A new community gym has opened inside a 116-year-old church only 10 days after the previous facility in the village closed.

Hoppers Gym, in Badsell Road, Five Oak Green, opened its doors on May 13 inside the Capel United Church.

The directors, Josh King and Paul Keepax, had both worked as self-employed personal trainers at Body Mission at Capel Gym up until its closure on May 3.

Only 10 days later they launched their new venture with the help of project manager Rosy King, and many other members of the community, after deciding it would be devastating to lose a gym in the area.

Rosy, 29, said: “There’s such a good community spirit in Capel and everybody was heartbroken when Capel Gym announced it was closing because it was sort of the hub of the village.

“The village has lost a lot of its amenities - there’s no pub anymore and there’s a shop but that’s about it, so everyone relied on the gym.”

Despite countless hours and late nights, husband and wife Josh and Rosy say the idea was “motivated by the community”.

Josh, 31, from Horsmonden said: “We had a really good thing that couldn’t carry on so rather than everyone go their separate ways, we wanted to change it and put our own stamp on it.

“Although we’ve taken over the premises, the church is still active so we are using it in tandem with the church.

“It will still be running bible sessions out of the church and one of our aims was to bring the two communities together.”

They couple say the project was inspired by the existing clientele, who they hoped could transition over to the new gym, as well as luring people from Paddock Wood, Tonbridge and surrounding areas with the pull of free car parking.

Paul Keepax, director at Hoppers Gym, says the exercise business came to be in a church because there were limited options in a small village, while coincidentally the church was looking to do something with the facility.

He said: “To start with we didn’t have any money at all, we just had an idea, but after speaking with the community members about the prospective gym more than 40 people volunteered to pay one year’s membership each to get the project up and running.”

Thanks to these funds the new gym owners were able to repurchase the kit from Capel Gym and transport it to the new facility.

Rosy, from Horsmonden, said: “It’s been a massive operation – we’ve set up a website, leaflets, bought email domains, people moving the kit, transporting equipment, specialist flooring put in, buying materials.

“We’ve revamped it with paint and new flooring and have been building it up from there.”

In the run-up to opening, the team say members of the community took an active role in painting and getting the facilities ready.

“It’s been so exciting to see so many people come through the door to help and the fact people can see the value of it,” Rosy said.

Paul Kavanagh, personal trainer and class instructor at Hoppers Gym, said: “The vision is to expand our membership and try and get as many people as possible from the local community to join up.

“We have a wide range of classes, so we are trying to encourage everybody of all ages and fitness levels to join the gym.”

The King’s Head pub in Five Oak Green, which is believed to have first opened in 1823, has been closed since 2017.

Revd Dr Jeremy Ive said the project was mutually beneficial to both the church and the community, and said Sunday service will continue to take place at Five Oak Green church on rotation with two others.

The church, which is a partnership between the Church of England and the United Reformed Church, worships at All Saints’ Church, Tudeley, which has stained-glass windows by Marc Chagall, as well as Five Oak Green Church and St Thomas a Becket Church in Capel.

The stained glass windows at All Saints’ Church attract visitors from all over the world.

The Capel United Church is not the only religious building to get a different lease of life. There are five other churches in Kent which have been turned into gyms, pubs, homes and more.

It was originally the Congregational Church in Five Oak Green and was built in 1908 thanks to a gift of land from Mr and Mrs Holman of Capel Grange. The building is dedicated to them.

In a statement from the church it said: “As an inter-denominational partnership, we have been exploring the best use of all of our buildings in the most sustainable way, given that we as one congregation worship all together at one of our buildings each Sunday in rotation through the month.”

It also added it had conducted an online survey asking the local community how best to make use of each church building which elicited a response from Capel Gym which had to move out its current venue.

“Bringing these two situations together, we as Capel United Church have reached an agreement, initially for a year, for the gym to move into Five Oak Green church building, with its equipment in the central area, and a side hall for more flexible use by both the gym and the church.

“Capel United Church continues the use of its upstairs office, with the kitchen and coffee lounge downstairs, on the other side of the building.

“This is part of an exciting process of outreach to and cooperation with our local community and fits in with the mission and vision of both of our denominations.”

Rosy said: “We want to make something good out of what could have been a really sad situation.

“It’s very much a community-led project – it’s open to all and we want people to join the family.”

Hoppers gym, which can be found on Instagram @hoppersgym, is open from 6.30am-8pm Monday to Friday, as well as open from 7am-2pm on Saturday and 7am-1pm on Sunday and Bank Holidays.

It offers personal training, as well as daily classes such as yoga and pilates.

It includes classes by Sophie Spackman, a personal trainer and fitness instructor who runs HIIT, pilates and circuit training, while Katie May Tracy teaches Hatha and Vinyasa yoga.