Photos of strongmen decorate the bare brick walls above frames full of gold medals - blackened by the passage of time. Men and women with flexed muscles and puffed cheeks, straining to push huge iron dumbbells over their heads, have been a familiar sight at the legendary Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club for a century.
But those grunts and groans seem even more determined today. For the drafty hall in the heart of London’s East End - probably the oldest powerlifting club in the country - is under threat. Established after the First World War in a nearby building to give soldiers something to do, the world renowned club has produced hundreds of champions and legendary lifters.
Today, however, its members are preparing for a contest like no other - against being evicted from the building on January 31, by its owner Tower Hamlets Borough Council. No reason was given to end the life of the 99-year-old club - a community-run non-profit organisation - which now has a petition going to save it. But, amid the clatter of weights and machines in the gym tonight, there is a united resolve not go down without a fight.
Head coach Martin Bass points to some of the pictures on the walls, as he tells The Mirror: “Thousands of people have passed through this gym in the last 100 years and some have written their names in the history of weightlifting. “It’s the people who have made this place. There are gyms with much better opportunities, but this one is known around the world.
