An independent Aberdeen gym will require an additional nine members to stay afloat due to business rate increases.
Results gym in the city, which specialises in powerlifting, has been hit with a rates increase of 30%.
The small facility, which operates out of the arches on South College Street and hosts a number of weightlifting competitions of a variety of categories, will now have to find another £330 per month.
Its owners say that as a result, they will have to attract nine more members who commit to staying each month to keep financially stable.
In a statement, the gym said: “We have now received our new increased business rates.
“This may not seem like a massive increase, and in comparison to other companies it’s not as huge as increase as they are facing.
“But it does mean we have to find another £330 per month, in relative figures, this means we have to find nine new members.
“We will be appealing against this increase, but this takes up to a year.”
Appealing to its members, the gym added: “But above all else, please support your local business.
“We are better than these chains, we offer a whole lot more than they do.
“We have better equipment, we have equipment other gym’s don’t have. We have atmosphere, we have knowledge and we have experience. You can’t put a value on all of that.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said that measures have been put in place to mitigate the impact of rates in the north-east.
He said: “We have committed £660million of business rates relief to the year ahead, including an additional £7.5million relief for Aberdeen, and extended the Small Business Bonus scheme so that more than half of premises will pay no rates at all.
“In the coming year, seven out of 10 will pay either no or less rates than they did in the last financial year.
“In addition, 8,000 business properties will no longer pay the Large Business Supplement and the overall business rates poundage – the core tax rate that applies to the rateable value of business properties – has been cut by 3.7% to 46.6pm.”