How a Derby lad and his 30-year friendship built Altrincham’s most unique wellness destination
Chris Henson never imagined he’d be running one of Altrincham’s most talked-about wellness businesses. Growing up in Derby as the son of a railway signal engineer and a university administrator, his childhood dreams were firmly rooted in following his father’s footsteps into engineering. Today, as he sits in the reception area of Zero Gravity Float Spa – just opposite Altrincham’s interchange – it’s clear that life had different plans.
Zero Gravity Float spa has just celebrated its seventh birthday and is rapidly approaching its 50,000th flotation session, a milestone that speaks volumes about how this unconventional business has captured the hearts and minds of Greater Manchester’s wellness-conscious residents.
The Foundation of Friendship
The story of Zero Gravity Float Spa begins not with business plans or market research, but with a friendship that has endured for three decades. Chris met Simon Preedy on his first day of school in Derby, and at 37, he credits this relationship as being fundamental to everything he’s achieved.
“I wouldn’t be the person I am today without Simon, without a shadow of a doubt,” Chris reflects. “I wouldn’t have the confidence to be doing this for starters. I wouldn’t have half the friends that I have. I would definitely not be doing this business – it was mainly Simon’s idea to come up with it.”
It’s a friendship so enduring that it surprises even Chris when people comment on it. “Everyone always says that to me, it seems quite surprising, because it seems super normal to me to know at least a few of your friends from back in the day.”
This bond proved strong enough to survive the transition from Derby to Manchester, where both young men headed for university – Chris to study Aeronautical Engineering, Simon to pursue International Business. While Simon discovered music at university (picking up a guitar, as Chris wryly notes, “so he had something to say to girls at parties”), Chris was discovering that his chosen field wasn’t quite what he’d imagined.
The Crossroads Years
Like many students, Chris found himself questioning his path midway through university. The engineering course that had seemed so appealing – following in his father’s footsteps, designing and creating – turned out to be “a lot more like heavy physics and maths” rather than the hands-on technical drawing he’d envisioned.
“I was picturing working on like a drawing board, doing technical drawing, and it was a lot more like heavy physics and maths, which I was able to keep up with, but just didn’t interest me at all,” he explains. “I came out of university and thought, well, that’s not what I want to do with my career. But now I don’t know what I do want to do.”
What followed was what Chris calls his “crossroads period” – ten years working at Nando’s alongside Simon, who lasted just two years before moving on. While it might seem like a detour from his intended career path, those years proved invaluable in ways Chris couldn’t have anticipated.
“I actually was at Nando’s for 10 years, because the whole time I was just, I knew that I didn’t want to make a career out of it, but still not sure what I did want to do,” he admits. Working his way up to manager level, Chris gained crucial experience in customer service, staff management, and business operations – skills that would prove essential when launching Zero Gravity.
“It has actually worked out really beneficially for starting the spa – 10 years of customer service experience, which is obviously a big part of what we do at the spa,” he notes. The experience also taught him valuable lessons about systems and processes that many independent businesses struggle with. “It’s so good having things that have already been worked out. Let’s use that for now and all the other stuff I have to still figure out from scratch.”
Discovering the Float
The catalyst for Zero Gravity Float Spa came through Simon’s personal struggle with sleep issues. In his search for solutions, Simon discovered flotation therapy and began regular sessions at a spa in Manchester’s Ancoats area. When he convinced Chris to try it, the experience was transformative.
For those unfamiliar with flotation therapy, Chris describes it as “almost like a giant bath, about the size of a king size bed, filled with loads of warm water and loads of Epsom salt as well. There’s so much Epsom salt you float on top of the water with no effort whatsoever. It’s very much like being in the Dead Sea.”
The benefits, he explains, work on multiple levels. “Having that weightless environment is really, really good if anyone’s got any aches and pains. You’ll find a lot of athletes use it for sports recovery, and we even have people with more chronic issues, so fibromyalgia, severe arthritis that really benefit from it.”
Beyond the physical benefits, the sensory deprivation aspect – being able to turn off lights and close the tank lid – allows the mind to truly switch off. “That allows your mind to also be able to switch off and relax, because it has a lot less of those signals to process, and that’s been shown to be really good for things like stress, anxiety, even depression.”
Spotting the Opportunity
While Chris and Simon were becoming regular floaters, they noticed significant gaps in the market. The Manchester spa was constantly booked weeks in advance, with no other options nearby. The experience of getting there was also frustrating – central Manchester location, one-way streets, parking difficulties.
More importantly, they felt the existing facility missed the mark on customer experience. “They were set up very clinically – bare white walls. It didn’t feel like a space that you really wanted to spend any time in,” Chris recalls.
The business case seemed clear: “Manchester is a massive city, so much opportunity out there to get extra customers in, and we feel like this could be done much better by setting it up as a much more welcoming environment.”
The £280,000 Leap
Turning this vision into reality required significant investment – £280,000 just to open the doors. For most friends and family, Chris admits, the focus was more on the unusual nature of the business than the eye-watering startup costs.
