For over 60 years the Wyre Forest has been home to successful competitive powerlifters, bodybuilders, and strongmen. It all began in the 1960s when athletes from the Wyre Forest successfully trained for national and international powerlifting championships. World-class lifters widely known in the powerlifting world such as Paul Jordan, Brian Smith, Kevin Murray, and David Carter are all from the Wyre Forest. In 1963 Brian Smith won the middleweight British Strength Championship and went on to be the first ever world platform manager for powerlifting. Paul Jordan had an infamous World Championship victory in 1976 battling it out against American lifters. Kevin Murray set records as a junior lifter that still stand to this day. David Carter, perhaps the greatest lifter from Kidderminster has won an excess of 20 World Powerlifting Championships. Kidderminster Lions Weightlifting Club was the stomping ground of many successful powerlifters. In 1983 the Union Barbell Club became the new facility for strength athletes founded by the infamous Brian Smith and weightlifter Mick Hill. Then in 1996, the opening of Unique Fitness took the reins as the home of champions to competitive powerlifters, bodybuilders, strongmen, and even boxers. Unique Fitness was then home to many British champion bodybuilders with Steve Knight and Garth Bayliss competing in the British Championships in 1997. Unique Fitness was revolutionary for British powerlifting. In 2012 Unique Fitness was a sponsor of the WPF World Powerlifting Championships and in 2014 Unique Fitness owner Steve Knight hosted the BPO British Championships in the Wyre Forest Glades Arena, this saw homeboy Andrew Beeston squat a British record of 336kg. Barbells loaded over 300kg was a norm in Unique Fitness the place which saw the most competitive powerlifters come out of the Wyre Forest. Steve Knight, Don Coates, Andy Beeston, Danny Brighton, Samantha Wills, Louise Price, Dominic Hill, Charlie Wilson. To name a few, Unique Fitness saw multiple regional, national, and international titles come home. July 2022 saw the end of an era and left a lot of people saddened as Unique Fitness closed its doors for the last time. With nowhere to facilitate their training in the Wyre Forest, Charlie Wilson and Dominic Hill visited gyms further field and went on to compete in the GPC British Championship in November 2022, with Dominic taking third place and Charlie Wilson winning his category. Still to this day the Wyre Forest homes many strength and conditioning athletes of all ages and abilities. Chris Wolf took second place in the 2019 World’s Strongest Disabled Man contest. As recent as April 2023, 80-year-old David Clements qualified for the British Championships and set British records in squat, bench, and deadlift.

Kidderminster Lions Weightlifting Club, The Union Barbell Club, and Unique Fitness all leave a legacy behind them. With each facility improving on its predecessor, it is time for a bigger chapter in the story of strength and conditioning in the Wyre Forest. Wyreside Barbell is the future.