INDEPENDENT gyms in Flintshire and Wrexham have welcomed the news that they will be allowed to reopen their doors within a week.

The First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, made the public announcement on July 31 that indoor gym facilities should prepare to reopen their workout spaces on August 10 – should conditions continue to allow it.

The news was met with open arms by most local owners who are counting down the days and preparing to reopen to members after being closed to the public since March.

Karen Turton, who is co-owner of Tribe Fitness on Flint’s Church Street, said she was ‘delighted’ to welcome back their members.

She said: “We are all operation go for Monday (10th). It cannot come soon enough, and we are absolutely delighted that it came this quickly because we were thinking that it may have been a little while longer that we had to stay shut.

“We put a lot of precautions in place to keep members safe when they feel ready to return to us such as temperature taking of those coming in and everyone having to pre book a slot to come in. Our own track and trace system is robust for what we need it to be.

“Lots is done through our app already and we operate as a cashless business too, so those aspects were already in motion for us. We’ve reduced class sizes and marked the floor so to comply with social distancing too.”

Karen says the Tribe business team, formed last year, looked at lockdown as a positive experience and have thought about what they can do adaptation wise and how it has helped them grow further as a start-up business.

Ricky Nicholson, who also has a gym based in Flint, said he is ‘overjoyed’ at the news and that it has been ‘a long time coming’.

He said: “It has been a long four-and-a-half months with limited support from the Government which has been a little disappointing. It is a welcoming decision, but it is dependent on what restrictions we need to have in place.

“But, because England reopened sooner, people from Wales have been going across the border to exercise. We pride ourselves on giving that personal touch that corporate gyms cannot manage – we know our members faces and hope they’ll return and support local gyms in their community given the news today.”

Ricky said that the gym will be operating on restricted numbers allowed in and reduced sizes for the classes they run.

He adds that sanitising of equipment at Nicholson Kickboxing and Fitness was a priority pre-COVID for the gym, but cleaning regimes have been increased again.

He said: “As a gym, we should maintain high standards of hygiene anyway, it’s just common knowledge and practice within the industry. Equipment is cleaned and sanitised after each session already, but it will just be monitored a lot more closely and we hope that the public will have hygiene at the forefront of their minds – now more so than ever.

“We have to build up that public confidence to return to the gym – for their own physical and mental wellbeing – and that has to be done slowly, it won’t happen overnight.”

He added that there will be sanitiser throughout the building, staff will be ‘quadrupling’ their attention to hygiene in the gym and members are being told they must bring their own equipment they wish to use for exercise to minimize the risk of transmitting the virus potentially.

Over in Wrexham, independent owners are happy to receive a date but have concerns that local spikes in cases may deter people from returning – and possibly see the restriction on opening put back in their path.

Paul Newell, owner of Ruabon Fitness Centre, shared his delight at the news but also said he has worries that the local situation in Wrexham may spell trouble for the future.

He said the gym will have proper markings to maintain distance and sanitiser stations and cleanliness will be kept monitored as best as possible.

Speaking on Friday, he said: "It is essential that we open up. Big chains may have been able to cope but for small places like us we need to get back open as soon as we can - especially after months closed.

"It's fantastic that we've got a date but for me its come too late - I wish there was a level date with England as I've lost clients to gyms over the border.

"You've got to make the most of the situation though as, in truth, I didn't expect it to be the 10th - I thought it would be delayed further. Wrexham is undergoing a bit of a spike with the worst rates in the country right now so there's a lot of people thinking we'll get a local lockdown here."

Craig Hulme, the owner of Valhalla Gym, is one of many gym owners keen to reopen from the first day but said that, whilst the news was welcoming, expressed worries that opening behind England may result in clients lost to Welsh businesses.

He said: “It’s really good news that we’re now able to reopen as we’ve been closed since March 22. It is a long time to be out of business.

“The initial government support grants were quite generous but they only really covered up till July 1 so this month we’ve really been working from zero income. It could not have gone on a lot longer without a lot of smaller gyms across the country struggling.

“I spoke to a friend of mine that has a gym in Crewe to get an idea of what I need to have in place and getting some ideas. No two gyms will be the same based on the layout and number of people coming in so we are going to have to work it the best we can for our members – keeping people socially distanced and cleaning on a regular basis."

People will also be expected to use common sense and best judgement of their own to maintain that safety element when using the machines in the gym – but staff will work their best to ensure people comply with the COVID regulations.

He also mentioned the delay in Welsh gyms has also meant that some of his members have made use of facilities in England – where gyms were allowed to open on Saturday, July 25 – and worries that other gyms in border towns will face the same prospect.

He added: “Given our closeness to Chester and Oswestry some of our members have gone over the border and we will have to wait and see if they return.”