The key to securing this investment was bringing Dr. Graeme John on board as a third partner. As a professor and specialist in surgical oncology, Graeme brought medical credibility to the venture. “He was able to look into the research that had been done and cast his medical eye over it and see what was legitimate and what was just made up and exaggerated,” Chris explains.
This medical backing was crucial when approaching investors. Having someone who could authoritatively state that “the benefits are definitely super solid. People will definitely have good experiences and keep coming back” made all the difference.
The due diligence process revealed just how thorough potential investors could be. Chris’s parents, wanting to check out this new partner they’d never met, took to Google. As Chris recounts with amusement, “Graeme afterwards said, ‘Okay, what page of Google did they get bored on?’ First three results – that was all they needed.”
Choosing Altrincham
The location choice wasn’t immediately obvious. Originally flexible about anywhere in South Manchester, the team looked at various options, including King Street in central Manchester and even “a place next to a clap clinic in Stockport – that would not have been a good idea.”
As Derby natives, Chris and Simon didn’t have deep knowledge of Manchester’s different neighborhoods, but Altrincham immediately felt right. “As soon as we visited Altrincham to view a property that was available, we thought, this is the place to go. It felt like it was very much up and coming.”
The timing was perfect. The markets had just been redeveloped, and there was clear momentum around independent, unique businesses. “We felt that a lot of our customers, people that are interested in flotation but never tried it yet, would also have that same kind of background.”
The location offered the best of both worlds – excellent transport links to Manchester’s large population base, plus proximity to more affluent areas like Hale. This gave them “a good mix of a large population base that might be able to try it occasionally and spread the word, and a smaller but more affluent population base that if they do enjoy it, are more likely to come back for regular sessions.”
Weathering the Storms
The seven years since opening have been eventful, to say the least. “Within the last seven years, we’ve had a lot of big world events that have massively affected us,” Chris notes, with understatement that speaks to the resilience required in modern business.
COVID-19 was the obvious major challenge. “The lockdowns massively hurt us as a business. Obviously, it’s not something that we’re able to work from home and do because it relies on people coming into the spa.”
However, there was an unexpected silver lining. “A lot more people were talking about mental health and mindfulness, really looking at what they could do to improve that for themselves.” When they could reopen, customers were eager to return. “We even had a few of our customers say the only thing they missed about not being able to go out was coming in and getting regular floats.”
The challenges didn’t end with COVID. The cost-of-living crisis has been particularly tough for a business that’s sometimes perceived as a luxury service. “If people are going through tough times, it’s the first thing they’ll cut, not being able to spend that extra money even though they’ve got more stress going on, so it would benefit them more than it might do normally.”
Energy costs have been another major concern, given that the business relies on heated water. Fortunately, excellent timing on a three-year fixed contract helped them avoid the worst of the energy price spikes, though rising staff costs – which Chris supports as necessary – have still impacted the bottom line.
The Secret to Retention
In an industry where businesses typically lose 10-20% of their customer base annually, Zero Gravity’s seven-year success suggests they’re doing something right when it comes to customer retention.
“I would say there’s not one reason why people come back with us,” Chris explains. “If there was just one reason, a competitor would be able to copy it. It’s a range of different reasons.”
The foundation is putting themselves in customers’ shoes. “We always make sure to put ourselves in the customer’s shoes in terms of how we treat them, how we structure our pricing, how we structure our policies around memberships and packages. We want to make them as customer friendly and as flexible as possible.”
This customer-first approach extends to their pricing philosophy. Even when costs rise, they avoid the temptation to dramatically increase prices. “They feel looked after and don’t feel like they’re being ripped off, even if a price is slightly different than other places, they might say, ‘Well, actually, you’ve not taken this opportunity to raise your prices massively.'”
Customer service is another crucial factor. About three to four years ago, they expanded to offer massage services full-time, with all therapists trained to provide bespoke rather than routine services. “We don’t train them to a fixed routine. We let them use their knowledge and experience. So everyone gets a bespoke service.”
The approach to customer service reflects their understanding of their business: “We’re in the wellness business. It doesn’t make sense to just say, ‘Hi, I’ll take your money. Cool. Have your float. See you later.'”
The Business Case for Switching Off
For the dedicated business owners who never seem to take a break – particularly those gathered for this interview in August while others take summer holidays – Chris has a clear message about the importance of downtime.
“You’ll typically find if you’ve never switched off, you’ll find yourself becoming burnt out over time,” he warns. “You might still be able to force yourself to do the work that you’re trying to do, but you’ll find yourself towards the end of the day feeling more easily distracted.”
The signs are subtle but telling: “You might find yourself just sitting at your PC and thinking, what am I going to start next? Or thinking, am I ‘m really comfortable to start this massive project a few minutes before the end of the day? That, to me, is a sign that you need to do something to look after your own wellbeing.”
The benefits of taking time to completely clear your mind are tangible: “You’ll be able to think of extra solutions to problems you haven’t thought of before. You’ll be a lot more driven when you do go back to work, and a lot more focused on getting all the other stuff done.”
