Brighton seafront gym forced to close

A gym on Brighton seafront has been forced to close so that major structural engineering works can take place to shore up the promenade above it.

Riptide, which opened in 1996 and was based in King’s Road Arches, closed to customers last Sunday (5 May) and is due to vacate the premises tomorrow (Monday 13 May).

Brighton and Hove City Council is working with the gym to try to find a new base and the owners are setting up a Riptide Boot Camp operation.

A notice on the Riptide website apologised for the gym’s closure and said: “This follows a very recent notice and negotiation between solicitors on behalf of Riptide, the council and highways this last week.

“The action we have been instructed to take is due to the conclusion from an assessment commissioned by Brighton and Hove Council, with regard to the super structures giving support to the highway (only at 150-154 King’s Road Arches) which are close to limits of their capacity to bear the load of pedestrian use of the footway and may not be capable of bearing the weight if a vehicle were to accidentally mount the footway.

“The instruction and assessment asks us to appreciate that this presents a serious risk of danger to both users of the premises and highway and that the council is under duty to take this action to ensure the safety of both users of the highway and of the premises itself.

“The council are then due to enter the premises and carry out ‘propping up’ and remedial work, which makes the premises unusable yet the structure safe.

“No more direct debits are due to be taken with immediate effect.

“The council are assisting us in a full relocation. This may be a few months.

“We have a location to run Riptide Boot Camp and will have this website and location up and running by mid May.”

The website will be at www.riptidebootcamp.co.uk.