A new 24-hour gym is opening up in the centre of Southend, as investment into the town continues to grow.

Anytime Fitness, which also has branches in Chelmsford, Harlow, and Colchester, will invest £700,000 into moving into Maitland House, in Chichester Road, in December.

The move will create 10 jobs as it moves into the unit vacated by Chinese buffet Wok’n’Grill, which moved out in June 2013.

It means that gym users can flex their muscles even during the small hours, with the facility manned 24 hours by staff, with the franchise looking to appeal to the shift-worker and student market.

The club’s owner, Chelan Patel, said: “We really liked the area, with Southend really up and coming, so it seemed perfect to open up here.

“The town has got a lot of development coming into it and we wanted to be part of that.

“The gym will offer state of the art strength training and cardiov equipment, along with a training studio and an onsite physiotherapist. We look forward to being the number one fitness club in the area.”

Monthly memberships will likely be priced between £30 to £35, and they will be given a special security access key to enter and exit the building anytime.

The first 100 people to sign up will get a discounted monthly membership of £24.99.

Mr Patel added: “Anytime Fitness knows that people want the freedom and accessibility of services right when they need them, and this innovative thinking has led to its popularity.”

The firm has said it will make sure the gym is staff and secure in the middle of the night.

It will have a ‘big’ free weights area, spin classes, and bathrooms and shower facilities for gym users.

The Anytime Fitness brand has got 2,916 clubs worldwide, including dozens across the country.

 

Little demand for the unit

Major food outlets and retailers all declined moving into Maitland House because of its location and competition with Southend’s High Street.

Sorrell and Prime Retail were instructed to find a new tenant for the 5,000 square foot unit in 2014.

Despite heavy advertising and offering it to all the big names, they declined.

Peter Alabaster, commercial manager of letting agents Sorrell, said: “ We know from our extensive marketing and feedback from viewings that the above property is no longer suited to retailers due to the number of competing units in the High Street and the hot food users do not think their business can perform in this location.

“However, it is certainly suitable for a leisure operator which will provide another service to the public as the demand is certainly there.”

Southend Council’s planners gave permission to turn it from a restaurant into a leisure facility earlier this week.