Former Wetherspoon's pub in Rayne's Park to reopen as 24-hour gym
A former Wetherspoon's pub in South London is set to be replaced by a new 24-hour gym. The pub in Raynes Park was once the cheapest place for a pint in the area before it closed its doors in 2021.
The former site of the Edward Rayne pub in Coombe Lane will be replaced by a Snap Fitness gym complex later this year. The new three-story gym will feature different areas and equipment, including what the operator describes as a state-of-the-art recovery area with a sauna, massage guns and recovery boots.
Snap Fitness, which has over 100 sites across the UK, will also offer gym goers large-screen treadmills equipped with wireless phone charging and access to Netflix.
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The facility will have a free weights area that includes six squat racks. The gym plans to offer group exercise classes as part of its membership, with two dedicated studios for members - a general group exercise studio and a spin studio.
The gym, which Snap hopes will open between the Christmas and New Year period, will fill the vacant unit that has sat empty for three years, and attracted graffiti from the renowned street artist Nathan Bowen.
According to the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), the reason for closure in 2021 came after JD Wetherspoon handed its lease back after it expired in March of that year. The freeholder subsequently sold the property to someone who was not a pub operator.
The Edward Rayne opened in 2006 on the site of a former Co-op supermarket just minutes away from Raynes Park station. It was named after a 19th-century farmer whose estate was used to build the modern Raynes Park suburb around the station.
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