To wonder if any gyms actually have a creche?

[Ohisitjustme]

I see mentioned a lot here as advice for SAHM or mothers whose partners work away etc : "oh, join a gym that has a creche and you can exercise without your DC"

I have never in my 45 years come across a gym or indeed any establishment that has a drop in creche. Well, IKEA, and one shopping centre in a big city far away (3 hours) that possibly no longer has this facility, I saw it maybe 5 years ago.

Is this actually a thing? If you do have one, could you give the general area or even: city, population 2 million .

Yabu: yes gyms with drop in creches are a thing.
Yanbu: I have never come across this / or it's not an everyday option for me (like me, you've seen one, once, many hours from home)

Ours does (Nuffield health) but it’s tricky as it’s only open 9-2 and that doesn’t always work.

David Lloyd gyms do.

shit, sorry didn't mean to quote the OP two posts into the thread.

As far as I know, the only ones I've heard of (but not seen as I am too poor) are in exclusive gyms like david Lloyd centres

David lloyd do

My gym does. Virgin active. And there's kids classes too.

It also isn’t free and works out £££ with more than one child.

My local Everyone Active gym does

Interesting! Are you all in cities? I'm in a small town pop 3,000.

Our local authority sports centre creche closed back in 2008.

A nice local private gym has a creche. I've just googled prices, membership is approx £80 a month, creche £10 per session on top of that.

Seems like it's out of reach for most people.

David Lloyd do but I wouldn’t leave my kid there ever again! I used to book ds into the crèche on a Thursday morning to do a spin and have PT. Then one time I went to pick him up and they had no record of him being there 🫠 he was actually in there but they didn’t have his details, for 2 hours didn’t know who he was, what his name was and had no record of him being there in case there was a fire/emergency.
Nothing terrible happened obviously but it was a huge safeguarding breach and I never paid for the facility ever again. It was over 10 years ago now but I’ve never forgotten it!!
It was only ever offered from something like 9:30-11:30 though so not especially flexibile for many people. Worked well for me as I didn’t work but wouldn’t have been great for a lot of others.
Was happy to book him into classes when he was older and could speak and communicate clearly etc.

I've been members of two gyms which both have crèche facilities. One in Peterborough, one in Lincoln. They also have children's classes for older children. Both are considered cities but not what I'd call large cities!

In large cities lots of them do. Not just the exclusive ones. I paid £25 a month for membership in one that had a crèche.

Go to your room and don't come out until you are sorry 😀

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

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!

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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