The PureGym in Highgate Studios

PRESSURE is mount­ing on office block developers in Kentish Town to keep a gym on the site.

The PureGym in Highgate Studios and a nearby car park is set to face the bulldozer, along with a nearby car park under plans submitted to the Town Hall by Hondo Enterprises.

Officials are currently mulling over planning consent for a large office block, but regular users of the gym say it is an important facility for the neighbourhood.

India Foster, from Kentish Town, said it “would be a bit of a nightmare” if the gym were to close because she uses it “literally every day”, adding: “I’m there all the time, we’re such a community. It’s residential, it’s chilled, it’s not like people popping in and out like in the city. Everyone is from this area.

“I’d be really upset. It’s what I use as my escapism from work. When I work from home I go in my lunch hour; when I’m in the office, I go after or before. Where I live in Kentish Town, it’s in the perfect space for me. I can access it easily.”

Jonathan Porter, who lives in Fortess Road, said he would also be “gutted” if the gym was demolished, adding he relies on it to get out the house while working from home. “It’s important for me because I can get here easily,” he said. “I’d start thinking: ‘where can I go in my lunch hour?’”

Daniel Lee, who lives a 10-minute walk from the gym, said he uses it four or five times a week.

“There aren’t many options, especially servicing those on lower income levels,” he said.
“There’s no contract here – they don’t try to tie you down, which is good, especially if you have a transient population.”

And another user, Zoe Brown. said the gym was “an important part of the community,” adding: “Like we need another office block.”

Kentish Town North councillor James Slater said: “I personally think the best way to get a solution here is to make sure it’s put in as a condition to the planning application.

“If they are awarded planning, then having a condition which says there needs to be an affordable gym as part of the building ensures a low-cost gym would be there well into the future and protect that asset for the community.

“We’re talking a lot about public health, we’re talking a lot about improving physical activity and things, but having an affordable gym in an area which does have considerable deprivation around it, we really need to make sure we keep some provision for affordable activity like that.”

Cllr Slater urged people who are concerned about the proposals to submit their comments to the council before the application is heard by the planning committee.

The Highgate Studios site complex is owned by Hondo Enterprises, a company run by the wealthy Texan DJ, Taylor McWilliams.

It is the company behind the controversial redevelopment of Brixton Market in south London.

Although plans for a gym are yet to be submitted to the council, a spokesperson for Hondo Enterprises told the New Journal this week that it plans to keep a gym on site and is in an “ongoing dialogue” with PureGym about remaining at Highgate Studios.