David Lloyd, the renowned former tennis player and British Davis Cup captain, finds himself in a legal tussle with the upscale gym chain that carries his name, over his latest business venture—a £60 million pickleball project.

Lloyd originally launched his health club brand in the 1980s, which he later sold to Whitbread PLC in 1995 for a substantial £200 million. Since then, he has embarked on several new endeavors, with his current focus on establishing a series of entertainment and leisure complexes across the United Kingdom.

The planned family-oriented centers, known as David Lloyd’s Sports Gardens, aim to feature facilities for burgeoning racket sports such as pickleball and padel. These sports centers are set to open in a variety of locations, including Aberdeen, Ebbsfleet, Glasgow, Dundee, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Guildford, Colchester, Middlesbrough, Ipswich, Norwich, and Bicester.

However, David Lloyd Leisure, the company that operates the existing leisure centers, is now attempting to secure an injunction against the website for David Lloyd’s Sports Gardens, raising a dispute over the use of his name.

Locations are planned in Aberdeen, Ebbsfleet, Glasgow, Dundee, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Guildford, Colchester, Middlesbrough, Ipswich, Norwich and Bicester.

However David Lloyd Leisure, which operates the leisure centres, is now seeking an injunction on David Lloyd’s Sports Gardens’ website. 

Mr Lloyd, 78, received legal correspondence from the company last month, accusing him of pretending to be them when setting up his clubs.  

David Lloyd and the eponymous upmarket gym he sold three decades ago are locked in a battle over his right to use his name to promote a new £60million pickleball venture

The family-focused centres, dubbed David Lloyd’s Sports Gardens, will include facilities for up and coming racket sports such as pickleball and padel (file photo)

He signed a name deed in 1993 which permitted him to use his own name to promote activities other than sports and tennis, but this expired in 2018.

David Lloyd Leisure, which own 137 clubs in the UK and Europe, told the Daily Mail it owns trademarks over the name and needs to ‘protect its brand’. 

The company fears Mr Lloyd’s new venture will confuse the public, particularly as some of the proposed locations for the project already have a David Lloyd leisure centre on site.

‘What they are saying is that I am pretending to be them,’ Mr Lloyd told The Times. 

‘I’ve been working on this for six years and cannot tell you the amount of work that I have done on it. 

‘It’s not in competition with David Lloyd whatsoever. It’s a completely different company and a completely different set of shareholders.’ 

He added that he does not want to compete with the leisure company and instead wants them to be as successful as possible. 

Mr Lloyd insisted that his venture is completely different to what the leisure centres already offer – with the sports gardens not being based on a membership system. 

A spokesman for David Lloyd Leisure said: ‘We have owned the David Lloyd brand for over 40 years, including, since at least 1997, registered trademarks for ‘DAVID LLOYD’ in sports, leisure, and operations.

‘We must protect our brand and not allow it to be used in a way that will cause confusion among the public, particularly with our own members.

‘We are concerned that Mr Lloyd’s Sports Gardens concept, which we understand to include internal and external sport and family activity facilities, including racquet sports among other things, work-spaces and healthy food and bars, will cause very significant confusion to the public and to our members, if it is branded under the David Lloyd name.’