Gym vows it will not be defeated as Tier 4 restrictions shut doors

Jack Johnson at Phoenix Fitness announced the gym's plans to keep members moving last night.

"As soon as we got the news we had a staff meeting," he said. We now have to close our doors for two weeks. Yes it's terrible but we are going to fight it together.

"Outside gyms can stay open so every day we are going to run a boot camp outside.

"We are going to run classes online and zoom classes for everyone.

"We can do personal training sessions outside or online.

"By January 10-11 we will be back open again so it's positive.

"We're also going to finish the extension and get everything deep cleaned.

"We just have to get through these two weeks."

Over the festive period, gym members continued their charity work by supporting frontline workers who did not get time off.

"We found out how many staff were working over Christmas," said Jack. "Then we went to the hospital, lifeboat station, ambulance station, fire station and the police station and gave out around 350 presents, mainly brought by Phoenix and some members a brought them in also.

"The gifts were all sanitised and isolated for 48 hours before being distributed by us wearing masks and gloves."