Is David Lloyd membership for a family of five worth it?

[Isitreflux]

Considering joining DL Clubs but was a bit taken aback by their pricing! It will cost around £600 per month for myself, DH and 3 children. I know that may sound ridiculous but we truly end up spending near that amount each month on getting out trying to keep them busy and entertained… I only wish that price included some swimming lessons, a couple of creche sessions each month etc. Swimming and creche are add ons which is making me think it’s going to be too much. Thoughts?

Well how often will you go? £20 a day?

It depends on the club and its facilities as to whether it’s worth it - there is apparently different tiers of DL clubs for how basic vs luxurious they are (a staff member told me), which is why the fees vary widely depending on where you live, the tier etc.

I have recently cancelled my membership after ten years as the facilities were getting rundown and it had minimal investment etc - it was costing £140/month for me, my child, and swimming lessons. The pool has major maintenance issues and kept being closed and I’d had enough.

Shop around a bit and we how it compares and what you can afford, but £600/month is extortionate if you ask me.

If you can afford annual 7200 plus swim lessons and creche sessions then do it. DL is way too expensive for me but I do the leisure centre cheaper membership and the rest woukd be for a holiday. I'd rather have several fancy holidays than a fancy regular family gym membership. It depends what your priorities are.

Suggest getting it for yourself as a compromise.

I’ve handed my notice in at DL. They’ve gone massively downhill, clubs are full of influencers/posers parading around taking videos/selfies, gym equipment is never free so you wait around for ages to use anything, parking is impossible, classes are always fully booked by platinum members before regular members are given the opportunity to book, the pool is jam packed and feels like a 2* resort as soon as a bit of sun appears. They keep signing up new members and have removed the waiting list so it’s out of control. They increase the membership fee every year whilst cutting services. They are now saving money by limiting the temperature of the pool which is freezing and showers (used to be have to have a decent shower and now the water is barely lukewarm). We also get summer members joining and people who sneak in so lockers are broken into and valuables stolen. Everything used to be included in your membership fee, but now you have to pay extra for court access, blaze, pilates and spa access. They are trialling an extra fee for early booking access to the tennis/padel courts which I’ve no doubt they will roll out in every club very soon and again, normal racket membership will mean you can’t get a court unless one of the higher paying members cancels at the last minute.

Presumably at least some of your children are school age and you're unlikely to attend the gym with them after school every day. Therefore you'd be paying £600 a month for weekend use and occasionally using it during the week which seems ridiculously expensive and not at all good value for money.

Ooft, I wouldn’t pay that myself, that sounds crazy expensive. Depends if it’s worth it for you and your family but I can’t believe you would go enough to make that cost worth it.

We have it for our family of 5 (2 of our dc are now adults, 1 is a teen), it’s a really good one in the second tier. We took the older dc off a few years ago but have recently added them again.
is it ‘worth it’? For us yes, we don’t use it every day, far from it, but we like the convenience of the location, the facilities are upgraded regularly and it’s well maintained. The spa is immaculate although I don’t spend much time there when it’s lovely and warm as the outdoor pool gets so overcrowded.
We’re happy with what we get for the price but it totally depends on so many factors.
we don’t get our moneys worth but it’s handy to just pop down if I have a lull at work and use the gym for 45 minutes. We don’t use the classes but do book a padel court sometimes.

Not worth it. My family had ‘lifetime’ membership back in the 00s. But I find the clubs quite annoying and pretentious now, I could go frequently with my lifetime membership but I rarely think to. They’re just not the high quality the used to be. Possible exception being the tennis courts in the higher level clubs, so if you’re big tennis players then maybe worth it.

I’ve been considering this too. I started following my local DL on Instagram and I’ve been massively put off. They do loads of social media and it just seems to be run by a load of kids mucking around. It doesn’t look high end and the outdoor pool this last week looks like scenes from Benidorm.

For £600 a month I want it to be more high end.