Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club, believed to be the oldest in London, is facing eviction after nearly 80 years at its current home.
Weightlifters at the east London gym have been issued a notice from Tower Hamlets Council saying their lease will be terminated at the end of January.
The club has been at its current site on Turin Street since 1948 and has complained it has had no prior warning from the council.
The Bethnal Green Weightlifting Club (BGWLC) was first set up in 1926 and describes itself as a “community-run non-profit organisation”.
Its head coach Martin Bass has been left “perplexed” by the decision.
In a statement on the club’s website, he said: “We’ve been here almost 80 years, they know who we are, they’ve got our phone numbers, why didn’t they just talk to us?
He added: “We approached them in good faith but they weren’t telling us anything.”
He later told the BBC: "It serves the community. We've got all fashions of society - gender, race... old Cockneys - whatever.
"Anybody who comes in here, it's a safe space. We don't allow no nonsense up here."
Among those training at the club include ex-servicemen battling mental health issues and British Paralympic powerlifter Ali Jawad, who won a silver medal at the 2016 Paralympic Games.
Weightlifters marched from the gym down to Brick Lane on Sunday, collecting signatures for a petition against the council decision.
The club has claimed that when it met with Tower Hamlets Council its representatives were told that the site would be redeveloped but they could not say why.
A “promising” discussion about alternative accommodation was had but the club said it was then left in the dark.
A spokesperson for Tower Hamlets Council said: “We understand and appreciate the club’s importance to the community and keen to work with them to offer support and ensure they can continue as a valued organisation in our borough.
“We will be contacting the weightlifting club to set up a meeting in the new year.”
