Women-Only Gym Approved for St Andrews After Council Dispute

A women-only gym is set to open on Tom Stewart Lane in St Andrews following six months of debate at Fife Council. PINK Health & Fitness will be the first branch owned by Cupar resident Kirsty Roberts, who currently works as head coach at the chain’s Cupar and Wormit locations. 

Roberts applied to Fife Council to use the site on 19 February 2025, but did not receive approval on her application until 29 August due to restrictions imposed by the 2017 FIFEplan.

The FIFEplan is a local development plan which sets out “planning policies and proposals for the use and development of land across Fife for the next ten to twenty years,” according to Fife Council. In accordance with the plan, certain areas are designated as Safeguarded Employment Areas, protecting spaces intended for business, industrial, or storage use. The Tom Stewart Lane site is one of these zones. 

Since a gym is classed as recreational rather than business or industrial, the economic development and employment teams on Fife Council both recommended rejecting Roberts’ application. The application document explained that approval would be a “permanent loss of valuable employment land.” Other objections in the document included possible noise disruption to nearby residents, limited parking, and road accessibility. 

Despite the Council’s recommendation to reject the plan, 30 public submissions backed the gym’s proposal. Supporters called the gym “a safe place for ladies to train and live better mental and healthier lifestyle[s].” The committee report added how the planning will provide “a much better use of the building […] offering a link for women of all ages.” 

The north-east planning committee voted 7-3 in favour of the conversion, subject to conditions on specific operating hours, full noise mitigation measures, and council-approved travel plans which encourage the use of public and sustainable transport options to get to the gym.

Despite the setbacks, Roberts said: “I believe the space in Tom Stewart Lane was ideal, in terms of location and size.” Roberts appears to have finalised the purchase and received the key recently, according to the PINK Health & Fitness Facebook page. A post on 9 September shows the owner holding a key with the caption “New home…pending.” Although Roberts clarified that the gym is not yet ready, on 13 September, she shared several pictures and videos of construction beginning in the Tom Stewart Lane space, highlighting the development in the caption: “#newgym #standrews #comingsoon.”

The new PINK Health & Fitness in St Andrews will be used for workout classes, owner Roberts specifies — “function fitness classes with a big emphasis on strength training.” She added that the Tom Stewart Lane venue is “big enough for classes but small enough to still get a great atmosphere [that] allow[s] everyone to be fully coached in class.”

St Andrews is already home to several gyms, including the University Sports Centre, the Kilo Club on Largo Road, and the East Sands Gym at the East Sands Leisure Centre, which all offer classes alongside space for traditional gym use. A new individual-sized gym, TinyGyms, with hourly rentable spaces, is also set to open in September 2025 on Bell Brae. But none of these provide an all-female environment, a gap which Roberts says her gym will fill.

“I aim to allow females a safe space to train, grow their confidence in the gym, and feel a sense of community,” Roberts told The Saint. “This venture will be the first.”

Image by Abbie Arkless