Thamesmead gym looks to expand

A branch of Anytime Fitness in south Thamesmead is looking to expand and move into an adjacent unit at a newly built square.

The company operate at the old Tavy Bridge area which is now named Kestrel Court at Southmere Village. They’ve occupied Unit 7 & 8 and now seek to expand into Unit 9.

Quite a few units remain empty as Peabody have been so slow to build homes in the area so approval seems likely.

By the way, Anytime Fitness is yet another company that cannot tell the difference between Thamesmead and Abbey Wood. They state the gym is in Abbey Wood. It’s not. The old Tavy Bridge was about as typically Thamesmead as Thamesmead could be. Concrete structures, raised walkways and public spaces above ground floor parking.

True it’s gone but that doesn’t mean the town is wiped off the map. New builds here are still Thamesmead, and pretty distinctively so.

Trying to erase Thamesmead is a bit of a bugbear. Then again many companies just seem clueless. PDSA vets has been in Abbey Wood for years yet they call it their Thamesmead branch.

What gets me is that some town boundaries can be hard to work out as they seamlessly blend together. Not here. Not only are the two towns mostly in different boroughs in the area but they are often wildly different in feel and appearance.

Is the building one that was built before the 1960s? That’s Abbey Wood, be it Victorian shops, Edwardian estates or post-war 1950s London Country Council homes mostly built in a traditional brick way.

Is it a brutalist block vastly different in design? That’s Thamesmead. And if it’s a new build that again vastly different to older styles, that’s still Thamesmead.

Of course there are some exceptions but it’s not that hard to tell the difference.