OLD Town is to be the new home of Swindon’s blossoming fitness community as a brand new gym opened in Hooper’s Place today.

Staff from Anytime Fitness met with South Swindon MP Robert Buckland to cut the ribbon before the brand new state of the art facility was officially opened to the public at lunchtime.

General manager Elliot Pether said: “It’s such a huge relief to get it open and we are all very excited to be here.

“There is a big emphasis on health and fitness in Swindon and it’s great to be a part of it.

“We have a lot of equipment here – you name it we do it. We don’t really have a niche and we try not to pigeon hole ourselves. We are not specialists for body builders or cardio junkies, we like to think we offer something for everyone.”

The 24-hour gym took 12 weeks to build and Elliot is thrilled to be able to open just in time to help fulfill those New Year’s resolutions.

He said: “December is a good time to open. It’s generally a quiet month so it will give us plenty of time to make sure we get everything right before it gets busy in January.”

Liam Dixon, from Wood Street sports store Run Swindon, was very excited to see the new gym open its doors in his own backyard.

“It’s great that they are here,” he said.

“There is a huge running and fitness community in Swindon and I think they will be a very important part of it.

"We hope to have a really good working relationship and I’m very excited to see them joining us here in Old Town.”

After dispensing with his ribbon cutting duties, MP Robert Buckland said: “I am delighted that Anytime Fitness has chosen a central location in Old Town for its brand new facility. Keeping fit and healthy is very important to a lot of people in Swindon and I am very pleased to say that we have this facility here in Old Town to help support that.”

Membership costs £36.95 per month and for more information visit www.anytimefitness.co.uk