A GYM in Camden Town says it is closing due to “ongoing noise complaints and legal actions by local residents”.

Fitness First has been in Albert Street for 25 years, but residents who live in the flats above it say they have lived with noisy extractor fans and the thud of dumbbells hitting the ground.

They prepared a legal case and said noise breached council standards.

The gym was given six months to reduce noise levels, but the company has now said it will close on March 17, which is also when its 25-year lease comes to an end.

General manager of the Camden branch Oj Lyken said: “The residents moved into a space knowing what was below them. Every six months, someone would come in so the council would do something or measure this and check this and see if we’ve done this. So we did follow the court proceedings of what was advised.

“And then after each visit, then it was oh, you need to do something more. It was always something else to pay. There was always something else to add. Don’t do this and do that.”

He added: “One resident even barged into our club and tried to go to the electrical cupboard to look at what we should do to turn off an extractor fan. It was just never ending.

“Each court hearing that Fitness First was going to we had to pay the fine. Coming out of Covid, naturally we were not in any sort of way to be profitable as a business.”

Leaseholder Nicholas Ayre was involved in the court case. He is director of Atlantic House London Ltd and a property search agent who has previously worked on TV’s Location, Location, Location.

He found 15 of the residents paid £50,000 in court fees between them.

He said residents did not think they’d be able to hear the gym when they moved in, adding: “We don’t think we’re being unreasonable because we want to have peace and quiet and be able to sleep and not have that noise.”

Mr Ayre said the biggest problem was the extraction system from the changing room which opened out below people’s bedrooms and would start at 6.30am when the gym opened.

“In summer you want to have your windows open and you’ve got a fan that’s like white noise chewing away,” he said. “Camden is a noisy place. We know that. We don’t live in Camden because we think we’re living in the countryside.

“We accept that but it’s just endless. I’ve been in reception and it’s like ‘BANG’ when they drop the weights.”

One member who will be sad to see Fitness First go is Sally Mijit, who spent the past 20 years doing yoga and pilates classes there. She said she has made lifelong friends from the gym.

Ms Mijit said: “I live in Archway so I don’t live nearby, but I’ve kept going to Camden because of the community. Because it was a small gym it was very friendly. Some of us had been going there for absolutely years. We can find classes elsewhere, but we can’t find that community. So that’s what is very sad.”

Current Fitness First members have been automatically upgraded to other local branches for no additional costs. For anyone interested in joining, they should refer to their website.