GERMAN DISCOUNT retailer Lidl is understood to have made an approach in recent weeks to buy the land at the Total Fitness gyms in Dublin.

The land is owned by Albert Gubay, the retail and leisure magnate, through a company called Mardown. He had retained the sites when he sold the gym chain in 2004 for €150 million.

Lidl declined to comment and Gubay, who is based in the Isle of Man, could not be contacted. Gubay, whose mother was Irish, is best known in Ireland for his retail ventures including the 3 Guys supermarket chain, which was eventually bought by Tesco.

Gubay sought to have part of the 27.4 acre site at the Total Fitness gym in Sandyford rezoned for residential use in 2008. He had set up Total Fitness in 1995 when he was recovering from a bad back.

The 82-year-old billionaire is leaving his entire business empire to the Roman Catholic Church, keeping only £10 million for himself.

“Mardown is one of the companies that will be held in the Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation, so its profits from its interests in Ireland will be used for wholly charitable purposes,” John Nugent, chairman of the Trustee of the Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation, told The Irish Times.

Centre Operators Limited, the company behind the operation of the gyms, announced earlier this week that its gyms in Castleknock, the Malahide Road and Sandyford would be shut down. About 100 jobs have been lost and a liquidator is to be appointed. The company blamed high rents for the closure.

Lidl’s German rival Aldi meanwhile has lodged a planning application to develop a new discount supermarket on East Wall Road in Dublin 3.