To wonder if any gyms actually have a creche?

My local leisure centre did but I don't know if it reopened after COVID.

my local council one does.

I had the same issue last year and ended up signing up at Gym with daycare. It made such a difference being able to work out while knowing my little one was being looked after just down the hall. The place isn’t fancy, but it’s clean and friendly, and the crèche staff were lovely. Worth checking if there’s one near you.

David Lloyd

As others have said, it's usually only the swankier 'health club' places that are nice but expensive.

Our town is small and doesn't have anything like that, but there are a couple of independent places that are happy for you to take children with you. Tiny ones in car seats or buggies next to where the class is taking place, bigger ones on the sofa usually with a handheld of some form. There's also a kickboxing place that has kids classes at the same time as the adults class so you can drop your kids for their class and work out yourself. That's pretty popular.

Mine does - town in Cheshire. Kids classes after school and at the weekend too.

My gym doesn’t, however I am welcome to bring my child along with me. They came from 7 weeks old so I think they are very used to it now, I have seen older children sit with iPads etc. It works well for us as they are a very good toddler and nosey so will sit still, and look at everything and everyone.

So if a gym doesn’t have it, it might be worth asking if they can come along, although I know this might be peoples idea of hell, as the gym should be time for you and not entertaining a baby in between sets 😂

Edit to add- my husband works away most of the week, so I don’t have much choice to bring them along. I did look at gyms with crèche facilities but they were so expensive, this was the next best thing for me anyway!

Ours did pre Covid. Everyone Active It never reopened though. BUT part of the reasoning was the facilities, there does seem to be a creche provision in the plans for the currently being built one.

Mine does. As well as kids classes all through the week after school.

I used to use David Lloyd when mine were tiny - except it was £12 per child (I had two babies) plus membership and they would tannoy me within minutes, often to corn and give them their sippy cup or similar as they wouldn’t hand anything to the child at all. It was unworkable and I stopped our membership in the end.

Our (v small town, midlands) local public leisure centre has stopped doing it, but next (slightly bigger) town leisure centre has childminding available for 2 hours a day, every week day

Oh, yeah, my gym did for 60 minutes on a Tuesday morning. In 1999.

Still advertising it in 2018. Probably had some of those babies working there by that point.

Mine is a Nuffield Health. I've never noticed a creche.

Virgin here does. £6 a session for under 3s (plus membership price).

My local gym has a creche for 5 and under where you can pay by the hour for childcare from 9am to 1pm.

I've not used but it seems to do well.

Pre-COVID, the local leisure centre (suburban London) had one. It wasn't a particularly expensive gym (£30ish a month for gym/pool). It has closed now.

David Lloyd do, and have kids clubs. Obviously an expensive option.

In centralish London there used to be a stand-alone adhoc childcare place. I don't know if it still exists.

Mine does, when I used to take the kids when they were small I was there several times a week either to exercise or just to get some space whilst they were looked after for a couple of hours.

It wasn't cheap but it was less than paying a babysitter/nursery and I definitely got value for money and they enjoyed it too. We got swimming as well so I could take them whenever I wanted.

It's obviously not an option for people who are struggling financially but for those that aren't it's a useful suggestion to see if there is something nearby because it's good socially for you if you go to classes and gives you some breathing space for a couple of hours, your child gets used to being left and when they are a bit older they get to play with other children's. Plus great for fitness if you use the gym.

There just isn't very many about sadly.

The council-run leisure centre here has a creche, but private gyms around here generally don't.

We're 6 miles south of Oxford, small town.

Our local council leisure Center does. SE London.

I’ve not used it as I’m not wild about leaving small kids with people they’ve never seen before, but people do.

As pp have said David Lloyd gyms do but a parent recently complained about the timings, getting the kid in to crèche, one person recording, collecting child, uou then have seconds or are late for your class and have to be back within the time to collect your child when others are trying to drop off.

She said it was so chaotic she was worried about safety/care if the children, as a pp has also highlighted.

Mine did when my kids were young. That was in Cambridge.

I'm in a small city (population <200,000) in the south east.

I think the swankier ones do. I know our David Lloyd does

David Lloyd as PP have said. We pay £6-£7 an hour depending which one we use, we are about to go to our 4th one due to moving semi regularly. It is pricey with the membership but worth it for me!

2 out of 8ish gyms in my local area do (ex council, charitable trust ones)