THE boss of Ruskin Drive has welcomed the government U-turn allowing the reopening of gyms in the region.

Ruskin Fitness Club’s newly renovated gym had to close two days after it had been launched due to the Tier Three coronavirus restrictions last week.

The Star reported earlier this year that Ruskin Fitness Club underwent a £1m transformation.

The refurbishment, which was brought forward and done over the lockdown, formed part of "a bigger vision to bring a whole new holistic health and wellbeing offer to Ruskin", said operations director Stephen Palfrey.

St Helens Star:

It was announced earlier this week that gyms in St Helens and the region can reopen again following a climbdown by the government.

The closure had caused anger among gym owners in the region and frustration as other regions under Tier Three were permitted to keep fitness facilities open.

Gyms can open in the region from today (Saturday, October 24).

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Mr Palfrey said: “It’s great news that the government has realised that it was treating gyms and leisure centres in the Liverpool City Region differently to those in Lancashire and Greater Manchester.

“Gyms should never have been closed as there was no evidence or scientific data to back up their closing. Transmission was evidenced to be low from gyms and the fact that maintaining a healthy lifestyle is so important to people’s physical and mental well being, it should never have got to the point that it did.”

St Helens Star:

He added: “We are grateful to the Liverpool City Region leaders and our own council leader, David Baines for listening to the facts and lobbying hard on behalf of not only the gyms but local residents.

“We’re now looking forward to showing people the investment we’ve made and hopefully they can see what a great addition to St Helens the new club is.”