A gym instructor who has worked at a local gym in Carlton for more than eight years is worried about its customers' wellbeing as it is due to close on May 29th. With staff at the gym being made redundant, his main concern is for the loyal customers who, for some, has been the only gym they’ve ever been to.
K.K Sports and Leisure Centre on 272 Carlton Road was bought by Oxford Business College last year in 2021. The gym has been open since 2006 and currently has five members of staff. Many customers are saddened and frustrated by the announcement of the closure with staff saying that they’re concerned about customer’s mental health once the gym closes.
"This gym is more of a community, they aren’t customers," said 30-year-old instructor Kyle Smith from Nottingham who has worked at the gym for more than eight years. There’s about 60 loyal ones who keep us afloat. I come on Sundays - my day off - just to talk to people; if I didn’t have this place, I don’t think I’d have made it through my personal struggles.”
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Kyle lost his young son two years ago to brain cancer. Staff, his manager and customers were all there to support him as he coped with the loss.
Kyle said: “My manager was amazing, she helped me through everything. Saying the word ‘customers’ is foreign to me because of the amount of support I got was through the roof, they are my family.”
He said it was unclear why the decision was made to close the gym, which had charged customers £20 a month. “The people who train here to just get away from life, it [the gym’s closure] will hit them, people who suffer from mental health who just come in for a chat sometimes won’t have that comfort any more," he said.
"Everyone here has been beaten down since finding out we’re closing, everyone’s frustrated. The idea of going to work will be new to me, we obviously work here and do our job but it doesn’t feel like it.”
He said staff at the gym go out of their way for their customers as they don’t charge for nutritional guides compared to other gyms. That part of the service is all free and staff don’t profit from it.
Kyle said: “We’re not a franchise but we know who we are once we come through the door, we’re here for people. There’s been certain maintenance work around the facility that we’ve pushed to get fixed but it’s a dead end.”
Even though the gym has needed maintenance work being done, Kyle recalled a time when the gym had no water or heating. A customer who happened to be a plumber sorted it all, free of charge.
Med Guerbuouy, 29-years-old is a boilerman from Carlton. Med has used the gym for around 10 and a half years. He said: “It’s a shame. It’s taking the community away.
“This gym is on my doorstep and no matter what you look like or what religion you are, you’re accepted. This is a community gym and everyone’s nice, they’re all sound.”
The Oxford Business College have taken over the gym.
Their spokesperson said: "Oxford Business College has been a highly respected and responsible independent higher education institution from Oxford. Recently it has been witnessing a good growth especially in Nottingham.
"Keeping the number of students, the existing infrastructure has to be expanded. The gym located at the college campus has not been closed permanently. Keeping the education needs and future of more than 2000 students in view, Oxford Business College has planned to move it from its present location.
"It is considering to upgrade, refurbish and restart the gym in near future. All the existing staff of the gym have already been offered jobs at the College, which many of them accepted."
