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Visitors to a long-awaited 24-hour gym will have their temperatures checked before being able to enter.
Snap Fitness in Herne Bay was due to welcome members through its doors towards the end of March – but the plans had to be pushed back following the outbreak of coronavirus.
The all-day facility neighbouring the Sainsbury’s superstore in Altira Business Park will instead start running at 10am today.
Operations manager Sacha Marinus says all of the equipment will be separated by more than two metres and that the only items removed from the gym have been a tyre and weighted sled.
“The club itself is the biggest Snap in the UK, so we’ve been able to distance machines and not have to put plastic screens up between them,” she explained.
“Members will need to arrive with a face mask on and sanitise their hands at the door. They’ll have a temperature check prior to entering the club.
“It’s just so that when people come in, they know that anyone else in the gym has also had their temperature checked and are okay.”
As they enter, they will also have to agree to a variety of conditions, including having to wipe down equipment before and after each use.
Once inside, users will be left to choose whether to train with their masks on.
The gym will be accepting 90 members for 90-minute sessions booked in advance.
“The booking system allows us, if somebody does show symptoms, to notify everyone who was in during that slot,” Ms Marinus said.
“After each of the slots we’ll have half an hour where we’ll go round and have a clean.
“On weekdays we’ll close for an additional hour during the day to have an external company do a deep clean of the club.”
Snap’s proposals to open the business in the 1,000 sq m space were given the go-ahead in March last year.
The US firm, which has about 70 similar centres in the UK, is renting the site from Sainsbury’s.
Ms Marinus says the Broomfield gym will also have massage therapists and chiropractors working out of treatment rooms once coronavirus restrictions ease further.
“It’s a gym where you can get on any piece of kit that you want,” she added.
“We’ve had a few people who have been waiting for us for a long time and been very eager to get in. We want people to come in here, feel welcome and make friends.”
