Small Gloucestershire gym faces costly trademark dispute with Gymshark

A Gloucestershire gym trading as The Conditioning Club is defending its name in a trademark dispute with sportswear business Gymshark. Founder John Watson says the proceedings threaten a local business built over five years, with nine staff, three self-employed personal trainers and about 500 members in Fairford.

Watson registered the name at the UK Intellectual Property Office for gym and fitness services five years ago. Gymshark subsequently applied to register Conditioning Club and The Conditioning Club for categories including clothing, retail and entertainment. Although it did not seek a fitness-and-training registration, one application overlaps a class used by Watson, who also sells branded clothing.

Watson opposed that application and sought to extend his own protection to additional classes. Gymshark opposed his extension and asked for his original registration to be invalidated, arguing that the name is descriptive rather than sufficiently distinctive. The intellectual-property proceedings remain unresolved; no final ruling transferring the name has been announced.

Watson says his legal costs are approaching £30,000 and that a crowdfunding appeal has raised just over £5,000. He described the financial imbalance as intimidating and said he was willing to reach a sensible arrangement, while protecting the identity of the business and its community links.

Gymshark, founded in 2012 by Ben Francis, became a billion-pound business after General Atlantic invested in 2020. It declined to comment on the trademark dispute. The case concerns competing applications and challenges before the UK office, not a confirmed court order requiring the small gym to close.