In 594 BCE, Athenian lawmaker Solon introduced a revolutionary concept: dividing society not by birth, but by wealth. His system—Pentacosiomedimni, Hippeis, Zeugitae, and Thetes—was an early form of social segmentation. For me, Solon is the god-godfather of geodemographics.
Fast forward more than 2,000 years, and you’ll find echoes of Solon’s thinking in the class system used in UK public health and census analysis. These evolved into the familiar A, B, C1, C2, D, and E classifications first used in 1913.
But that was just the beginning.
Enter the Godfather of Modern Geodemographics
The real godfather of today’s data-driven segmentation is Dr Richard Webber—not the fictional surgeon from Grey’s Anatomy, but the brilliant mind behind Acorn and later Mosaic for Experian. Mosaic is the system we use at Leisure DB, and it’s been instrumental in shaping how we understand the UK’s fitness market.
Every few years, Richard would update Mosaic’s groups and types, each time reflecting the shifting fabric of UK society. These updates revealed how behaviours and values evolve—and how geodemographics must keep pace.
Mosaic Meets Muscle: Fitness Data Like Never Before
LeisureDB had something Richard was deeply curious about: millions of anonymised fitness member records. With his support, we geocoded each member using Mosaic’s classification system. This was the first time live fitness records at this scale had been mapped, adding an unprecedented level of detail to our reporting.
Until then, social surveys rarely exceeded 15,000 records—nowhere near enough to support the level of investment pouring into fitness. Our data provided a live, localised view of fitness demand across the UK.
Building the Ultimate Supply-Demand Model
We layered these ‘demand’ insights onto our unique supply database, which includes every fitness site in the UK. This enabled us to create a full supply-demand model and develop the first propensity factor—a way to predict fitness behaviour by type and location.
We could now see, for example:
Who prefers public vs private gyms
Who would go to hotel, school, or boutique sites
Who drives, bikes, walks—or only attends classes or swims
Each member record, where CRM data allowed, added another level of precision.
Postcodes, Propensity & Pinpoint Planning
The devil, as always, is in the detail. We licensed Royal Mail’s postcode system, which theoretically allows for 48 million unique codes. While around 1.7–1.8 million are active at any time, this gives us a razor-sharp tool to define the core catchment of each site.
Today, we track over 7,000 fitness sites, each with up to 200 data fields—from facility types and pricing to pipeline developments. We like to say we’re the proud parents of the UK’s most detailed supply database.
Twenty Years of Progress (and Counting)
Over two decades, our team has honed these layered datasets—supply, demand, propensity, and latent demand—using not just algorithms, but human intelligence. The result? Unmatched granularity and accuracy in our reports.
One of our latest innovations—and a personal favourite—is our Monthly Market Tracker. It monitors every opening, closure, brand change, and planning application to ensure our supply data is always current. You can explore more about this on our website.
Why This Matters
Geodemographic segmentation isn’t perfect—it's as much art as science. Society constantly evolves, and so must the tools we use to understand it. That’s why we’ve built a system more detailed, dynamic, and current than any other in the industry.
Alexa (yes, that's her real name!) can walk you through our reports and send examples. And our expert team—with over 100 years of combined experience—can help you interpret the figures, calculate potential, and spot hidden opportunities in your data.
Whether you're analysing existing sites or planning new ones, we’re here to help.
📩 Email the team if you’d like to talk through your next project.
Happy site hunting!
David Minton
Founder, LeisureDB