24-hour Gym Poised to Take Over Plough and Harrow Site

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Snap Fitness looking to set up new franchise at the King Street location

Visualisation from planning documents of how the gym might appear

August 25, 2026

The former Plough and Harrow is poised to be turned into a gym ending centuries of a presence of a public house around the site.

After Wetherspoons closed the pub at short notice on 1 June 2025, the building stood empty while the company sought to dispose of the lease and Thackeray Estates pursued permission to change its use. That permission was granted in July, clearing the way for the ground floor to move from its long-standing pub and restaurant designation.

FRG Hammersmith Ltd has now submitted an application for new signage on behalf of Snap Fitness, the national 24-hour gym franchise with more than 100 locations across the UK. The signage plans, lodged with the council this month, show the brand preparing to take over the prominent corner unit beneath the Holiday Inn Express.

The shift marks the end of a long chapter for the Plough and Harrow. Wetherspoons had operated the pub since 2002, but placed it on a disposal list in November 2022 as part of a wider restructuring. CBRE and Savills were appointed to handle the sale, though no buyer was publicly confirmed. Despite the company’s return to profitability and renewed dividend payments, the Hammersmith site remained earmarked for closure, and the doors finally shut in early summer last year.

The currently vacant unit at 120-124 King Street

The building’s history stretches far deeper than its modern incarnation. A pub of the same name is believed to have stood on the site since 1419. The centuries-old inn was demolished in 1903, replaced by a new building, and then rebuilt again in the 1960s to create the structure that stands today. For generations, the Plough and Harrow was a familiar fixture on King Street, serving locals, shoppers and theatre-goers heading towards the Lyric.

The planning documents submitted by Thackeray Estates make clear that the former pub had been actively marketed since January 2023 with no interest from other operators wishing to run it as a public house. The change-of-use application argued that the building’s future viability lay in Class E, opening the door to uses such as retail, healthcare, offices or fitness. Interest from gym operators was noted even before permission was granted.

There is believed to have been a pub at this site since 1419

With Snap Fitness now moving forward, the building is set to join the growing cluster of leisure and fitness businesses in Hammersmith’s town centre. No external alterations are proposed beyond new signage, and the existing plant, bin store and servicing arrangements will remain in place.

Another King Street pub, the Hammersmith Ram, closed last month, to be immediately taken over by a discount store.

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