David Lloyd gym price increase AIBU?

Ours is extortionate but the club does get investment. To be honest we only stay as the kids have tennis & swimming lessons & the teachers are good, we are short on time and its convenient - when both are done with swim lessons we'll move to a basic tennis club.

We used to pay £219 for 2 adults and 2 kids but now alone I pay £99 and have barely used it. My issue is a love the outdoor pool so sadly I feel it’s a luxury I’d like to keep. Dread what the increase is though and I now can’t access the two other DL near me as they’re super swanky new spa garden things!

So often the way with things like this that they're great if you're going all the time, but not worth it otherwise.

I pay £42 per month on an anytime plan with Village Gym, it's a 12 month commitment. For that I have unlimited access to both peak and off peak, gym, swim and any classes I want to participate in. Its a fantastic gym, I used to go probably 4 or five times a week, haven't been for a fortnight now but I am hoping to get back into it again soon. It started off around £34 a month - that was in about 2018 so its not gone up much.

Is anyone a member at the Beckenham club?

Some of the London DLs are £225+++ a month for ONE ADULT.
You can go to our local The Gym for £22.99 a month. There are more machines a less queues at The Gym. The Gym is not got the DL social scene if that's what you're into though.

... but I agree with you OP, it is mad money!!!!

I was paying £280 pm+ (can't remember exactly) for myself and two kids in DL Cambridge. I left over 18 months ago.

It was platinum membership (everything included).

We moved away and I had to cancel.

No DL near us now.

To this day the kids still talk lovingly about DL and secretly I miss it too.

I would work from DL when I needed a change of scene.

We ate there after classes and we were healthier - I had a better routine and I was slimmer.

The access to table tennis, rackets in the car if they wanted a hit on the kids courts, play zone, it was all great.

Still miss it!

Our local gyms are horrible. Crappy showers where you press the button for a 15 second splash, chipped tiles, no individual changing rooms (problem for one child who can't bear this) but most of all, crap teachers. I wouldn't pay 50p for the shitshow swim lessons my kids are now in.

I miss you DL!!!!

This is the knock on impacts of the recent NI and minimum wage increases. It doesn't seem unreasonable.

Please check terms and conditions because if your membership goes up above a certain amount you don’t have to give the 3 month notice - you can cancel at the end of December and save money.

Totally agree about all the decent classes being during the day. No use to me when I work. Fri evening no classes at all. Thursday evening one pilates class, there used to be a spin class but the instructor left and they haven’t replaced the class. Same with Saturday morning spin, now also off the timetable

DL are a law to themselves. Everyone, even within one club pay a different amount for the same access.

It is very possible that if you've been a member for a long time, you were on a much cheaper legacy price than new member. So what they do is crank up the annual increase.

Also, there use to be discretion for local managers to agree pricing. This has now stopped and it's all down to the main office team. They don't care at all about individual circumstances. You can give notice and hope they agree on a compromise. You can leave for 3 months and then try to sign up again in the new year with their offer for new customers, but there is always a risk that it might be more expensive than what you pay currently.

Also, huge difference in pricing depending on the geography.

I have cancelled ours. We pay almost £300 for Platinum to cover two kids and adults. The classes I want to attend are almost always fully booked and as a result it’s not worth the extortionate amount we pay.

Ours went up ridiculously so it would have been over £200 just for me, and that was with the 'grandfathered in' spa price.

Price rise was above what was written in the contract so I cancelled with no fuss. I had been there for 6 years but they weren't interested in offering a deal so I could stay. Still cross about it tbh.

I will now be paying £104 a month, just for me, and I only use the pool.
It does ensure that I go, though, to get my money’s worth! It’s also extremely convenient for me - a short bus ride away. Any other pool would certainly be cheaper, but much more of a faff to get to, and I’d have to pay to park. So I know I’d often feel that I couldn’t be bothered.

The other thing I like is that the pool is never remotely busy. Plus of course the ‘free’ towel - not having to cart a soggy one home.

If you have had any other bills increase, they allow you to cancel with immediate affect.

Ours was going up to £310 from £260 for family with swimming, but the same month our mortgage had gone from £1,200pcm to £1,600pcm and we said we were unable to afford it.

Yes, and also look at the Hussle gym pass to see if could work for you.

I'm not sure that's necessarily lawful as you should be able to cancel before a price increase affects you. It might depend on the contract terms, but I also think a term that says "we can put the price up and you can't cancel before it takes effect" would be ineffective and if you wrote to them pointing that out and saying see you in court they would let it lie.

Of maybe they just charge as much as they think customers will pay. A lot of the people who work there are self employed so they won't be paying higher national insurance for them.

See if you have a local hotel with gym facilities or swimming pool - much quieter and usually well
maintained

I pay £45 per month for unlimited fitness classes (not gym / swimming) at local authority centre. The building is clean, studios are well equipped and the same instructors as in David Lloyd etc

Our local one in Scotland for 2 adults 2 children is £270/month for Platinum online (plus £140 joining fee). We had corporate memberships before kids and would like to join again, but that is just obscene.

I did go and visit them after lockdown eased and got the tour/sales pitch and was offered it at £180/month with no joining fee. Obviously prices have increased since then, but I still feel I was getting a discount talking direct with a sales guy

I loved DL. Went regularly until we started our business which took over. We would love to go back but the last quote I got was £110 each and £65 joing fee (and thats half price!).

I put in my notice a month ago so only another 2 to go. My club has been undergoing renovations all year and we’ve had to put up with a building site and loss of various facilities over the year, no discounts offered and I’ve just had my renewal notice through and it’s going up from £125 a month to £139 !! That’s basic membership, no tennis or blaze.

The reason I decided to leave, before I knew the hike in prices, was the lack of decent classes in the evenings, All the good classes are on in the mornings and get booked up very quickly. The afternoons / early evenings / weekends are all kids stuff. So those of us who work have the odd class to choose from later in the evening.

I will make use of the local council one which is only £50 per month and has some good evening classes and I’ll do online pilates. Come summer I’ll make use of the great outdoors.

I agree OP. Ours has just had a refit and my membership (standard, not blaze) has gone up around 20%.