Historic east London weightlifting club fears for future as gym approved for demolition

The historic Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club is set to be demolished after council-backed redevelopment plans were approved by elected officials.

Tower Hamlets Council intends to rehouse the facility, freeing up its present location for residential housing and a brand new library.

The local authority, led by the Aspire Party, has offered assurances that the club will not be required to relocate until a "suitable" alternative venue has been found.

Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club has been at its current gym in Turin Street and Bethnal Green Road since 1927, situated inside the council-owned Professional Development Centre.

The council wants to demolish the centre and replace it with a library and 44 homes, including 24 for social rent. The club was told in 2024 that is lease would not be extended.

The Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club has been operating for more than 100 years

Tom Ruff

Councillors considered whether to grant planning permission at a development committee hearing on Thursday.

Eleanor Smith, representing the club, told councillors: “We’ve been part of Tower Hamlets for 100 years and we’re asking for your help to stay part of it.

“This is not a commercial gym – we’re a registered charity run by volunteers.”

Ms Smith said club members included “school children and people in their 70s”, “disabled athletes including Paralympic medallists”, “ex-service men and women rebuilding their lives”, “young women recovering from eating disorders” and “people suffering from depression who have found a coach-supported place to heal”.

She said that if relocated, the club would need a new long-term home because a “makeshift solution” would “quietly end us”.

She told councillors: “You have the chance to be the council that protected a hundred-year treasure of this borough and to be remembered for it.”

Council planning officers said the club had received a “significant level of community support” during a public consultation on the application.

Tower Hamlets Council wants to knock down the property Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club occupies to build houses and a new library

Tower Hamlets Council

They said London-wide and national planning policies protecting sports facilities meant the council would have to find an “equivalent or better” replacement.

Planning officers said this meant that “securing an alternative location for the weightlifting club is therefore fundamental to ensuring that the scheme is acceptable”.

Officials said the council and the club had yet to agree on a new location, but that “discussions are ongoing”.

A legal planning agreement would also ensure the building could not be demolished “unless and until suitable alternative accommodation has been made available”.

Tom Ruff, also representing the club, said any legal agreement should include a pledge to give the health outfit a lease on the new property of at least 15 years and “on terms no worse than today”.

Members at work inside the Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club gym

Charlotte Macaulay

Mr Ruff said the club should also have a say in relocation plans. He asked the committee not to approve the application until these protections were included.

The officer in charge of the scheme, Geoff Pearce, said the council “values” the weightlifting club, and had found an alternative site in nearby Tent Street.

However, he said the council would have to be “careful” about agreeing to the questions Mr Ruff had requested regarding the lease terms to ensure the authority abides by its policies on letting properties to voluntary and community organisations.

Mr Pearce said the council was “clear” that “an equivalent facility in terms of usable space will be provided”.

He continued by saying that the “costs of relocation will be met by the council”, and that the new space would be ready before demolition.

Councillors voted to approve the application, with four in favour and two against.