GYM owners and a yoga businesswoman in Bradford have been left in a state of turmoil and confusion following the Government's announcement of new restrictions for local areas.

Late last night, the Government announced that households in Bradford, Kirklees, Calderdale, Greater Manchester and parts of Lancashire would be banned from meeting each other indoors from 12am today.

The rulings for gyms though lacked clarity and many were in an awkward position after a change in the wording of the guidelines throughout the day.

This morning, a Government release said: “In Blackburn with Darwen and Bradford, the following premises must remain closed by law: indoor gyms.”

But, many gyms in the city - including easyGym, just outside Broadway Bradford - had already reopened at the start of this week, meaning the use of the word “remain closed” was puzzling.

The guidelines then changed later in the day to read: “From 1 August, in Bradford the following premises which were previously permitted to be open must now be closed by law: indoor gyms.”

EasyGym itself made the decision to shut from the off on Friday, just days after the T&A visited to see how it was coping in a post-lockdown world.

But the lack of clarity from the Government left another facility having to reverse its early morning decision.

The Pride Gym, in Low Moor, posted on its Facebook page just after 9am on Friday outlining it would not close, citing an FAQ section on the Government's release regarding the North of England local restrictions.

It outlined that members of the same household from the affected areas could still go to cafés, restaurants, the gym and other indoor public places.

The Pride Gym's post said: "Not to get political but take a step back and look at it holistically, we demand parity and support before we shut that door."

But later in the day, just after 5pm, the post was edited to say the gym would close.

The Lion Gym, in Greengates, meanwhile has been forced to postpone its reopening just days before it was due to get going again.

The community gym, which is also a registered charity and England Boxing Club, has spent a "considerable amount of money" to make sure the facility is COVID-19 compliant, according to Khalil Alam - a trustee of the charity and head boxing coach who runs the gym.

He described the situation as "very sad times" as the restrictions put a halt to the facility reopening on Monday, August 3.

Mr Alam said: "I'm very saddened, disappointed for the members, some of which use exercise and boxing as an outlet to help them with mental health issues, drugs and divert their kids from anti-social bad behaviour.

"And we are naturally very worried since this could have a financial impact on us especially since we have ongoing costs and have also renewed all the gym carpets and walls, extended the facility and spent considerable amounts of money to get the gym COVID-19 compliant in line with government and England Boxing guidelines.

"I mean we spent considerable amount of money on sanitiser equipment and antibacterial fogging equipment.

"We rely on our customers financial contributions when using the gym and use this money to survive financially."

A small business owner in Bradford has been left equally concerned about her future and agreed with Leader of Kirklees Council, Councillor Shabir Pandor's statement earlier today that he feels his district has "been singled without any reasonable or solid evidence base".

Julia McGoldrick, from Ryecroft Yoga & Wellness, started her yoga and wellbeing business last year.

She had been hoping to start welcoming clients to her home yoga studio space on the outskirts of Holmewood this week.

But her plans were thrown into turmoil following the late-night announcement from the government last night.

It gave her only hours’ notice of changes that could have meant her business would not be able to reopen.

The initial announcement meant it looked like her business could reopen as planned, but further restrictions on indoor gyms and sports facilities has scuppered these plans.

Mrs McGoldrick said: “As a new business owner with two young children, the last few months have been incredibly worrying.

“As my business was under 12 months old at the start of lockdown, I have not been able to access any government support.

“I am just so grateful to my loyal clients for continuing to support me and my family.

“Waking up this morning to see the announcement, I could have cried – I had put in so much time and effort to ensuring my re-starting indoor classes would be as safe as possible.

“After looking at the rules there was a bit of optimism that I could reopen as planned.

“But this was quickly dashed by the follow up announcement that there would be additional restrictions on Bradford.”

Holmewood and Tong Village, and the neighbouring areas, have not seen any confirmed cases of coronavirus for the last two weeks according to the ONS map.

Mrs McGoldrick added: “These restrictions make no sense.

“How can someone say an environment where I can properly control social distancing and was able to ensure my clients are over two metres apart, is more of a risk than bars and restaurants which cram more people in smaller areas – and then throw alcohol into the mix.

“Or, if I was based just a couple of miles up the road in Leeds, I would be able to reopen as planned.”