Huddersfield’s biggest gym – the 60,000 sq ft BigBox Leisure Club – has been officially opened by Huddersfield Giants ambassador Eorl Crabtree.

The new £4 million leisure club – based at the former Total Fitness gym site on the Tandem Industrial Estate at Waterloo – opened right on schedule after months of hard work.

Total Fitness operated between 1999 and 2020, never re-opening after the pandemic and was much-missed by the local community.

One of the businessmen behind the project, leisure industry expert Jamie Lyne, joined Eorl and members of staff to cut the ribbon to mark the official opening.

Jamie said: “We are delighted with the progress and how the community has taken to us. We are overwhelmed by it – and very tired!

“We didn’t want to miss January and the earlier you can open in January the better. We always said we would make it and we have.”

For Big Eorl it was a bit like going back to the future. “I remember coming here as a 16-year-old Giants player and it gives me a feeling of nostalgia to be back again,” he said.

“The facilities are amazing and the investment that’s gone in here is unbelievable. Total Fitness was ahead of its time and it was frustrating when no-one would take it on as a gym after it closed.

“Now it’s BigBox Huddersfield and they’ve taken it to another level. The scale of the ambition is huge and it’s great to see families using it too. I can’t wait to get involved and I’m sure it’ll be a great success.”

The various facilities are opening at different times over the next week as follows:

Saturday January 6 – opening of swimming pool
Saturday 6 & Sunday January 7 – class launch event
Monday January 8 – opening of thermal suite
Saturday 13 & Sunday January 14 – Bootcamp opening weekend
Saturday 13 & Sunday January 14 – opening of bouldering wall