PureGym have apologised after one of its branches advertised a workout named '12 Years Of Slave' to mark Black History Month.

The exercise routine was posted on the Luton and Dunstable gym’s Facebook page on Monday (October 5) and featured the caption: “Slavery was hard and so is this”.

The post - which has since been deleted following a significant backlash online - was followed by a statement issued by PureGym stating it was “wholly unacceptable” and was “not approved or endorsed by the company”.

What did the post say?

The original post read: “Entitled ’12YearsOfSlave’ (after the epic movie) this is our workout of the month designed by @MattSimpt to celebrate black history month.

“Slavery was hard and so is this.”

What was PureGym's response to the incident?

PureGym later tweeted to say it was investigating why the post was made.

The chain said: “PureGym apologises unreservedly for a post regarding Black History Month that was made today by our gym in Luton & Dunstable.

“This post was wholly unacceptable, was not approved or endorsed by the company and was removed when it was brought to our attention.

“We take this matter extremely seriously and are urgently investigating how and why this post was made.

“Thank you to those people who commented on this post and for raising this with us.”

The company said its 271 gyms all have their own social media channels which are run “locally”.