“Dark nights, dark minds” – Westside Gym owner on why he has decided to stay open

James Fenton

“My partner put it best,” Simon Murphy of Westside Gym in Blanchardstown tells me. “Dark nights, dark minds.”

Simon is the owner of Westside Gym which is located just a stone’s throw away from the Blanchardstown Centre. Given the gym’s location in the populous west Dublin area, Simon is all too aware of the effect a winter lockdown can have on people’s mental health.

Westside Gym came to the attention of the public last night with an Instagram post which stated that they will not be closing their doors as per Level 5 instructions. In a lengthy post it was explained that ‘we must follow our heart on this one. Ultimately, we want to do whats best for our members and their mental health.’

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGkmte9A5Kv/

Simon expanded on this today by telling me that “gyms are vitally important to people who are affected by mental health issues. Suicide is something that has touched my close circle of friends and gyms can be an outlet for so many people.”

His depth of feeling about the issue was evident as he continued: “During the first lockdown back in March, we followed all the guidelines, we closed our doors like everyone else. This isn’t a financial decision, in fact, we’re not accepting new members at the moment.”

Pointing to today’s ruling in the UK that gyms in Liverpool will be allowed to reopen under tier 3 guidelines, Simon says that “we would even accept stricter guidelines, we’re happy to have fewer than 50 people in the building, for example. We just think there should be a little bit of give and take.”

Included in Westside’s Instagram post were the words ‘we did not broadcast this on social media last night and the reason for this was because we are trying to put our members first. We felt the less attention we drew to this, the longer we could stay open.’ So why the change of heart on publicising their stance?

“We were debating whether to post on social media but after the Taoiseach’s speech the other night we decided to go ahead with it,” Simon explains. “We don’t want to be one of those places that are operating behind closed doors.”

So, to the inevitable question. What will happen if the Gardaí turn up at the door of Westside Gym with a fine? “I wouldn’t agree with paying a fine,” Simon says. “But we’ve adhered to the guidelines up until now. We weren’t even given much warning, we were told ‘you have until Wednesday.’ We just feel that given the importance of gyms to people, we should be given the chance to remain open.”

Simon told me that he has heard of another 10-12 gyms which are taking the same course of action. One of these is Black Rose Gym in Skerries who posted that they have ‘officially chosen to stay open’…

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Simon said that he has received “overwhelming support” since posting on Instagram and stressed that when it comes to mental health, “gyms are part of the solution.”

Gyms around Ireland reopened at the end of June and after just four months they’re being asked to close again. Whatever happens, Simon is in no doubts about their importance to Irish society in this most difficult of years. Level 5 restrictions kick in this week and are scheduled to last until December 1.

(header pic: @westsidegymdublin on Instagram)