Members unite to save Covent Garden gym

Campaigners are trying to stop the sale of a 'low cost' community gym located in the heart of Covent Garden.

For more than 46 years, Jubilee Hall Gym has been run by a charitable trust, which last month gave notice to Westminster City Council of its intention to sell.

Gym users said they were concerned that if a sale went ahead, it would mean the end of a much-valued and affordable facility. An online petition has so far attracted more than 1,300 signatories.

The proposed sale follows the recent closure of central London's largest gym, in the nearby YMCA. Westminster City Council and the Jubilee Hall Trust have been approached for comment.

Noreen Rahman, 42, from Walthamstow, joined the gym because she works nearby.

She said it was like "nowhere I have been before".

"I didn't really know that this is what you call a community gym," she added.

"I'd been going to other gyms, but this has a different vibe to it completely... it has a more respectful atmosphere.

"I'd never done weight training before... but I can do it comfortably here. "

Since joining, she said her mental health has hugely improved and she is able to interact with people from different parts of London's community at the gym, who she would not normally have the opportunity to meet.

In December, the council designated the gym as an Asset of Community Value (AVC).

This special status means "a moratorium on the sale (of up to six months) can be invoked by the local community to give them the chance to raise finance, develop a business case and to make a bid to buy the asset on the open market".

Ms Rahman and other gym users held a public meeting on Wednesday evening to discuss the next steps.

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