Psycle is a premium boutique fitness brand running five sites across London.
Since launch in 2014, the operator has offered “a high-intensity low-impact head to toe workout on a bike” from its original Mortimer Street studios and more recently at Canary Wharf, Shoreditch, Clapham and Westbourne Grove locations.
Mortimer Street, opened in February that year and recently underwent a dramatic scale-up of facilities, expanding from the basement to include four floors above the original level, supplying spin, strength and yoga.
Changing room specialists Crown Sports Lockers have installed bespoke male and female lockers and seating in various sizes to suit the demographics of each site.
Gloss white lockers have proved to be the design thread since the first fitout some six years ago to the most recent at Westbourne Grove, where unique ‘floating effect’ integral benching in white create a stunning interior.
“My predecessor sourced Crown, liked them and specified them for Mortimer Street and we have continued the relationship ever since,” says Psycle Operations Manager Hayley Casanova.
Their latest work is typical of the last six years, she says. “We enjoy a highly personal service from Crown, with dedicated project manager Spencer Grimwood in regular contact before, during and after each installation.
On the Mortimer Street extension, we knew the designs we wanted. Spencer looked over the architectural plans and adjusted the changing room layouts where needed, constantly updating us and visiting the site to check dimensions before and after the installation.”
Psycle switched from electronic to mechanical combination locks for the latest lockers (as they had done at Clapham) which features several sizes to accommodate clothes, kit, other belongings and mini units for storing valuables. Integrated benches were included later in the fitout.
“The electronic locks needed too much technical resource,” explains Hayley. “Lockers couldn’t be opened without the master key to reset the locks and replacement time from the Spanish manufacturer was six weeks, which was unworkable. Some lockers were never in use. The manual master key provided with the mechanical locks allows us to open lockers if ever we need to.”
Like Mortimer Street, Shoreditch delivers spin, yoga, bar and strength. The other two sites serve spin only, while all five studios work to a first come, first serve model.
“Mortimer Street’s our peak site, with 4,500 visits a week,” says Hayley, mostly in the hours before and after work, so visitors usually arrive clothed for the office. The original lockers Crown fitted are still going strong, although we had to replace some keypads because of the extremely high use.”
At Westbourne Grove, the changing mix sees two-tier clothes lockers and three-tier bag lockers fitted with keyless No1 combination locks – and of course the `floating` bench seating.
With its focus firmly on London, Psycle is planning more openings. “Canary Wharf and Clapham opened two years ago,” adds Hayley, “and we’re aiming for a total of ten studios eventually.”