PureGym has submitted a planning application to Havering Council to convert the former Carpetright store in Southend Arterial Road (A127) into a gym.
The proposed development includes a main gym area, studio, free weights area, spin area and functional zone.
There would also be changing rooms and shower facilities provided, alongside separate staff areas, and the 37 parking spaces currently on the site would be kept.
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According to the planning documents, each PureGym site typically creates up to 15 full and part-time jobs for the area.
In line with other gyms in the chain, the site is proposed to open for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
This allows the gym to be “accessible to all members of the community”, the planning statement says, including those who work shifts and key workers.
The planning statement concluded that the new PureGym would “create new jobs, increase the range of affordable and accessible health and fitness facilities and contribute to the health and wellbeing of the local community”.
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Carpetright has been vacant since the business went into administration in 2024, although planning permission was granted – and not implemented – for the redevelopment of the site into a storage facility in June 2024.
Havering Council is expected to make a decision on the plans by September 19.
If approved, it would be the third PureGym in Havering – joining sites in The Brewery, Romford, and Hornchurch High Street.
