A gym in Cheltenham has been given the green light by council planners to be converted into self-storage units following a drop-off in membership. With planning permission now granted, Welcome Gym on Grosvenor Terrace will close in a matter of months.
The space occupied by the gym will be taken over by the only other business at the location. StoreAway Self Storage, which will convert the remaining gym space into further storage units. An exact date for the closure has not been given, but it is expected the health and fitness space will close by the beginning of autumn.
Located underneath the Town Centre East Car Park, the gym has struggled to maintain financial viability over the past three years and repeated attempts to get other gym operators or retailers to take over the site were unsuccessful. After 22 years of use as a fitness centre, Cheltenham Borough Council has agreed for the use of the site to change to self-storage.
Steve Bradley, the operations manager for Welcome Gym, said in the application: “I am afraid we will need to call time on our operation soon and in my opinion the proposed change of use offers the best use of the space, otherwise I can see the property becoming vacant and derelict.”
The change of use received broad support from public bodies, with Environmental Health attaching conditions around operating hours in the interests of nearby residents. These will limit the hours the storage units can be used to between 7.30am and 9pm, Monday to Saturday, and between 8am and 8pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays.
After a public consultation, the application only received one objection from residents, which demanded no extension in opening hours and cited fears that additional road use could damage the highway. In their comment, Gloucestershire Highways stated that the change of use from a gym would see fewer vehicles using the Grosvenor Terrace location.
StoreAway Self Storage have made no application to add new signs to the building or any external alterations as part of the expansion, with their already existing business taking over an additional 1100 square metres on the ground floor of Town Centre East Car Park, and a further 674 square metres on the soon-to-be former gym’s mezzanine level.
