Rhino Boulder
Bromley, United Kingdom
Specs: Founded, owned and operated by Thomas Broggi and Henning Muller, Rhino Boulder opened in December 2023 on Bromley’s High Street, in London. Broggi and Muller met at their local climbing gym, where Broggi was a customer and Henning was the gym manager. After becoming friends and going on climbing trips together, the two realized they both wanted to open a climbing gym. In 2019, they started to work on a plan, find funding, and decide where to open the gym, with the search for a suitable location being a large hurdle. After watching the market closely for three years, the team found a former supermarket in Bromley that suited their vision.
Broggi said the process of choosing a home for the gym came down to “a combination of finding an area that had a new market, a new community to create, and finding the right location,” noting he and Henning “wanted to create a new community and bring the sport in a new area that didn’t have any climbing.” While many other climbing gyms exist in London, Rhino Boulder is the first commercial climbing gym in the Bromley suburb, according to the gym’s owners. “We wanted an accessible location for all, close to trains and public transport and with ample parking facilities. It needed to be a minimum of five meters high, [tall] enough to host a bouldering wall, and [have] at least 10,000 square feet of floor space,” Broggi said.
The mall housing Rhino Boulder was particularly appealing because it is on High Street, a bustling area with several shops and restaurants within walking distance of the gym. “When we eventually managed to get our lease sorted and our build planned, we were in a rush to open before Christmas,” he said, describing December as a particularly busy time on High Street. The lease was signed on September 19th, and 12 weeks later the gym opened, on December 16th. “It was three very intense months to make everything happen and prepare for opening,” Broggi recalled. “A lot of fun, but not a lot of sleep.”
The 11,000-square-foot bouldering gym has 6,000 square feet (557 square meters) of climbing on 14.7-foot (4.5-meter) walls. On the ground floor, Rhino also has a training area with essentials for climbers, like pull-up bars and fingerboards. On the second floor is a large cafe, with “locally sourced products, from coffee to beer,” Broggi said. There is currently a workspace in the café, and the team is setting up a dedicated coworking space as well with soundproof phone booths, dedicated working stations, and a meeting room.
Broggi says he and his team strive for excellence in the gym’s day-to-day operations, using their experience running climbing teams and coaching climbers up to the World Cup level to inform the gym’s routesetting and programming. “We didn’t hold back on our hold budget when we opened,” he detailed. “We made sure we had the wall properly designed for athletes.” Rhino Boulder currently provides instructed climbing and private coaching for youth and adult climbers and will soon offer performance coaching. Additionally, the gym offers party and group options and yoga classes.
Walls: Renegade Climbing
Flooring: Core Climbing
CRM Software: BETA
Website: rhinoboulder.co.uk
Instagram: @RhinoBoulder_Bromley
In Their Words: “We learned that planning pays. We have spent a lot of time planning for the team because, between one thing and the other, we couldn’t find a place for many years. And meanwhile, we were planning, planning. But then the moment we signed the lease, three months later, we had a running business. So, it paid a lot in terms of sparing costs at the beginning and trying to be fast and prepared for all the issues that do come out inevitably as you get going.” – Thomas Broggi, Rhino Boulder Co-Founder and Co-Owner
Naomi is a personal trainer and a routesetter who has also worked at climbing gyms as a youth team coach. After starting college at Colorado State University in 2017, she wanted to make new friends and found climbing, fell in love, and now climbing dictates most of what she does. Naomi earned a bachelor’s degree in Ecosystem Science & Sustainability, and when not climbing she enjoys baking, gardening and crafting.
