UKC

Bloke in Hartlepool has been issued with a closure order!!

A strongman gym owner who kept his business open during lockdown has been ordered to close with "immediate effect".

Bodybuilder Eddy Ellwood "allowed members of the public to exercise" at his gym, Xtreme Fitness, as a protest against the rules, Hartlepool Council has confirmed.

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/strongman-gym-owner-slappe...

There's a massive Facebook debate, with half the people calling him a hero, for keeping the gym open, with argument, much the same as here, about mental health, not being able to exercise, people topping themselves, covid being made up, "I'm young so it won't affect me", etc., etc.,.

It's a funny old world.

In reply to Cobra_Head:

Well, they did hang a monkey ...... allegedly.

In reply to Lankyman:

The trouble is, it seems to have bred with a few of them before it was hung.

In reply to Cobra_Head:

That’s unfair......... to the monkey! 

In reply to Cobra_Head:

All the more reason not to adopt that terrible Americanism "climbing gym". 

If it is a climbing wall then it is safe because climbers are superior to gym users. 

In reply to Presley Whippet:

Don't know what walls you go to, but the ones I frequent generally have plenty of stuff that would generally be described as "gym equipment".  The term "climbing wall" is pretty undescriptive for what exists at a climbing gym.  Still, as long as having a go at the "yanks" makes you happy.

In reply to Lankyman:

He was a French spy 🤣🤣🤣

In reply to Meddins:

Don't mention Brexit!

In reply to Blanche DuBois:

And if they could take back "send" while they are at it, that would be great too. 

I wrote to Johnson and he agreed to include this in any transatlantic trade deal. And we all know he delivers on his promises. 

In reply to Presley Whippet:

I would gorge myself silly on chlorinated chicken if saying 'dude' was criminalized.

In reply to Presley Whippet:

Dude, are you suggesting we send back send?

I once blew the flash a on problem because, having pulled through the crux, my spotter bellowed 'You've got the postage, dude. Now send it!' I giggled my way through the air and landed in a crumpled heap on a pile of Alpkit's finest foam.

In reply to Cobra_Head:

When you scroll down on that article, Eddy Ellwood's let himself go. 

In reply to Cobra_Head:

Back on topic,

Yes the owner should be fined and have his gym shut down.

Otherwise what's the point of Lockdown where the majority of the nation sucks it up for the greater good?

And the mental health argunent that some meathead can't flex his biceps?

Would that meathead like to compare mental health stories with somebody who has lost a relative or staff in a hospital trying to keep Covid patients safe during stressful times?

In reply to Cobra_Head:

Hartlepool gets a semi regular slagging off on here.

The marina is quite nice, and the old town forming the headland has an almost fairy tale quality with its town houses and old city wall with a portal to the beach.  Quite the contrast to its gateway to the rest of the country, Throston.

In reply to bouldery bits:

I have been known to use that quote. 

In reply to wintertree:

Still using bits of Trincomalee string to tie up my tomatoes and the visit was about 15 years ago.

I thought there was some "artificial bouldering " on the sea wall but it doesn't show on the UKC register. Have I got the wrong town?

In reply to wintertree:

ha ha have you been out there at night?

https://northeastbylines.co.uk/hartlepool-the-not-so-independent-council/?f...

My dad and I were both born there

In reply to Tom Valentine:

They did a good job on a number of ships, The Warrior, was one of Nelson's old ships IIRC. It looked at one point like they may be a niche industry, using old knowledge and skills, but I think it died a death sometime ago.

It's not on the sea wall, it's at Summer Hill, it was quite good, and surprisingly was still in decent knick some years after it was first put up, not been there for at least 5 years now.

In reply to Cobra_Head:

Nearest places I've been out drinking on a night were Redcar (2001) and Stockton (2007 - I think, hard to remember...).  I imagine Hartlepool could be rougher.  We used to go there to the cinema a lot.

In reply to Tom V:

I don't know about the sea wall, but there's some good boulders - including anchors for belaying children - in Summerfield park there.

In reply to Blanche DuBois:

They taken all that shite out of our local wall, it wasn't being used, so we've got more climbing now, yay!!

There's a lot a MK, but who needs training, surely just keep climbing, init?

In reply to The Lemming:

The counter argument would be all those highly essential businesses such as garden centres remaining open or, for the mental health angle, the less strict rules for places of worship.

The lockdown does seem somewhat half arsed this time round.

In reply to Lankyman:

Come on dude, what's up with dude, dude? It's hardly rude, is it dude?

In reply to bouldery bits:

Well he can't get down the gym, can he?

Wait, What??

In reply to The Lemming:

Don't think he has been, but I hope he does. In the comments someone someone suggested £10,000 but I've not found any evidence of any fine, yet.

Don't even get me started, in the comments again, people giving just this excuse!

"It's too cold"

Someone suggested, "buy a coat", made me laugh.

Anyhow, it's impossible to exercise at home apparently because people like to go swimming and the gym!!

Thank fook I'm a soft shandy drinking southerner,now.

In reply to wintertree:

Actually, it was reasonably friendly on nights out, if you knew which places to avoid, but I've not been out there for some years.

A bloke on here, Richard Kirby, knocked some pegs in on the sea wall, when he lived there , same time I did, but I knew nothing of climbing, apart from trees until some 20+ years later.

In reply to mondite:

I'm with you, but Garden Centres do tend to be mainly outside. I can't see gyms being very healthy places at present.

I know it's a strain mentally, must be even more so if you're on your own, a number of my mates are, but you can get better, you can't if you are dead, and I think the mental health card is played fast and loose, by people who want an excuse, quite often.

In reply to Cobra_Head:

That's true of just about everywhere I have yet been, the trick is the knowing part...  I'll have to have a look for rotten pegs the next time we make it to the coast, although these days we tend to go to Seaham since the gentrification of the harbour.

