'Big Al's Gym' finds new home in County Durham after sudden closure
A popular powerlifting gym that operated in a County Durham village for 35 years has found a new home after its sudden closure.
Big Al's Gym announced it was closing on New Year's Eve after decades of "putting the 'lead' into Leadgate".
But now Alan Turner, a powerlifting champion, has found a new home for his gym after a fellow gym owner from Stanley got in touch online to offer him space for his equipment.
Ricky Killeen, who owns Ruthless Fitness in Stanley, spoke to Mr Turner online after discovering that the gym was closing.
"I saw his post in the Leadgate Facebook group," Mr Killeen said.
"My gym is an old school gym like his and I wanted to support him."
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'Big Al' will become a trainer at Ruthless Fitness once his powerlifting equipment is in place at the new location and will be helping impart his knowledge about championship powerlifting. Mr Killeen said in a Facebook post advertising the merge that he was "the best in the game".
Mr Turner's equipment is moving to the gym on Stanley Front Street over the next few weeks and will be up and running from the middle of January.
"I'm gutted that it's come to this," Mr Turner said. The gym was forced to close after the lease came to an end.
"But I'm happy now [the gym has a new home].
"We had resigned to the fact that we were going to have to close.
"It's just a shame we can't keep it in Leadgate."
Ricky Killeen runs a YouTube channel alongside his gym where he has more than 80,000 subscribers.
