David Lloyd Gym membership

[Foxsticks]

Hi, is anyone a member of a David Lloyd gym? Would you recommend and would you mind sharing how much you pay a month. We would like to join our local one but there is no mention of costs anywhere on the website (which is always a bad sign!) also are creche costs included or extra?

[BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack]

My friend is a member and she pays £83 per month which I think is madness. I cannot imagine creche costs will be included - DL like their pound of flesh! Do you know anyone who is a member already or who works there as sometimes they can get you the friend and family deal, think it goes down to about £50 a month and £25 for kids.

I am a member of parkwood leisure who have branches all over the country - I pay £38 per month. Do you have Parkwood near you?

[Foxsticks]

Wow that is a lot Betty! Our closest Parkwood is 40 minutes away, I don't think I would motivate myself to go as that's a bit too far. I'll have to see if there are any reasonable ones near by.

[Mitchy1nge]

my old old gym is now a David Lloyd (it was Next Generation) and I used to pay £99 a month to include tennis

which was cheaper than any other gym plus separate tennis club

but that was years ago and I was shit at tennis anyway, would quite like to go crawling back to them but don't fancy the expense or the annual membership straitjacket aspect

[Mitchy1nge]

but their pool is no deeper than 4' at any point (phobic) and there is an outdoor one too which I much prefer

[pootlebug]

Can't remember how much our local one was but I know it was a lot more than the (very good) council run facilities, and the creche was at extra cost.

[BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack]

My gym includes tennis, badminton and table tennis and swimming all for no extra.

DL is lovely, very sugar coated and lovely but ultimately offers no more than park wood.

[JaneRizzoli]

my membership for myself and 2yr old DD is £63.75pcm for full use of all facilities including racquet sports and the pools. This is a discounted price as I have a relative who works there so got a friends and family discount. The creche is extra at £4.50 per hour and its only available Tues-Fri 9:30-11:30. I know they have an option to do a 3 month membership rather than tie you in for a whole year. On the whole I am not sure it worth the price but I do like the creche and the baby pool is great with lots of toddler friendly toys.

[BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack]

plus with ParkWood you can use any of their gyms -think where I live there are about 4 venues I can use.

40 mins quite a way though, that would me a no for me!

[muser31]

i ended up going to DL just a few times as i got in free with my friend (works there) the prices are extortionate!!!! the only thing that i really loved about it was the extra space in the showers, and the nice cafe afterwards. but sure of course its not worth the money!

[amothersplaceisinthewrong]

Wow, I am sure our Dl is only about £40 a month (pool, gym, classes, no tennis)

I was a member years ago to swim. But there were people there who thought they had paid to hire a lane for their exclusive use. I was actually told to move as "this is my lane". I soon left and went elsewhere.

[Schumann]

Yes crèche is extra £4.50 ph I think but once children are 3 there is a whole timetable of activities every day of the week which isn't extra
Mine are currently doing 5 hours of activities (not all sporty stuff) a week each, which would cost more if I was paying for the individual activities. So it works out quite well for us.

Have you a virgin gym near you? I think their crèche isn't extra

[Foxsticks]

Thanks everyone thats all really useful. You could easily double your membership costs by using the creche twice a week for a couple of hours couldn't you?

I think there is a Virgin gym about 20 minutes away so I'll check that one out too.

[CajaDeLaMemoria]

Virgin will be closer to £45 per month but some don't have crèches. Ours closed the creche to build a better woman's area.

Facilities are fine, though.

[fivepies]

We used to be members at David Lloyd but we got hacked off with them for a number of reasons including hygiene standards and substantial year-on-year price increases. They also charged a lot to add our two DDs.
We moved to Virgin and are much more pleased. It feel like better value for money. Over 3s use the creche for free.

[Foxsticks]

Do you know how much it is for under 3s fivepies?

Looks like DL isn't the greatest option.

[EBearhug]

I wouldn't normally pay DL prices, but I adore swimming outside, so for me, that's worth paying for. But it depends on what you're likely to use.

[fivepies]

Our creche is £4.25 an hour. You can buy a pack of ten hours for £36.15 though.
Our gym also has an outdoor pool. But no family changing, which David Lloyd had. The newer virgin gyms have family changing.
Also, virgin have MUCH better and flexible policies regarding cancelling your membership. We had to endure a 3 month notice period with DL.
Oh yes, virgin are better about using other gyms. With DL you have to pay extra if you want to use any of their other gyms.

[Foxsticks]

Thanks Fivepies. It's the creche prices that are the killer really. I wish there was a gym where the creche was included in the membership price but thats wishful thinking I guess! Might have to go away and see if we can make any savings anywhere.

[MrsSippie]

We used to pay £180 ish for four of us. As the children got older they went off it a bit and then I started going less as I started running outside so now just dh is a member - off peak, which suits him is around £60 a month - and we seem to acquire guest passes regularly so I go maybe twice a month. It is lovely - we've been members on and off since it was next gen in 2004.

[hazelnutlatte]

I'm a member of virgin and the crèche is included in the membership price for over 3's and £3.75 an hour for under 3's. I went to a DL gym near my parents house once (pretended I wanted to join to get a free day pass) and the prices were vey similar to the virgin gym, but I was impressed with the amount of kids activities that they offered in addition to the crèche, plus they included swim a song swimming lessons in the price which I thought was very good too.

[Sassyparella]

DL have yet again increased its prices for 2017. To be a member of Rayners Park excluding racquets is now a monumental £106 per month up from £100.75 per month during 2016. Shocking! The club has become elitist down south but seems more reasonably priced up North.

[DameXanaduBramble]

I pay £100 for full racquet membership, this includes usage of any other dl in the country. Love mine, it has a great atmosphere and the staff are really good.

[ShutTheFuckUpBarbara]

I used to work in the industry, and DL is one of the most expensive chains out there.
The last time I got a quote from them (about 2 years ago) it would have been £90 odd a month and iirc that didn't include racket sports.
My current gym (Lifestyle fitness) is £18 a month and I love it!

[SaltySeaBird]

We pay £120/month two adults and two children albeit one of those is a baby.

We love it. It's our main indulgence (we chose DL and cheaper car rather than getting a better car on finance) but we do use it regularly and it is far nicer than any of the other gyms locally with better facilities.

[BlossomHillOne]

£150'a month for a family of 5 in the NW. I don't use the creche so no idea of the prices.