A Nottingham gym facing “the fight of its life” has been boosted by a major membership and day-visit surge, as it continues to battle with developers over the future of the venue.
Established in 1981, Castle Gym on Caste Boulevard has looked after the health and wellbeing of its members for over 40 years and was seeing a return to pre-pandemic popularity this year.
Sadly, that recovery is now under threat after owner Luke Willmott confirmed rumours that the site has been sold by developers who then reneged on initial plans to keep the gym at the site.
However, as news of the battle reached the local community, Luke says that membership enquiries have risen over 25%, whilst day visits have doubled.
“It is incredible to feel this groundswell of support to be honest,” said Luke.
“We know we have a very loyal customer base as we’re more of a community gym with a ‘tribe’ of followers, not just a room full of steel. We’ve had to be very clear with the membership requests that we don’t know what the future holds but that hasn’t been an issue as we can offer flexible rates and the day visits have gone through the roof.
“That has been a combination of new faces coming to train and some folk we’ve not seen in a while, as a lot of people switched to training at home in the pandemic. It is great to have them here and really heartening to have their backing as this is a really challenging time for us all, logistically, financially and most of all, emotionally.”
Whilst membership and visitor numbers are bright, the future is still clouded as Luke continues to work behind the scenes with the developers to find a best way forward for everyone.
“The battle continues,” says Luke. “I’ve had a lot of supportive messages from the local fitness and business community which has buoyed us all and I will fight tooth and nail to secure the future of the gym in some form. What form that takes remains to be seen.
“That takes a lot of careful planning and consideration and is not something I will be railroaded into by anyone, let alone a developer from outside of the city who is just seeing a yield opportunity on a site that has been here for four decades serving the local community.”
