Friday November 28th 2025
East Lothian Boxing Gym will have a new home in industrial estate on Haddington's Hospital Road
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
A bid to open a community gym in industrial units with the support of £250,000 of private funding has been given the go ahead by East Lothian planners.
Joe’s Gym, is central to a new facility planned by Haddington Community Interest Company (Haddy CIC) in its town, and is named after local businessman Joe Forte.
Haddy CIC, a non profit organisation run by volunteers with private donations, applied for planning permission to turn one of the main units on the site into the gym as part of plans to create a number of community facilities.
As well as the boxing gym, there are plans to create a men’s shed and multi use spaces in additional buildings on the leased land which can be used by community groups, arts events and other groups in need of premises.
Haddy CIC said the main gym will be home to East Lothian Boxing Club which is described as the ‘heart, lung and liver’ of the new facility.
The boxing club, which was founded in 2009, has not had a home for seven years.
In a statement to planning, the non profit organisation said the site has been secured by a ten year lease costing £250,000 which is “not from the
public purse but from private funding”.
They said: “The target audience includes those young people that struggle to be part of the mainstream. From past experience we know exactly how beneficial organisations like the Boxing Club can be for those individuals.
“The ambition of the Haddy CIC goes beyond the Boxing Club. The Boxing Club will be the heart, lungs and liver of the facility, which they intend to call Joe’s Gym, but the potential assistance that it can offer as a home for other groups is only limited by imagination.
“The name is chosen is an acknowledgement of the late Joe Forte, a stalwart of the town and a long time supporter of sport in East Lothian.”
Planners granted permission for a change of use from industrial building to gym to the applicants.
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