Two gym owners who are planning to open a new venue at Onchan Park have defended the scheme.

It comes after some residents in Onchan questioned whether there is a need for a new gym at the park which would take over the space which had been occupied by a children’s play area.

However, Danny Kane, who runs The Meadow Gym in Douglas with brother Joe, says youngsters will very much be a focus for the new facility.

The Dance and Fun Factory, which had welcomed families for around 15 years, closed after Christmas last year.

The premises is owned by Onchan Commissioners and has a varied history.

Before becoming The Dance and Fun Factory, the building was used as a squash centre.

A change of use application to turn the former play area into a gym has left some people non-plussed and questioning whether there is enough for kids to do in the area.

But Mr Kane has posted on Facebook to explain how kids will be welcomed at the new gym which focusses on children’s fitness.

He said: ‘You may have seen the post in here regarding a new gym going into the old jump zone building. This is a proposal from myself and my brother Joe at The Meadow.

‘We are a functional fitness gym that have been open for four years now and have helped hundreds of people in that time

‘Rather than a regular “commercial gym” as such, with a minimum 16+ membership - we are a class-based coaching service and have members aging from three all the way up to 75 years old.’

He also addressed concerns the gym would reduce the options for youngsters in the village.

He said: ‘A few comments have been made that this is taking away potential opportunities for children in the park. We would like to disagree with this and say that we offer the best product there is for kids' fitness on the island and see this as a great opportunity for us to do more good work.

‘Children are one of the main reasons for us wanting to expand to allow us to run more classes more frequently and, inevitably, help more children and adults be the best version of themselves

‘I’ve worked with various schools on the island and by end of 2025 want to be offering kids fitness to as many as we can, and this new space will allow that.

‘Also a few posts have mentioned antisocial behaviour of children and teens around Onchan recently - we hope giving them a place to let off steam in the right way would be a great way to combat this.’

Within the application, the current layout will remain with four separate rooms, but they will all form part of the gym. Within the plans, it does not identify what will be in each room.

The application suggests the opening times for the gym which would be 6am-7.30 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; 4pm-7pm on Wednesdays, 6am-11am on Saturdays and 9am-1pm on Sundays.

The application will be considered by the planning committee in due course.