Plans for city centre gym, restaurant and offices get green light

An iconic Nottingham gym that appeared to have closed its doors for the final time in December is set to be resurrected in a prominent city centre location.

Castle Gym owner Luke Willmott has has been granted planning permission to re-establish the gym – believed to be the oldest in the city – at the former Tales of Robin Hood building on Maid Marian Way.

A new restaurant and office space are also included in the plans.

The site, once home to one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions, has lain dormant since 2009 when its operator was forced to close due to rent problems.

Willmott told TheBusinessDesk.com in February: “This is a new project that I’m developing after having closed down the iconic Castle Gym last year. That was the end of an era. It is early days for this project and there are a lot of moving parts that we are managing but this might just be the first step in a new era for an incredible location in the heart of the city that really deserves an exciting future after too many years of being effectively mothballed.”

Castle Gym’s original site on Castle Boulevard was established in 1981. The gym enjoyed a return to pre-pandemic popularity last year, but in August, Willmott revealed it would be forced to close after the site was sold by developers who then reneged on plans to keep the gym in place.