David Lloyd - 3 year old £27/month?!

[MeakTiger]

I’ve been a member at David Lloyd three years, joining when my DS was a few weeks old. My membership is £85/month and I can’t say I’ve achieved my goals of weight loss or fitness but I do like the club although can only go two or three times a week as I work 4 days of long hours with a long commute.

My two year old turns three soon and will go from £0 to £27 a month. I normally take him for a swim a couple of times a month but can’t justify £27 a month. Does this pricing seem correct?

I really do enjoy going but struggle to justify the goat for what is normally eight classes and two or three swims a month.

There is only one other gym locally with a pool though and I really dislike it there. I’m thinking of trying to do more running and maybe trying the Les Mills at home videos for classes. Has anyone experience of these?

I think £27 is fine for a 3 year old, when mine were young they got loads of value for it: discounted tennis/swimming and dance lessons; crèche; art and activity classes.

When they got to 10/11 I really resented it - they were too old for the children's activities but weren't allowed to use the pool/courts/gym or attend any classes without an adult. A total waste.

It’s £39 for a 3 year old at my DL. I left and went to virgin, £20 a month which includes up to 4 hours of crèche a day!

My DL is £32 for a 3 year old. They have clubs/ classes for older kids too( up to 13 years). For now it is good value for money as kids go 4 to 5 times a week after school and on weekends.

We pay £29 a month for a two year old at our local leisure centre. It’s reasonable value for us (classes, pool and soft play) so will continue for now-when we stop getting value from it we will change the setup.

discounted tennis/swimming and dance lessons; crèche; art and activity classes.

My three year old must be very backwards as there is no way he could do tennis, dance, art or activity classes. He is also not allowed in the crèche due to the fact the staff can’t settle him, they said it was too disruptive.

He does go to nursery four days a week but would hate me shoving him into things on my day off and at weekends.

It’s obviously not for us, I thought the price may be a mistake but obviously not.

Incidentally looking at the timetable all the kids classes are age 5 plus. There is only one per week he could do age 3 without me paying extra.

He is not in any way backwards! 3 year olds want to mess about in mud and put Lego up their noses!

It's only now my DD is five I think it's value for money. Lots more classes.

She does tennis, dancing, arts
And crafts, football, movie night and a run around and play. Before she was five a lot of the classes were not available to her.

It's value for money for me as I work from home so I can go when I know it won't be busy.

I tend to avoid the classes, go in the spin room on my own for an hour.

The outdoor pool is great when the weather is ok for her.

We pay about 130 a month for two adults and a child. We don't get free towels though like a lot have said on here.

The changing rooms are spotless every time.

Ds gets more use out of now he is 7 than when he was 3 or 4 and I still paid for him to use the crèche during the mornings so I could do classes or use the gym.
Now he does a couple of activities after school there while I use the gym and we also swim sometimes.
Swimming lessons are on top but smallish groups of 6 children.
My dds however rarely use it but we won’t cancel them because it’s handy to have.
As a family of 5, we definitely don’t make the most of what we pay for at all, but I like having it - it’s literally at the end of our road, dp and I often pop down for a couple of hours at the spa if we get the free time together, it’s always totally spotless. No plasters or hair lurking in the showers, always loo roll in the toilets and there is always a team of cleaners about.
We get towels but only because we upgraded to the top level (vantage I believe it used to be called but the name has changed again?) - this was Dps idea, I don’t give a stuff, the towels are too small for me anyway! We do get a free guest pass each once a month which is handy for when dc have children to sleep over and want to go swimming the next day.
If you can make it work for you, I think it can be good value.

We didn't join until mine were at school but once school started I changed my hours to 5 days finishing to get back for school pick-up so we could go everyday. It works very well then as lots of people meet for playdates there - some just join for summer holidays - but much harder to make it work if you just have weekends.

We paid £140 a month for a family membership. There was bugger all for kids to do. They only had family sessions for 2 hours a day and even then there were two lanes for adults. I find DL a complete rip off in general.

Our DC x 2 pay this but we use it all the time so is well worth it. Swimming lessons are extra but the DL kids is included. This week they are booked in Drama, Racquats, Rugby and Dance. Paying for those things individually would cost a bomb, after each class (which they can be left unattended for whilst I'm in the gym) we all go for a swim, shower etc.

It's either that or me fighting with them over screens

Worth every penny

The difference in facilities between various DL clubs is astonishing.

think it is a shame they charge the same for 3 years old as they do 18 years old. He doesn’t have the same access to facilitates (or even close) to that of an 18 year old.

Yes, but an 18 yr old is likely to be in work or education, so can only go for a limited amount of time. A 3 yr old could go every day, at which point membership becomes excellent vfm.

Yes, but an 18 yr old is likely to be in work or education, so can only go for a limited amount of time. A 3 yr old could go every day

Much harder when that 3 year old has two parents working full time hours! I’d love to be able to go to the gym everyday with him! My 18 year old DN goes far more frequently than my DS, and has far more access to classes and equipment.

My DL does not have those classes @deadsexy - there is ONE (always the same) class a day open to a three year old, and all other classes are 5 plus. They do have swimming classes but at an additional £9/week so I’m not counting those.

I’ve checked pricing for the whole family and it is £219 a month. With DH and myself both doing 40 hour (plus) working weeks, and me having 12 hours commute on top of that we can’t make the membership work with only 3 or 2 days in which the children can access it. It’s obviously targeted at families who work less (or where one parent works less).

Much harder when that 3 year old has two parents working full time hours! I’d love to be able to go to the gym everyday with him!

I knew you were, or someone else was going to reply that. The point is, the people setting up the pricing don't have private investigators checking out every family that might, not might not join. They look at the potential usage of that cohort.

All that said, I think it is a huge amount of money. I have membership at our local council gym. £30 odd per month and can go any time and includes any classes I want to book on too. If I had a 3 yr old, they swim for free.
My dc work at a Private members club. It costs about £100pm there, and quite frankly, the pool is far superior at the council gym. The pool at the private members club is much smaller and useless if you are a serious swimmer. Yes, you are mingling with richer people, and it is open a couple of hours later on Sat and Sunday evenings, but it can't be worth paying 3x as much for.

In some ways it's aimed at people who have the financial means that they can afford it regardless...

DL are like centre parcs, they keep the prices high to keep out the riff raff, people pay extra to feel like they are part of this exclusive club.

It must work, as they are still in business and have been a while, but I think it's a rip off personally.

The pool at our DLL is a proper 6 lane 25m pool.
There is also a toddler pool and a 20m outside pool.
You can swim properly there.
We used it a lot with the DDs until they hit there mid-teens.

My kids were members from when I joined.
When they were at primary I took them swimming a couple of times a week.
When they were at secondary they took themselves swimming at least once a week.
As they got older they started to use the gym a lot more.

I costed it up at about £2 per swim / gym session for them
which seemed pretty cheap to me.

Now they are at uni I have their memberships suspended in term times and restart them in the holidays.

It works for us.