Krudar Muay Thai, one of the most popular martial arts clubs in Toronto, has closed down. Founder and owner, Darwin Miranda who has been teaching Martial arts in the city for fifteen years, said he was locked out of his gym by the property’s landlord.
Darwin was surprised to see an eviction letter posted by the landlord when he entered the Augusta Avenue branch last week.
“So on October 29, I came in here (Krudar Muay Thai), put my key to try and open it, but couldn’t open it,” Miranda said.
“Don’t know why. And then I saw that the locks were brand new and then I looked over and there was an eviction notice.”
“It’s not fair that the landlord changed the locks on us while we were closed,” Darwin said.
According to Darwin, he and his wife spent 8 months trying to convince their landlord to participate in the rent relief program, but the he remained reluctant to do so.
“It’s sad and very disappointing that someone can act like that in a pandemic,” Darwin said.
“At this point, everybody needs help right now, everybody’s struggling. And we need to help each other as much as we can.”
The owners say that the gym reopened briefly in September, and shut down again on October 10th- when Ontario moved back to Phase 2 of the Covid-19 restrictions. Darwin says that they “weren’t warned about” the possible eviction, and now the Augusta Avenue branch is up for sale with photos of the Krudar gym along with all of its equipment under the listing.
Krudar Muay Thai acts as a social hub for many Filipino – Canadian students and martial arts practitioners in the community. Darwin took to Instagram to inform his community about the closure and received thousands of views and support. He has also started a Gofundme page appealing to Councillor Mike Layton, MPP Jessica Bell, MP Chrystia Freeland and Premier Doug Ford, demanding an extension to the eviction ban. As of Thursday afternoon, 3,344 people have signed the petition.
“Our next move is to go online, and just talk with out members and say look we’re all in this together,” Darwin said. “No options really.”
