This week we've caught up with Gloucester Road's answer to Basil Fawlty - Mike from Bubalu......
How long has your business been trading on
Gloucester Road?
Since January 2011
What made you choose Gloucester Road for
opening your business?
Bubalu was an 8 year concept / passion /
obsession. The last 3 years of it was just one big struggle on trying to get a
suitable unit to work from, but no-one made it easy at all. It was a horrible
period. Gloucester Road was such a big Independent stronghold and had cheaper
rents than other areas. As it was a developing area it proved to be only area
(after years of trying) that planners would consider a multiple change of use
on a unit. An eyesore of a derelict property was also something that stood in
our favour, but in no way did they make it easy for us!
Eventually we got through planning and did an
enormous amount of work in 6 weeks to turn it from a derelict pit into Bubalu,
a unique Health & Fitness concept to see if we could make it work, support
other local traders and offer something new in terms of Health & Fitness to
Bristol and the South West.
What have been the highlights for you since
opening your business?
Many. Looking back, the main highlight has to
be purposefully choosing to test a unique concept in the height of the
recession, as if it can survive then, it should survive in better times, and
through all adversity, still being open and trading well to date (and looking
to expand) proves this. We have made a couple of potentially business closing
decisions through them being forced upon us, but through having the desire to
change for the better of the business and our loyal customers we did it and
survived.
The business is still very raw, certainly
against the big players, but we have got to where we are by doing the right and
ethical thing in terms of looking after peoples’ Health & Fitness and
tested out many unique fitness concepts before other major players even thought
of them;
- “Virtual Spin” – two local Mountain Bike Pros filming themselves chasing each other around local trails for unique Spin class
- Family Combat – kids and parents learning street defence techniques together and pretty much nailing the parents every Sunday in regular battles
- Fitness Speed Dating – contacted by the UK Dating Awards to enter with a view of winning a national award due to the unique concept
- “Sweatworking” events - A Belgian film crew contacting us to fly a film crew over to film one of our unique networking events
We are extremely proud of the fact that even
thought we can’t compete with the big guys on facilities, we have some of the
best classes and Instructors around and are willing to test things, do more and
offer more than the other places for a fraction of the price.
We have some truly great customers that have
been with us a long time and we also have many customers that come here
regularly from the big Health & Fitness businesses for food and drinks as
their places offerings are rubbish (so we don’t need to compete, just do what
they don’t and won’t do!).
A great testament to what we are about and do
is that many industry professionals support us and are now bringing their
customers here for food and drinks as we won’t encroach on their business and
can simply add value to their services.
Before the move to Ashton Gate, we were an
official Bristol Rugby base and now extremely proud to be working with Bristol
Rugby Community Foundation, helping the local community.
We have done many free events and courses for
local kids, adults and families, which have been great fun - training kids at
various schools, training male, female and kids sports teams, Instructors and
prizes for school fetes, street parties, fundraising events etc
Suppose one of the highlights of it all was
being named as one of 10 Health & Fitness businesses in the UK to go to by
International magazine Women’s Fitness in 2013, which when we were in a really
tricky time, was truly awesome.
We have been entered into this year’s UK
Fitness Awards, so we’ll see how that goes.
You very rarely take stock of what’s what, so
now it is written down here, the spine tingles, as we have achieved a great
deal in just four and a half years with a good team of 26 local people and it
is something to be really proud of.
What kinds of products/services does your
business offer?
We have 2 studios offering over 30 fitness
classes a week (including Pilates, Yoga, Spin, Circuits, Kickboxing, Legs Bums
& Tums, Kettlebells etc), a Power Gym and a 60 seat Café that sells made to
order fresh, healthy foods and drinks that are all made by us from ingredients
sourced from Gloucester Road traders and other local businesses.
We do what other Health& Fitness
businesses should do as standard - only have nutritious fresh foods in so that
people get the right nutrition to lead a healthy lifestyle. Unlike other
places, vending machines full of junk or packaged foods does not have a place
in here and as we are one of the most obese nations in Europe, rightly so!
Is there anything your business does that
people might not be aware of?
We are a Health & Fitness business with 2
fitness studios and a Gym, not just a Cafe!
We will help anyone and everyone lead
healthier lives, if they want help and are prepared to commit to helping
themselves!
If anyone wants any help with their fitness
regime, or their nutrition all they have to do is ask. As Brits are very poor
as asking for help, we do a weekly blog to break things down and help people
empower themselves into eating things that are right for their bodies and the
doing the right exercise to complement things.
Health should be 80% nutrition, 20% exercise.
Which business do you use yourself on
Gloucester Road?
As many as possible for daily operations; The
Breadstore (all our bread), Gloucester Road Fruits & The Fish Shop (go on
have guess what we get from them?!), Bishopston Hardware (all maintenance
items), Ablectrics (all lighting products), Franco’s Barber Shop (for regular
scalp polishes and beard trims), Computer Right and Cartridge Right (cartridges
and computer related things), Istanbul News (daily papers), La Ruca and
Scoopaway (ingredients) and then many others such as Grape and Grind & Poppers
and Fancy Dress Fanatics for occasional business related presents, awards and
fun things.
What do you like most about Gloucester Road?
We get pretty much everything from Gloucester
Road independents (only thing we get from outside of Gloucester Road and
Bristol is our gluten-free flour), as everything is here, so it is easy for us
to survive and really great to support other Independents. Many other business
owners great, fun people, so we have a good bit of banter amongst each other
and that is very important when completely immersed in running your own
business.
The characters on the Road make it a weird
and wonderful place to be. Is great to have so many lovers, opinionated people
and vocal haters to help you hone your business practices. It has got us to
where we are today!
It is also great to have some eccentric
people around sorry for not getting to you all, but our favourites are the guy
that walks around with pet duck on his shoulder, the other that walks his
rabbit and the lady with the polished wooden tree root hat.
Probably the best thing about Gloucester Road
are 3 truly awesome and lovely characters - Jason, Shaun and Tyler. Say no
more!
If you want to find out more about Bubalu classes, food or anything, check out their website and social media pages - they're particularly active on social media too, so well worth following their updates!
Bubalu
79/81 Gloucester Road,
Bristol, BS7 8AS
Tel: 01179245381
Website: www.bubalu.co.uk
Facebook Link: https://www.facebook.com/BubaluBristol
Twitter Link: https://twitter.com/bubalubristol
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