Big Boss Interview

Clive Chesser, chief executive of PureGym, says surviving cancer fundamentally changed him as a leader — deepening his empathy and reshaping how he approached life, including changing career..
His diagnosis came during an extraordinarily difficult period in December 2021. While leading his then pub business through a complex private equity transaction, he was experiencing persistent breathlessness and fatigue he initially attributed to long COVID. After noticing swollen lymph nodes in his neck, members of his family — several of whom are senior doctors — urged him to undergo further tests. He completed them just before finalising the business deal.
Christmas brought what he describes as an unimaginable sequence of events. On Christmas Day, his father-in-law died while his wife isolated at home with COVID. Shortly afterwards, Chesser received confirmation that he had cancer in his lymph nodes. The following day, he says, he faced the hardest moment of his life: telling his three teenage children he had cancer.
At the time, Chesser was marathon-fit, training regularly and running annually. That physical condition proved critical during treatment. His fitness enabled him to tolerate more aggressive radiotherapy and additional chemotherapy rounds, improving his chances of full recovery — which he ultimately achieved. The experience, he says, transformed his sense of purpose and made his subsequent appointment as PureGym’s chief executive feel profoundly aligned with his personal journey.
That personal conviction underpins what he describes as a broader fitness revolution reshaping the UK gym industry. Nearly half — 47% — of PureGym’s January 2025 joiners were aged 25 or under, reflecting what Chesser sees as a generational shift in attitudes to health. Younger members, particularly Gen Z and Gen Alpha, are integrating fitness into their social identity. Gyms are becoming social hubs, not simply places to exercise, where mental wellbeing and community sit alongside physical strength.
He describes a trend he calls “fitness snacking” — members moving fluidly between gyms, boutique studios and fitness events before returning to a core membership. Despite this apparent transience, average tenure stands at 19 months and is rising. Most new joiners are returning members, a notable fact given PureGym’s no-contract, month-to-month model, where members actively choose to stay.
Women are driving another significant shift in the market, moving away from cardio-dominated routines towards strength and conditioning. In response, PureGym has introduced more than 50 women-only workout spaces across the UK after research showed many women prefer environments where they feel more comfortable and less exposed. These areas exist nationwide and sit alongside screened lighter-weight zones designed to reduce intimidation for first-time users. While the majority of PureGym’s 456 UK sites remain mixed-gender spaces, Chesser argues that offering choice has been critical to growth and inclusion.
Chesser also delivers a critique of the Labour government’s economic performance, arguing it has failed to deliver the long-term growth strategy promised before taking office. He points to National Insurance rises and the continued burden of business rates on bricks-and-mortar operators — including gyms and pubs — while online businesses face comparatively lighter structural costs.
He draws a stark comparison between government and business leadership, noting that the UK has had six Prime Ministers in ten years — instability he likens to running a football club rather than a company built on rolling five-year strategies and careful succession planning. In his view, the government remains trapped in short-term crisis management rather than long-term economic planning.
Presenter: Sean Farrington
Producer: Olie D'Albertanson
Editor: Henry Jones
00:00 Fliss and Sean intro pod
01:50 Clive joins BBI
03:30 Growth on Gen Z gym users
10:20 Women only spaces and safety
16:00 Low cost model
25:20 Govt's 10 Year Health Plan
28:40 Clive's cancer journey
39:15 Frustration at govt's growth promises

Timo Boldt, founder and chief executive of Gousto, believes Britain’s food system is broken.
He points to the growing economic burden of diet-related disease with Government figures suggesting obesity alone costs the NHS more than £11 billion a year, while broader estimates put the total economic cost of overweight and obesity at more than £100 billion annually once lost productivity and reduced quality of life are included.
Boldt argues the problem begins with what Britons eat. Research suggests more than half of the calories consumed in the UK come from ultra-processed foods, rising to around two-thirds among children and adolescents.
He says these products are often engineered for what the industry calls the “bliss point” — the combination of salt, sugar and fat that keeps people coming back for more — and that the result is rising levels of obesity and diet-related illness.
He defends Gousto’s typical price point of about £3.20 per meal per person, arguing that it compares favourably with supermarket shopping once household food waste, time spent planning meals and convenience are taken into account. The company cannot compete with the very lowest-cost diets, he admits, but says it is targeting the large proportion of households already spending similar amounts on evening meals.
Boldt also argues that farmers sit at the weakest point in the food chain, squeezed by large manufacturers and retailers who dominate what ends up on supermarket shelves. He says the system would look very different if incentives favoured fresh produce rather than heavily processed foods.
Government action so far — including the sugar tax and restrictions on junk-food advertising — is, in his view, only a start. He calls for a broader approach combining taxes on unhealthy products with subsidies for more nutritious farming, alongside tighter rules on product placement in supermarkets.
If diet-related disease could be reduced, he argues, the savings for the NHS and the wider economy would be enormous. The long-term solution, he says, is to “go upstream” and change what people eat by reshaping the food system itself.
Gousto grew rapidly through the 2010s, with annual growth of around 90% in its first decade. But the business faced a very different environment in 2022, as interest rates rose sharply and household budgets tightened. Boldt responded by expanding the range of recipes and focusing on value, while pushing the company towards profitability and self-funding.
He started the business fifteen years ago after long hours in the finance industry left him eating poorly. In the early days he delivered boxes himself, handing out his personal mobile number to customers. Today, after expansion into Ireland, he says the next phase will be international — once the company has fully cracked its home market.
Presenter: Sean Farrington
Producer: Olie D'Albertanson
Editor: Henry Jones
00:00 Fliss and Sean start pod
01:39 Timo Boldt joins BBI
02:25 Obesity caused by ultra processed food and its impact
03:50 The cost of Gousto and whether it's too expensive
11:15 Farmer not paid enough.
19:56 Discount model in the industry
23:17 Setting up Gousto and hand delivering food
27:24 Tougher times and how they were navigated
32:20 Why is Gousto only in the UK and Ireland?
39:40 End of pod

