The Rebels Motorcycle Club is moving from its Porowini Ave base because of public pressure on the building's owner.
The Rebels moved into a building at 37 Porowini Ave on Easter Weekend, sparking a heavy police response as the club members went on a bike ride.
The club has set up a
kickboxing club and gym in the building and says they are there to help troubled youth and rehabilitate other gang members who have joined them.
But Whangarei and Kaipara police area commander Inspector Paul Dimery said the gang members were a "bunch of criminals".
Their presence sparked an outcry from some sectors, with building owner Noel Dyer understood to have received a hard time for leasing the building to the club.
It's this grief that has prompted the club to announce it is relocating from the premises. The club said it would move into one of three other properties it's leasing in central Whangarei by the end of the month.
A club spokesman, who did not want to be named, said it did not intend to cause any problems for the owner when it leased the building.
"We have apologised to the owner of the building for any problems our presence has been causing," the spokesman said.
"We will be relocating by the end of the month because of the stress it's caused the owner and his family."
The man said the club was behind a registered charitable trust "for a cause with a cause" and wanted to work with the community to make a positive contribution.
The man acknowledged some of the club's members had criminal convictions, but said they were moving away from their former life by joining the club.
He said the attention was unfortunate as it detracted from the club's efforts to run a boxing club and gym. He said the club was to hold a charity boxing match in the near future.
Yesterday Whangarei MP Phil Heatley said police should do all in their power to crack down on the club.
