I’m at work. I’m bored. Make me laugh.

Trawl Rockall for:

'D-gyms' take UK by storm

It's the thing that everyone's talking about, it's taken Newcastle by storm and just next month another 32 are expected to open up around the country. What is it? The D-gym.

What's a D-gym? Well, we spoke the founder of D-gym, George Lazenby, to find out. "The concept of the D-gym came to me one night when I'd been out drinking with my friends," he explained. "We got into a bit of a tussle and were wrestling each other for a while in the street when for some reason I decided that rather than get a cab back home, I would run the 20 minutes back to my flat."

While recovering in the morning, George noticed that his hangover wasn't as bad as he'd expected and that he actually felt pretty good. "That's when the Eureka moment came," he explains. "I realised that by fighting and running not only had I chased off a bad hangover but in a sense I'd also done some exercise. But better than all that, I barely remembered doing it. I knew then I was onto a winner."

George opened his first "Drunk Gym" in his home town of Newscastle, adjacent to The Red Lion pub, on Friday 14 March. "I'd seen the lease on this empty shop while walking by a few weeks earlier and being so close to the pub it seemed ideal," he explained. "So, to entice people in, I persuaded the local kebab van to park outside. For a quid a kebab, he told everyone that they'd have to pay inside the shop. So I got a huge number of drunk blokes in the shop where I'd put down a load of mats and set up a few punch bags and running machines I'd hired from a local gym."

In no time at all, George had 30 men all keen to do some boxing. "So, of course, I told them that they could box if they wanted but they'd have to pay me two quid each or I'd be breaking the law. They paid up straight away."

George had laid down rules — gloves at all times, no kicking, only two people at a time and stopping when someone went down. "I thought it might turn into a riot but a load of the blokes just liked watching while chewing on their kebabs." Better than that, others were keen just to punch the boxing bag and, suprisingly, the running and rowing machines proved popular as well.

"All the fellas said they'd had a great time, so I said I'd open up special the next Friday night," George explains. "That night, you could barely get in the door. I'd hired twice the amount of machines and they were never empty from 11 o'clock til three in the morning. All in all, I made £800 from one night's work."

As word of the drunk gym — or D-gym as it has begun to become known — spread, George began opening up during the week. "We only have one rule," he explains, "that you have to be inebriated before you come in." There had been some trouble early on, he explained, when some sober lads has turned up and started fighting. "It was a nightmare. These boys knew what they were doing and were sober as a judge. They could have hurt someone." Sober people are now stopped at the door by a bouncer and told to come back after six pints.

George was then surprised when the running machines became the most hotly contested piece of equipment. "It became known that 20 minutes on the machine got rid of your hangover and gave you a good workout. The incredible thing, as many of them have confessed to me, is that they can't run for 20 minutes when sober without collapsing and coughing up blood. At the D-gym however, we have to actually stop them."

If was when one punter run unnoticed for two hours on a Wednesday night however, that George realised his responsibilities. "I suddenly realised that some of these blokes were dehydrating themselves. So, of course, for 50p a bottle of water they could sort themselves out."

By now George was so successful that he moved to bigger premises and Ali, the kebab seller, was given his own corner of the shop. "This time I had two boxing areas, one with ropes, 14 running machines, 7 rowing machines, a soft drinks and water counter and a widescreen TV." The TV brought controversy however. "Some blokes were just coming in, grabbing chairs and passing out in front of the TV," George explains. "It was a nightmare — they were getting in the way of the spectators for one." So the TV was put high on the wall and a "no chairs" rule enforced. "Anyone caught sitting down is out."

Unexpectedly, the D-gym started attracting women too. "That was a tough one," says George. "The women at first made things ten times harder to control. Especially the slags. But they liked watching the men fighting and of course the blokes loved watching the girls running on the machines. We have a strict 'no kissing' rule though that seems to keep people's lids on."

Following exposure in local papers and TV, George got an endorsement from the most unlikely of places. "Suddenly this doc was on TV saying what I was doing was a great thing, that men don't do enough exercise because it's boring and that being drunk was an excellent state to be in while working out your body. Apparently beer gives you loads of energy that is rarely put to any good use. The day after that went out, the phone never stopped ringing."

Now, just two months later, George has six D-gyms across his home town and another two in Manchester, one in Birmingham and one in Burnley. "And believe it or not, another 32 will be open across the country this Friday night. It's like a dream come true."

With its motto "Don't drink and drive — drink and run and drink and fight", George reckons he's found an untapped market of blokes who like exercise but just don't want to be aware they're doing it. He is now in talks with some big corporations and beer companies for sponsorship.

It seems then that D-gyms are here to stay and that a good night out can end up being good for both the body and the mind. "Get us another pint quick," one local visitor told us in The Lancaster, just minutes from the most recent D-gym. "I've only had four and I need to go running later tonight."

 Email an enemy  Pub-friendly printable version  ‘Yeast Logic’ index page