End of an era as world-famous Black Country gym set to close after 67 years - with all equipment going to auction
A world-famous gym that has played host to top international bodybuilders and been a Midlands hub for musclemen and women for almost 70 years is to close its doors for good.
Jim Charles is calling it a day - three months after hosting his last bodybuilding show at Brierley Hill Civic Hall.
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The 86-year-old grandfather of five has decided it’s time to ditch the heavy lifting after 67 years of running his renowned community gym in Lye, near Stourbridge.
It will be the end of an era for Jim, who lives in Quarry Bank, after a lifetime of dedication to the sport of bodybuilding - training, championing and promoting aspiring athletes and fitness fans some of whom have trained with him for 50 to 60 years.
The legendary Jim's Gym has over the years welcomed big names in bodybuilding including Bill Pearl, John Brown and Edward Kawak. Former GB Olympic hockey player Sally Walton also trained there before winning a bronze medal in the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The biggest name in bodybuilding - Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger - never actually made it to the gym but stories about Arnie’s early days on his journey to becoming Mr Universe have been told and retold countless times within its walls.
Jim has spent many hours recounting tales of how he met the young Schwarzenegger in London when he first arrived on the bodybuilding scene in the UK in the 1960s and how the young Austrian took the industry by storm.
The veteran gym boss was among the officials at NABBA (the National Amateur Bodybuilding Association) watching on as Arnie posed his way to success - winning the NABBA Mr Universe class 1 title four times in a row from 1967 to 1970.
