It's all over for Reubenz' Gym after complaints and compliance issues

Reuben Murray has given up on his public gym at Ngataki, beaten by a complaining neighbour and council rules. Photo / Peter Jackson

He'll be 80 next year, so Reuben Murray is entitled to be thinking about retiring. But it isn't age that's behind his decision to close Reubenz Whareora Community Gym at Ngataki.

It was a neighbour who wasn't happy with the music, the amount of traffic the gym generated and the demeanour of some customers that had defeated him, Mr Murray said, abetted by Far North District Council demands, including that he install a disabled toilet.

The gym would continue to be available to friends and family but would cease to be a public facility on June 30.

Mr Murray said up to half a dozen people used the gym from 6.30am, three days a week, with others arriving during the day or in the evening, often finishing at 8-9pm. Many of the regulars were elderly, which pleased him mightily.

Working with the young and elderly had been a lifelong passion, he said, while his involvement with gyms had begun when he was a teenager. He had owned establishments in Sydney, Auckland and Kaitaia.

"We do have music here, but it isn't loud. None of the other neighbours can hear it," he said, while the council had demanded that spouting be attached to the building before it would sign it off as compliant. Then it demanded additional drainage and a disabled toilet.

"It's just not worth carrying on. It's all getting too hard."

The gym had never been much of a commercial enterprise in the traditional business sens though. It operated on a koha basis, generating an income of $20 or $30 in a good week.