Anytime Fitness gym on Windsor Road in Penarth shut down abruptly earlier this month. A wine business nearby has applied to the Vale of Glamorgan Council for planning permission to take over the site.
Anytime Fitness gym is the only 24/7 gym in Penarth, with around a thousand members. Majestic Wine plans to move into this place. They say their new shop would create five jobs.
Gym members are unhappy with the closure. Some say the fitness facilities are important and it’s unnecessary to have one more wine shop in Penarth. Majestic Wine also has another site, which is only 6 minutes’ drive away from the gym.
Oliver Lewis is a member of Anytime Fitness. He says the gym fosters a sense of community. He and his family members live separately, and the gym is a good place for them to meet one another.
“We, me my partner, her brother, sister, quite a lot of our friends come here as well. So, for us, it’s a chance to see each other, we live in separate houses. So, for us to be able to come together to work out. The gym is really nice for us and I’m sure there’s a lot of people in the same kind of environment where it’s nice to come out and maybe see friends that they only see from the gym.”
Chair of Penarth Business Group, John Davies, says the opening of Majestic Wine creates unnecessary competition to other retailers. There are places like Hamptons, the bottle shop, and Foxy’s Deli, a cafe selling alcohol, that already meet the demand for alcohol in the area.
“This is devastating news for the town. There isn’t a comparable facility in Penarth that is open 24/7 and is free to come and leave as you want to. And it’s really important to have a gym, a fitness facility for a multitude of reasons, for physical health, for mental health. And this particular gym Anytime Fitness in Penarth has built up a community of people who are willing to support each other.”
Majestic Wine has submitted the application, and is awaiting the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s approval.