Marc Longden’s mother competed in two Olympic Games, and his late father coached two of Britain’s best-known Olympic gold medal athletes, giving him the perfect pedigree to launch a fitness business. But it took more than just physical strength and determination to realise his long-held ambition of opening a gym in North Yorkshire. It needed a six-figure investment, including significant life savings from Marc and his life-and-business partner, Hannah Davies, from their jobs working for rival fresh food producers, to turn, appropriately, a former farm shop near Selby into a thriving success.
Their vision was to establish a state-of-the-art gym inspired by the best and most luxurious gyms in the world, whilst remaining accessible. The spacious 4,500 sq ft MK1 Gym features the latest equipment, a dedicated studio space for classes and circuits, plus other facilities designed to cater to all fitness levels. The gym is now unrecognisable from its previous incarnation as Brayton Farm Shop, with much of the physical transformation completed by the couple’s family and friends.
Marc has transitioned to working full-time at the gym which now has several hundred members while Hannah balances her food industry career with managing operations and business development. Marc said: “I grew up immersed in sport and fitness thanks to my parents' careers, and it was always my ambition to develop a business in the fitness industry. “Hannah and I understood the risk of investing in suc.