Chris acknowledges the irony that he sometimes struggles to follow his own advice. “A lot of people in this room, and I’m no exception, struggle to follow their own advice sometimes. We’re constantly going and think ‘I don’t have time to do something like that, because I’ve got all these other things to do.’ But you don’t realize spending an hour doing nothing for yourself is really important, because it allows you to do everything else that much better.”
Addressing the Fears
For those intrigued but concerned about potential claustrophobia, Chris has practical advice. The key is understanding that customers remain in complete control.
“The tanks are a lot bigger than people are expecting,” he reassures. “We always encourage them: if you are more comfortable with the lid wide open, leave it like that. If you feel more comfortable with the lights on, leave it like that. Always do what’s most relaxing to you, and don’t feel like you’ve got to rush in and do it a certain way.”
For the truly hesitant, Chris offers a simple solution: “If you’re ever in Altrincham again, pop into the spa and just ask to see a float tank. Nine times out of ten, when people do see a tank for the first time, it helps ease a lot of those fears. ‘Oh, actually, I’m in control. The lid doesn’t close by itself. Oh, it’s a lot bigger than I thought it would be.'”
Even with these reassurances, first-time floaters often need time to adjust. “It can be quite normal during people’s first floats to take maybe the first 15, maybe up to 20 minutes, to fully relax, just with it being such an unusual environment. You’ll find a lot of people actually concentrate on thinking about the float itself, and you have to wait until it becomes more of a boring environment for your brain not to pay attention and be able to switch off and relax.”
Leading by Example
Running a float spa hasn’t diminished Chris’s own appreciation for the therapy – quite the opposite. “I float more than I used to,” he admits, crediting the obvious benefit of getting it free.
He’s developed a routine of floating about once a week, finding that longer gaps lead to unnecessary stress over minor issues. “I find if I leave it more than about two weeks, little things in life that shouldn’t stress me out or irritate me do, and I kind of step back and be like, ‘Why did that matter? It’s only a small thing. Oh, I just haven’t had a float in a while.'”
Outside of floating, Chris maintains a refreshingly honest perspective on relaxation: “When I’m just at home, I’m a bit of a couch potato. I’m going to be honest. You’ll see me just watching documentaries on YouTube or playing computer games.”
Expanding the Offering
While flotation remains the core service, Zero Gravity has evolved its offering over the years. The massage services, introduced three to four years ago, have become integral to the business model, with all therapists providing personalized, bespoke sessions rather than following fixed routines.
Looking ahead, the team is launching a corporate wellbeing service – an exciting development that could significantly expand their reach. “We’re basically pitching to businesses to send over a therapist or two to help work on the staff,” Chris explains. “Just short little 15, 20-minute, 30-minute sessions, whatever suits the business.”
The business case for corporate services is compelling: “A lot of your staff will also be stressed. They’ll be burnt out. When they’re in that state, they’re not going to be as productive. They might find themselves wasting little bits of time just not knowing where to start with the next task, or not thinking of good solutions to problems that they’ve got.”
The service is designed to be flexible, adapting to each business’s specific requirements in terms of session length, duration, space, and number of employees. It also serves as an introduction to their main services: “It gives you all a taster of what we offer at the spa, which is obviously part of the reason why we’re very interested in offering it.”
For businesses struggling to encourage office attendance in the post-COVID world, such services provide an additional incentive for employees to come in, offering something valuable they can’t get while working from home.
The Floating Future
Seven years in, with nearly 50,000 sessions completed and a loyal customer base that includes people traveling from as far as North Wales, Blackpool, Leeds, and Liverpool, Zero Gravity Float Spa has established itself as more than just a local business – it’s become a regional destination.
The success story speaks to several broader trends: the growing focus on mental health and wellness, the demand for unique experiences over material purchases, and the value of building a business around genuine customer care rather than quick profits.
Chris’s journey from uncertain engineering graduate to successful wellness entrepreneur also demonstrates the value of taking time to find your true calling, even if it takes a decade of working in fast food to get there. Those years at Nando’s, initially seen as marking time, ultimately provided the foundation skills needed for his current success.
As Altrincham continues to evolve and attract new businesses, Zero Gravity Float Spa remains a perfect example of how independent businesses can thrive by offering something genuinely different, delivered with authentic care and attention to customer experience.
For Chris, the satisfaction comes not just from business success, but from knowing they’re making a real difference in people’s lives – one float at a time. “Most people, when they come out, will feel physically refreshed and mentally just super chilled out,” he says. In our always-on, constantly connected world, that’s a service that’s only becoming more valuable.
Whether you’re a stressed business owner who never switches off, someone dealing with chronic pain, or simply curious about trying something completely different, Zero Gravity Float Spa offers a unique escape just minutes from Altrincham town center. As Chris discovered all those years ago when Simon first convinced him to try floating, sometimes the best discoveries are the ones you never saw coming.
For more info on Zero Gravity Float Spa check out
https://zerogravityfloatspa.com/
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With over 60 attendees, Smiley Happy People continues to be a standout networking event in Altrincham, bringing together inspiring speakers like Chris who share their real-world insights and practical advice. A big thank you to Chris for his engaging talk, and to all the attendees who make these events so impactful!
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