Finally, paris has what communities in many European cities have long yearned for: a place where the observant can keep fit and keep modest at the same time.

Kosher Gym, located in the heart of Paris's northern Jewish community in the 19th arrondissement, offers the facilities of "regular" gyms - including showers and locker rooms - but, as its creator, David Cohen, says: "There is no problem of tzniut because no male is around when women are in the gym."

Mr Cohen, who spent a year in a yeshivah near Paris learning Torah and playing football, loves to work out in his spare time.

He said: "We have cardio machines, rowers, lessons in gymnastics, boxing and even oriental dancing for women. What struck me since we started a couple of months ago is that 80 per cent of the calls we get are from women of the Lubavitcher community."