David Lloyd

We pay £225 for two adults, two teens (15 and 17) at David Lloyd West Bridgford.

Don't mean to sound snobby, but there have been a lot of new members recently who I am sure aren't paying that.

There was a group of lads in the pool last week in leggings. The reason was to cover their ankle tags!

Lots of young urban kids with bad language in the changing rooms.

Anyone know if £225 is about right? We get access, gym but not raquets.

I'm in Greater London and it's £174 for me and £30 for my 4yo. The 2yo is free but can't do any of the classes other than the paid swimming lessons.

Yes, that makes me mad. I asked our manager about this last Xmas and she proudly to,d me she’d cancelled 30% of classes. I pointed out she wasn’t refunding me 30% of my months fee!

we have such limited classes, no evening Pilates ever. 2 or 3 classes on a Saturday morning and nothing in the afternoon, same on a Sunday. We don’t have Blaze. So many spin classes are virtual.

@MeetMyCat yes, other women have reported it. If you’re not sure then ask at your branch what their policy is and be prepared to push them. They might say “women only”, but include males in their definition of women.

AFAIK Bannatyne is the only gym chain that promises single sex changing facilities

Additional. Everything is extra!

It’s the cost cutting which gets me, been a member for a decade and the decline is unreal. The company is owned by venture capitalists who are paring things down and gearing up for a sale I’d imagine.

so the cleaners have been cut, hence why it’s so dirty. The full time maintenance man was made redundant years ago and not replaced. They dropped all Les Mills classes to save money in having to pay Les Mills….apart from pump. They do their own knock off versions now which are rubbish.

They have stopped having gym staff on the gym floor! This is the big thing for me, if you don’t know how to use a bit of equipment there is nobody to ask. If I was paying £40 a month I might not mind so much. So recently I wanted to use the only Stages bike on the gym floor and couldn’t get the lever for the seat to lock….in the last I’d have asked gym staff but nobody there. So I went steaming down to ask the receptionist to come and do it 🤷‍♀️. If they don’t have staff in the gym then I’m going to make it someone else’s problem. She got a manager and the manager couldn’t do it either.

there’s idiots pissing about in the gym and no staff to stop them, so parents are bringing their primary age kids in to use the treadmills, etc which isn’t allowed and then no free treadmill. Nobody puts weights, etc back and in the last they’d have been put back my staff if necessary. So now I can’t find stuff.

I think the free weights at DL are absolute rubbish if that helps. A good friend is a member and gets guest passes so I often go with her, feel like I spend half the time scrabbling round for where someone has left the one set of weights I need..nothing is close together, the layout doesn't make sense. I need a bench near the squat rack or I need somewhere (anywhere) to do hip thrusts without dragging half the gym across the room to find space
some of the classes are alright..spirit and blaze are ok

For me, it’s the ‘club’ feel to the place. My fellow members are generally lovely, people make eye contact, smile, chat etc, it just feels good. And I feel quite comfortable having post work-out lunch on my own, then I read my kindle for an hour so. Even though I generally go with DH, I never feel self conscious if it’s just me, which is nice.

Does anyone know if their crèches are included in the membership price, or are an additional cost?

Sometimes- at summer holiday or Christmas times - they cancel certain classes to save money. Their argument is the gym is less busy.
So members have access to fewer classes- even though they themselves are not on holiday, and are still paying the same fee

We’ve been members for years. Used to be very good - but rapid staff turnover in our gym. And feels to be much more about DL taking your money and no longer giving good customer service.

i used to be able to make changes to our membership - eg taking a break from membership by just talking to someone at our gym. Now I have to email, don’t get a reply for ages and then get a useless reply that doesn’t address my questions.

I’d also be careful about what exactly they do offer for kids - mine are much older now - but some of the classes they really didn’t enjoy. As young teenagers there was very little for them that appealed to them.

I’d just look for online reviews and be careful about your decision

We were offered family membership for £270/month (midlands).
Nearly fainted. Didn't take it up.

Are you sure? Thankfully no sign of this at my local David Lloyd!

We pay £400 a month - London with amazing spa - 2 adults, 2 kids...super expensive but we go sat and sun morning and kids go to classes for 2 hours each day. Kids classes are ok at ours and kids happy to go. Joined late last year and I haven't been this fit since I was at school...it's been live changing for our family so worth it for us. If I break it down, 32 hours childcare included which we usually use (although it could be up to 64 over weekends for 2 kids), access to a spa that is better than any hotel spa I've been to (DH and I use twice a week) and DH and I are 'gyming' 3 times each a week.

Yes it's expensive, so they like to show you how great it is first to sell it to you before they reveal the prices. So says my son's gf who works for them selling these packages !

Depends on the branch, I’m north and it’s £109 just for me, or £135 for rackets membership. I know people at other branches are paying nearly £200 a month for individual membership and then some are £70 a month.

i don’t think it’s worth it, it’s dirty, maintenance is non existent, stuff stays broken for months. Ie all the shelves in the showers are now ripped off and have been for years and they won’t replace them so I have nowhere to put my wash bag or glasses apart from the floor. Timetable is dire, classes booked out, gym small and too many members so can’t get a bench, or get on the one deadlift platform or use equipment without hanging around waiting.

My friend recently wanted to end her membership because she could no longer afford it. They wanted bank statements to prove it …

I hate them for their mysterious approach to fees and regulations. Also the mixed sex changing rooms.

We pay about £100 per adult and £40 per child I think, plus extra for swimming lessons. There are frustrations, like when things break they seem to be left broken for ages, but on the whole we're really happy. A huge range of classes with excellent instructors, lovely pools (the outdoor pool in the summer could almost be at a medditeranean hotel), decent food in the cafe, and the children really enjoy the kids club, they do things like archery and scooters, and for 8+ there are family gym classes.

Our kids holiday club is only 9-1 and costs £25.

I used to be a member and I just won't pay the prices. It was over £100 for a single memberships years ago.

I use our local authority gym (recently refurbished) for £35pm including gym/pool/all classes. We also have a tennis club family membership down the road for £300 for the year. Maybe worth looking at other options like that?

I pay £90 for an adult and two children. Prices vary though.

We had a DL membership. 2 adults and 2 kids on platinum memberships at £39 a week.

it’s fur coat no knickers that place.

constant maintenance issues, something always not working. No maintenance staff, they employ contractors instead.

often a towel shortage, pool shuts to kids in winter (the outdoor one)

lots of swearing on the tennis courts.

kids classes are shit. Let’s play Lego classes, design classes which is drawing a picture that the staff tell you to draw. No other design things going on etc, my kids started to refuse to go in the classes as they’re crap.

food in the restaurant is very calorific and the menu is full of junk food.

when you’re shown round they make it out like it’s the bees knees, but it’s actually nothing like it.

I joined thinking I'd use the holiday clubs and was disappointed to find it was £35 extra for a half day 😡 didn't work for childcare at all unless you only need a couple of hours and can work from the gym.
Normal kids club was only an hour and constantly fully booked.
So we end up paying from proper childcare and then never having time to use the membership we were paying for.
We were family of 4 and were paying around £300 including swimming lessons in one of the lower tier clubs.

It's ridiculous for what you get. I feel these are more status than fitness. DP goes to the local virgin gym (but it's one of the fancier ones) and I believe it would be £90 a month without his benefits package at work. I go to the local pure gym and I have better equipment but no swimming pool or sauna. I pay £9.99