Controversy after man names home gym the 'Choir Boy Grooming Room'

A man is being quizzed by police after a neighbour complained about the name of his home gym. Residents were left puzzled when a sign saying Choir Boy Grooming Room appeared above Stephen Wilson’s garage at his semi-detached home in East Calder, West Lothian. One concerned neighbour alerted police, who visited the property and are now investigating whether a crime has been committed.

But Stephen, 30, says the sign was just a harmless play on words for the makeshift workout facility he set up to avoid queues to use the equipment at his local gym. Stephen said: “I came up with the name because choir boys are seen as quite weak, and grooming, although nowadays is seen as sexual and associated with paedophiles, is also a training term meaning preparing your body and mind for something. I just put a different slant on the name.



“I used to train at a gym but it was costing me £100 a month and the equipment was always being used by other people, so I came up with this. A couple of my mates use it, too. I play a lot of sports so this is where I prepare.” The garage, which is packed full of weightlifting equipment and massive tractor tyres, is soon to be fitted with a new professionally-made sign which will display the initials CBTR. But Stephen, a firefighter, insists he shouldn’t have come to the attention of the police over the sign, which he says was not intended to offend his neighbours.

He said: “A neighbour did say a few people had been asking about it and were wondering what was going on. I can understand what they mean if someone was trying to sell their house and a prospective buyer saw the sign. But it is just temporary, I always knew I was going to go for initials and thought I would only have this up for a week or so. I’ll get the new signage put up next week.” A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “We have received a complaint in relation to a sign at a private property. We are liaising with the Procurator Fiscal to determine whether an offence has been committed.”