A boxing gym set up by murdered Trainspotting 2 star Bradley Welsh is closing down.
Holyrood Boxing Gym was opened by Welsh in November 2005. His nephew, Jake Welsh vowed to keep it open after Bradley was gunned down by a hitman outside his home in Edinburgh’s New Town in 2019.
However, Jake has now announced in an online post that the gym will be closing for good on December 14th.
Posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, Jake said that it was time to close the gym and continue Brad's legacy 'in other ways.'
He said: "Holyrood Boxing Gym surpassed so many people's expectations and the longevity of the gym without Brad over the past four and a half years has surpassed our own hopes.
"After much thought and consideration we know this is the right decision. Brad lives on in us all, no more so than his daughter Eva. Now is the correct time for us all to continue his legacy in other ways.
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"Holyrood Boxing Gym is a special place, with special memories. For the last four and a half years it has been the place I felt closest to Brad.
"It has been a place for toy collections, food banks, sell-out boxing shows, hard work, positive change and making people feel good about themselves. Brad created the most amazing community."
Bradley was once a feared football hooligan but turned his life around after being jailed in 1990 and taking up amateur boxing.
After his sporting career finished, he went on to open up the gym and became well known in the community for helping people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
A close pal of Irvine Welsh, Bradley starred in the Trainspotting sequel T2 in 2017 and once appeared on Danny Dyer's Deadliest Men series.
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The dad-of-one was brutally killed outside his plush property in Edinburgh's New Town on April 17 2019, having just returned from home from the gym. He was ambushed outside the flat on Chester Street by hitman Sean Orman and shot in the head from a distance of just one metre.
Orman was arrested the following month after a car chase by cops where he drove a stolen Audi at speeds up to 123mph in the capital. He was charged with Welsh’s murder.
Shotgun cartridges were found in the Lochend flat of Orman’s ex-girlfriend while firearm residue was discovered in the pockets of Orman’s joggers.
His trial heard evidence Orman carried out the slaying on the orders of George "Dode" Baigrie, a gangland figure associated with the notorious Lyons clan. for £10,000. It emerged cops were warned that Welsh was being targeted a month before his assassination but failed to stop it.
Orman was eventually convicted of the murder at the High Court in Edinburgh in April 2021, and given a 28-year sentence.
The Record revealed in August how Orman was slashed in HMP Perth and suffered a wound near his eye in the incident.
Irvine Welsh paid tribute to Bradley and Holyrood Boxing Gym online after hearing the news of its closure.
He said: "Gutted to hear this. A very special place and well done to everyone for keeping it open. I have to confess though, that I found it hard going there to train without Brad."
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