Dewars Gym proving more popular than when facilities were at Bell's Sports Centre

Daily Record

29-04-2025

More people are using the gym and fitness studios at Dewars Centre than when they were at Bell's Sports Centre. Almost 100,000 visits have been made to the 100+ station gym and two fitness studios at Dewars, since they were moved there last September following the closure of Bell's. A total of 4358 different customers from the age of 11 to 90 have used the facilities in their new venue. The latest Live Active Leisure figures show there have been 98,725 visits to the gym and fitness studios at Dewars since September 2024. And they are proving popular with youngsters with 24 per cent of customers aged just 11-17 and 10 per cent over the age of 64. Live Active Leisure chief executive Paul Cromwell provided an update to Perth and Kinross Council's Scrutiny and Performance Committee on Wednesday, April 23. He said: "On average, we're looking at 16,000 usages per month. These are really positive for us, given we were starting at a renewed baseline because we had a gap in that Perth City fitness provision over quite a number of months. And they're on target to exceed the figures we achieved when the new fitness facilities opened at Bell's." And a number of future and current Olympic and Commonwealth athletes have been making use of the gym and fitness facilities. Mr Cromwell said: "We have emerging athletes programmes and we have over 40 athletes receiving strength and conditioning training to help them in their sports. Their sports include: hockey, curling, basketball, swimming, judo, football and athletics, to name but a few." He later added: "The fact we have got better numbers of what was a really good facility at Bell's gives us a clear reflection that people are enjoying the facilities." And Live Active is ready to adapt to meet trends and demands. The Live Active boss said: "It doesn't stand still. It's a competitive area and what we are doing is continually looking at our programme and developing it. "It's not just a fitness gym, we also have group fitness; we have different types of class within that group programme - and make sure they stay current and innovative and interesting to keep people coming back. "We have wellbeing classes and spinning. I have to say our spinning was quieter at Bell's but since it's moved to Dewars, it's actually increased in its popularity to the point where we're having to make additional provisions in terms of how we balance the programme against other things. Overall, so far, it's been a positive experience for us." The gym and fitness studios were relocated to Dewars Centre in September 2024 after Bell's Sports Centre suffered around £2 million of flood damage on October 8, 2023 when floodgates on the North Inch were left open. The 100+ station gym and fitness studios at Bell's had only just opened in July 2022 following a £750,000 revamp.