Abbeydale Road: Boxer Naseem Hamed's former Sheffield gym partially demolished to create new shop and flats

‘Prince’ Naseem Hamed’s former gym in Sheffield has been partially demolished as work begins to convert the building into a shop and flats.

The boxing great used some of his huge riches to buy the gym on Abbeydale Road at the height of his career and prepared there for his 2002 clash with Manuel Calvo, which would be his last ever fight.

The building, which later became a pharmacy and then a shisha lounge called Bamboo, has been standing empty for some time.

Permission was granted last year to extend the distinctive property and convert it into a shop with office space and four one-bed apartments above, and work has now begun on the transformation.

The planning application stated that ‘limited sections’ of the existing building, including the front wall to the street and part of the north elevation wall, would be demolished.

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Hamed grew up above his parents’ convenience store in Wincobank, near Meadowhall.

He was coached from the age of about seven by the legendary boxing trainer Brendan Ingle at Ingle’s famous gym on Newman Road, Wincobank, before they parted ways acrimoniously in 1997.

A film about Hamed’s rags to riches story, and his relationship with Ingle, is in the works, with Pierce Brosnan reportedly set to play Brendan Ingle and the rising star Amir El-Masry to portray his most famous protege.