

Absolutely huge no from me. Sounds like hell!!

Maybe if I was in my 80's?

You had me interested up till the point when you said it would have a gym and spa. There's already plenty of gym and spa places that have spin off clubs classes and social groups and making it a gym and spa would nake it too socially exclusive for me to be interested. The membership fees to keep those facilities viable would mean it was realistically only accessible to a minority of wealthy people.

A community hub venue offeeong classes, clubs, events and social spaces aimed at the 50+ age range without such expensive facilities would be brilliant though. I'd rather have a pottery studio than a spa.

I like your pottery idea, I will admit I too would not be interested in the spa bit either

Spa's must be every where because that seems to the soluton for every single problem for a women it appears, not just saying on this thread

The two spaces which I would look at creation are

• child free spaces
• women only spaces
• dog free spaces

I’m 53 so in your targeted age range as are all my friends and we are all employed most of us full time and with families and really busy lives,late 40s /early 50s are when a lot of women are going back into work and retirement age is 67 so I am not sure if you will reach a big enough daytime audience in a working age group. Gym classes and the odd spa day are already factored into our lives.

Where I live all the adult education stuff is in the evening. There's definitely stuff I would like to do but during school hours (I'm 62 but my child left school just last year), or at least during the day.

You could do something similar to U3A for people 40+ and do a mixture of online and practical classes. For example online history, psychology classes, quizzes. Community hubs for learning crafts, get togethers. This could be evenings and weekends as most people are working. I would forget the gym, spa as I'm happy at my local gym and the odd trip to Champneys.

I don’t like any age groupings, especially when they have a cut off age. What do you intend to do when a member of your club reaches 65?

There’s lots of activities available which cater to all tastes and interests. Personally I don’t need to have these ‘targeted’ at me according to my age group.

This sounds like a great idea... However, would cost be prohibitive for many?

It's clear from the replies I've read that all areas are different. I would be interested in what you're suggesting and I'm in the age bracket you mention. The activities you mention aren't available in my small rural town. The women in WI are in their 80s. I have nothing against them and will probably join the WI when I retire at 67, but I expect to be working full-time until then.

I think that more people (women) are having to work longer days & full time compared to previous generations. Especially now university is so expensive. So in theory it's a great idea but I don't know people would have the time.

I think maybe some sort of arts hub would be good? As others have said running gym & pool would cost a fortune. But somewhere you could run classes, book clubs, choirs etc would be good.

I'm in your target age range as well, and would be generally interested in the idea, but unlikely to do the activities over normal night classes etc, partly because I'd assume that anything offered for over-50s was really targetting the over 65 population, a bit like holidays or retirement villages that say for over-55s but in reality mean only older people really use them and they have an 'older' vibe. If it was something for, say, 40-60 year olds, and the marketing could somehow reflect that, it would be different (but as others have mentioned, working out what to do about the upper age could be dificult - maybe not so much a cut-off, but just a range that it's marketed to?).

I doubt I could afford any of it anyway, if it were a premium type club. I work full type but flexibly, but don't have any money for spare things as living alone is already very expensive!

I think there is a market (me!) for more creative arts classes and groups. Live music, comedy, writing, dance, drama etc in the evenings

we don’t have enough of that where I live.

It would need to be a beautiful space tho - can’t get excited about paying to be in a cheap old hall

I would definitely be interested. I don’t live in a big city, although it’s a reasonable size town. Finding evening classes/clubs isn’t easy. And to have lots of options in one place would be convenient. Things I would like to be included
exercise
book club
creative writing
language classes
baking /cooking classes
walking group

Rightly or wrongly I view the WI as cliquey and intimidating, so can’t imagine ever approaching them.

My bugbear is that there are services available, which are aimed at over 50s, but which seem to be only available during working hours. I'm still working full time (and can't really see an end to it), but I'd love to be able to join in with groups.

If it was all available under one roof, that would be great, and I'd happily pay to use them.

No, it sounds like an age-specific, expensive PoW camp. And I’m in your target range.

PoW camp?? Eh??

SilverTay
The thought of hanging round with what you call old decrepit people doing "cool events" sounds horrendous. Sorry!

This ^

Sorry for the slow reply!

Not a franchise, all different providers from the council to charities and independent providers. I'm on IoW, so we're pretty condensed here.

I will admit that it is far easier to access anything from being part of a sea shanty group to learning lino printing, than on the mainland.