US gym Barry's Bootcamp used by David Beckham puts Edinburgh opening on hold

Barry’s Bootcamp pulled out of plans for a site in George Street earlier this week after a two-year hunt for the right location in the Capital.

The company was close to agreeing a deal on a large basement unit at the former Austin Reed/Viyella store, but last-minute nerves back at headquarters in California saw them cancel the plans.

A source said: “They were pretty close to signing and they do want to open here, but it went back to the board in the US and they decided not to go ahead at the moment due to Brexit.

They don’t want to invest too quickly. It’s really disappointing.”

The source said the company had been planning to open in Edinburgh for a while and had previously looked at a site in St Andrew Square but decided it was too small. “They need 5000 sq ft and there just wasn’t that big a space there.”

Barry’s Bootcamp was founded in 1998 by Los Angeles-based celebrity trainer Barry Jay who opened his first “boutique fitness studio” in West Hollywood.

The first expansion outside Los Angeles came in 2009 when he opened in San Diego and two years later he added New York to his list of studios.

Since then, Barry’s Bootcamp has spread across the US and also to Canada, Australia, Dubai and Europe, with branches in Norway, Sweden, Italy and the UK.

The company says it will open studios soon in Paris, Mexico and Singapore.

There are already studios in London and Manchester. Edinburgh is next on the list. But it now looks uncertain when the company will have the confidence to make the investment.

Up until last December the George Street site was due to be taken over by Optical Express as a flagship store.

It is understood the landlords spent a large amount of money getting the site ready, including putting in new drainage, which involved dismantling and reassembling a digger in the cellar to dig out the trenches, then dismantling it again to take it out.

But Optical Express pulled out at the last minute and the premises went back on the market.

Other parts of the site have already been taken by Brazilian restaurant Fazenda, which opened at the start of 2018, and Victor Hugo Deli, which is due to open next month.

Menswear retailer Austin Reed, which dated back to 1900, collapsed in 2016 with the loss of 1000 jobs across the UK, but was bought out of administration by Edinburgh Woollen Mill, who announced a £100 million three-year revival plan for the brand.

A spokesman for Culverwell, the retail agents marketing the George Street premises, said: “Barry’s Bootcamp, along with a number of national gym operators and retailers have been looking at the site, but no agreement has been reached. We are still having discussions.”