In reply to wintertree:

I think they where on the Heugh (pronounced Huff) breakwater somewhere.

Seaham is nice,  Tommy is worth the visit alone. I found it weirdly moving, well weirdly for me at least.

In reply to Cobra_Head:

Only if you're a nude dude

In reply to mondite:

Sadly this is a capitalist country and needs businesses to survive. Some will survive and some wont. A meathead flexing his/her biceps as some sort of sticking-it-to-the-man protest is not exactly helping the nation as a whole get through these unprecedented times

Only today I commented to my work colleague that there was just as much traffic on the roads today as there was a month before the Lockdown began. In the very first lockdown there was hardly a vehicle on the road and it was a sureal sight to behold.

Now, we have the Lockdown that people are willing to accept without going full-on civil disobedience because they can't get their hair cut or go to the gym.

In reply to Cobra_Head:

In our 2012 discussion of the topic Steve Crowe seemed to know about it. Is The Heugh the same place as The Headland?

In reply to Lankyman:

Prude.

In reply to The Lemming:

So ermm like gyms?  As opposed to churches (which I doubt are overly profitable) and garden centres which have plenty of indoor areas.

A gym has the bonus of actually boosting peoples health as opposed to those. Been doing a lunchtime ride off and on (more off during the recent bleeping weather) which goes past two garden centres. Both have been busy every single time.

Dont get me wrong I am willing to accept that my gym and the climbing walls are going to be closed despite that being an arse for training during this weather but its pretty damn annoying that its being undermined by so many. The more people take the piss the more those who arent f*cking idiots are restricted.

Like near me there is a building site under way which given its location is for a new car showroom. Is that really essential right now?

In reply to mondite:

It will also have loads of unregulated people in a relatively confined space breathing out copious amounts of droplets and vapour.

The building site in theory can stringently control how it's workforce operates with regards to Covid-19 and should therefore be able to carry out it's operations in a safe manner. A big factor in this is that there is no public access and the building site can essentially tell its workforce to work in a certain way to reduce/eliminate potential transmission.
Whether or not this happens is a different matter...

Continuing this theme.
I think many people will be surprised at how many industry sectors have just carried on working during the pandemic. No massive fuss: accept the reality and adjust.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Yes, the Headland is "Old Hartlepool" and is a town, the Heugh is one of the breakwaters on the headland.

Hartlepool is quite an historic town and has been a settlement for a long time St. Hilda was big there in her time

Later it became a bit of a boom town, because it had a dock, and the mining villages a little further up the coast didn't. So all the coal, came through Hartlepool.

Ship building, steel (two steel plants) and other heavy engineering, all sadly gone now.

In reply to Cobra_Head:

I hadn't heard about the bombardment until I paid a visit  to the museum there. ( despite having several childhood and more recent holidays in Whitby and Scarborough). Grim reading.

In reply to mondite:

I was going to put something sarcastic, however nothing I say will make up for the inconvenience of your training.

Your inconvenience to train highlights your priorities when it comes to a world wide pandemic. 

As for myself, I have not climbed for a year simply because I did not want to think that for one second I could transmit this virus to my friends and contemplate the knock on effects of transmitting the virus to their families.

In reply to The Lemming:

Me too, completely agree. 

In reply to bouldery bits:

I am semi-ashamed to say that I have done that to someone who had just climbed past the crux of their project in Font... 😬

In reply to The Lemming:

Did I not make it clear that I considered that acceptable?

The bit that f*cks me off is how this time round the lockdown is so half arsed that the impact is going be prolonged and potentially risk new variants getting out which dont match the current vaccines.

Only beaten in the annoyance factor by how the government pissed away the benefits of the first lockdown with their eat out to spread it about and the rush to get everyone back to the office without bothering to come up with a proper trace strategy.

Going back to the gym owner from the few serious bodybuilder/powerlifter types I have met over the years I am surprised there arent more gyms breaching the rules. I can only assume most of them are doing so quietly since none of them came across as pictures of mental health and were so invested in the need to train.

In reply to Blanche DuBois:

Yes, what on earth is wrong with "climbing gym"! I agree: it's a better description than "climbing wall".

In reply to Cobra_Head:

Blimey; that's depressing...

In reply to Blanche DuBois:

Objecting to the term "climbing gym" is not having a go at the yanks; it is simply objecting to the import of a term when we already have a perfectly good one (yes, climbing walls do have other stuff, but as long as the wall is central to them I think the term is appropriate). 

In reply to captain paranoia:

Tell me about it, even more depressing I know a number of people who think Farage and his buddies are good fellas, and telling it like it is, etc.

In reply to Cobra_Head:

Hartlepool born and bred , me, not a monkey hanger because I am from West Hartlepool not old Hartlepool . Called British West Hartlepool for some reason I have never found . So technically I am a codhead and not quite a yakker which would apply to my mums upbringing in a nearby collery village.

The old docks used to be my playground of choice pre teens. Used to avoid the red light area to get there in my teens. Used to be responsible for structural repairs and surveys on the sea walls in my early twenties.

Never noticed the crag !

In reply to Rick Graham:

I always thought Codhead's where from the headland.

I'll have to look that up now

In reply to Cobra_Head:

You might be correct .

I can't remember which side of the border the fish quay was in the docks .

Maybe it was just a standard defence against the MH monaker.

In reply to Rick Graham:

ha ha  yes checked with my peeps still in the town, codheads = Old Hartlepool = Headland.

We reckon you're from Surrey looking for some street / North Eastern cred.

In reply to Cobra_Head:

Where is Surrey?

In reply to Rick Graham:

A mystical land far far away, where everyone eat exotic foreign food like croissant for breakfast, instead of black pudding.