Budding aerial gymnasts who want to learn the moves of performers seen in Cirque du Soleil will soon have the opportunity during their shopping trips.

Southend Council has granted planning permission for a gym to open in Victoria Shopping Centre, offering residents the chance to keep fit through aerial hoops, silks, trapeze and pole fitness.

Zara’s Aerial Hoop and Pole Fitness is moving to the site after its current location at the Laurence Industrial Estate on Eastwoodbury Lane proved so popular that an expansion was urgently needed.

The 30-year-old owner, Zara Harper, said news she had been granted planning permission was “fantastic” and promised the gym would be opening very soon.

She said: “Works are now commencing and hopefully we will be up and running in there in about two- or three-weeks max.”

The new gym will move into a unit that has remained empty in the shopping centre for a year and it is expected to create two full-time jobs and two part-time jobs.

Classes will be available to people of all abilities and fitness levels.