Shapers Gym

Founder Paul Whyatt opened a home-made gym consisting of derelict farm machinery in 1981 in a Three Holes barn, for the training interests of himself and friends. However, interest in the gym soon grew which encouraged Mr Whyatt to quit his job at the Metal Box factory and relocate to a larger premises, 'The Chicken Shed' in Christchurch. Today, his gym now consists of cutting-edge strength training equipment including nautilus and hammer-strength machines at its North Street home - where it's flourished since 1985.

Shapers is a bit of a niche gym - it's very hardcore and you get a strong flavour of that when you arrive. A lot of brand-new gyms are watered down places but we've continued to keep our strong brand identity despite installing the newest equipment on the market. A gym is a working environment and you can't buy that ambience, you have to develop it over time, which we really have.