Brian Niccol took over at Starbucks in 2024. He became CEO at a time profits had been falling and customers going elsewhere. He says Starbucks had got too distracted on efficiency and technology and lost focus on customers and experience.
Starbucks has re-introduced things like handwriting on cups and ceramic mugs in a bid to win back customers, and has also given the menu and stores a makeover. It's already seen sales improve but Brian Niccol says they still need to do more..
Technology is playing a big part in Starbucks plans to improve efficiency. It's using AI to take orders and allowing people to schedule their orders. It's also using technology to simplify the ordering process and stock. Niccol says this is allowing staff to spend more time to chat with customers.
Presenter - Michelle Fleury
Producers - John Mervin and Justin Bones
Editor - Henry Jones
01:40 Getting customers back to Starbucks. Says had lost focus and got distracted
07:22 Using technology such as AI taking orders and scheduling orders for customers
15:30 Partnering with 2028 LA Olympics
19:16 Should investors expect a slow rebuild or will the pace pick up this year
22:20 Giving power back to the store
Picture: Reuters

As CEO of financial services giant Legal & General, António Simões plays a huge role in the UK economy, not to mention in the financial wellbeing of tens of millions of people. From managing pension funds to massive infrastructure spending around the country, he oversees well over a trillion dollars’ worth of UK assets. Simões took the top job at the beginning of 2024, and he tells Will Bain how from the start he has been dedicated to maintaining a corporate culture with a healthy work-life balance.
Bullish on the UK economy, Simões says the country sometimes spends too much time ‘talking itself down’ and that with its fundamental strengths the UK is one of the most stable economies in the world. But, he says, there are still big worries for young Britons’ futures. He tells Will he’s concerned about the low levels of pension enrolment around the country and says more financial education is needed for people to understand the “eighth wonder of the world”: compound interest.
He also tells Will about L&G’s massive investments around the country, from digital infrastructure and energy storage to affordable homes. And he says that despite a backlash against ESG and diversity programmes in recent years, he believes those are essential to ensuring returns for investors, and the country, far into the future.
Presenter: Will Bain
Producer: Olie D'Albertanson
Editor: Henry Jones
00:00 Sean Farrington and Will Bain introduce the episode
02:00 António Simões interview begins
02:21 Maintaining work-life balance and corporate culture
05:30 Britons not saving enough into their pensions and the need for more financial literacy
08:40 Addressing low pensions auto-enrollment, challenges for employees and SMEs alike
20:30 UK Growth - how to get there?
24:30 AI investments and 'bubble' fears
26:30 Government and private investments in new infrastructure around the UK
40:00 The continued value of diversity schemes and ESG amid backlash
41:30 The politicisation of the economy
42:30 Low gender and LGBT representation in the C-suite

Britain's education system stands accused of failing to prepare young people for careers by Neil Clifford, Chief Executive of Kurt Geiger. He tells Will Bain in this episode of BBI that the current education system is "not really fit for purpose" in preparing people for life after education. His own school journey saw him leave with a single O-level in art, achieved by drawing a Dunlop Green Flash trainer that he now keeps displayed in his office. The spurred him on to create the Kurt Geiger Academy, a government-recognised educational institution built within the company's London HQ.
Clifford questions the usefulness of teaching history in school and wonders if the emphasis on mathematics - championed by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak - is wise, seeing as "we can't out mathematics India or China". Instead he says the UK should focus on sectors where it maintains global leadership, pointing to creative industries as areas where Britain would be World Champions.
Clifford describes how the company has moved from a struggling British shoe retailer into an international fashion company. The brand has undergone a dramatic shift, with American operations now generating 70% of sales from handbags rather than shoes and individual stores producing twice the profit per square foot compared to UK locations. This was a move that saved the company as he says the COVID-19 pandemic brought the company within weeks of bankruptcy, with profits collapsing from £41 million in 2019 to just £6 million.
Presenter: Will Bain
Producer: Olie D'Albertanson
Editor: Henry Jones
00:00 Fliss Hannah and Will Bain introduces the episode
01:31 Neil Clifford interview begins
02:46 Kurt Geiger's transformation from shoes to handbags
05:18 ADHD and dyslexia impact
07:52 Failed attempts at handbags and US expansion
09:30 Strategy acceleration during pandemic
11:29 Trump tariffs discussion
15:34 UK vs international growth
20:03 50% higher conversion in US stores
23:21 Russell and Bromley discussion
24:05 One O-level in art
27:26 Academy origins from COVID
29:45 Education system "not fit for purpose"
35:37 UK hasn't grown in 10 years
35:54 - Brexit: "wasted 10 years"