Former Belfast bank branch to be transformed into gym

Energized Fitness, which is a personal fitness gym, is planning to open at the former Ulster Bank in Dunmurry, outside Belfast.

The business has been based close by at the Kingsway Shopping Centre, but the current lease is set to end soon.

“The nature of the building required for use as a gym is best suited to a single level floor space with an area between 100 sq m to 400 sq m, depending on the client base size of the gym business,” a supporting statement alongside a fresh planning has said.

Speaking about the plans, it says the gym offering in Belfast city centre is “largely served by the much bigger national brands and franchises”.

“This reflects the large catchment area presented by a city centre, supporting the view that such business in the centre need to be larger in scale to make them economically viable given the higher costs of operating a business in that location.

“Energized Fitness is a much smaller established business and therefore not suited or financially able to cope with the large city centre establishments. Arguably, Belfast city centre is potentially oversubscribed with large gyms at present.

“… the proposed premises being only 400m from the existing premises means that its local clientele should be easily maintained as the business would not be relocating too far. This is critical for small local business continuity.”