David Lloyd - anyone else not impressed?

[RosieRed2]

My friend is trying to convince me to join - I’ve done a trial day and didn’t find the gym all that impressive if I’m honest given it’s over £100 a month! Are there any members on here who can convince me it’s worthwhile?

If you’re already not impressed I don’t think anyone else’s input is going to be able to change your mind! Our local one is brilliant, we’ve been members for over 10 years but go through phases of getting a good amount of use out of it and then not at all for months on end.
But we like the facilities, dh and I often nip to the spa during my lunch break or if I have a quiet morning or early in a Saturday. It’s about a mile away from us so very close. Ds and I use the gym and then have a swim.
They have a nice outdoor pool which is adults only.
I don’t really bother with any of the classes now as I have a spin bike at home but they’ve spent a lot of money revamping it over the years and the gym is actually very well stocked with tonnes of machines and lots of each so I’m never hanging about waiting for things to become available.
in terms of finances we definitely don’t ‘get our moneys worth’ out of it but we like having it. It’s a luxury we could easily cut out if we needed to make cut backs.
Think we pay £380 for me, dh and ds. We used to have dds on it too but none of their friends were members and they wanted to go with them so they joined pure gym or anytime fitness (can’t remember which, both are quite near us).
I also pay to swim outdoors elsewhere and have now started a course of reformer Pilates again somewhere else as they don’t offer it - it’s a stupid cost for just one session a week so I wish they offered it at DL and I could finally benefit from one of their classes!

It worked for me for a year pre school because my child was very physical and old for her year and church hall activities just weren’t working for her. The free kids clubs, soft play, cafe and pool were a godsend.
For me, I loved the classes, so many and very frequent. Also we had an outdoor pool for the summer.
I am not sure I could justify it now though as that was a while ago.,

Couldn’t get out of my 12 months fast enough. They don’t value their members it’s all about getting new people to sign up. For the price you pay I’d expect pristine showers, pool and spa but it’s all just a bit… soggy? Not the cleanest. Could be a branch thing I suppose. I genuinely thought I’d be joining something like a members club but it really isn’t. Food is mediocre microwaved. I expected more social events and things for kids than there were. Kids are like £50 per month it’s ridiculous. Also joined on the higher tier to access the other gym nearby, it got renovated and bumped up to the very top tier and we weren’t allowed in, final cherry on top.

I left my local one, it was £170 a month and not worth the money.

Tbh it seems people are paying more for the lack of riffraff than the quality of facilities, the exclusive feel for people who have more money to spend. But I agree it needs to be something special for those prices

It is expensive but I like the pool. No matter how careful I am with my towel at the council one, it stinks of piss by the time I bring it home. Plus I like to go later in the evening and our council facilities close at 3pm Saturday and Sunday, which I find useless.

Mh local spa is adults only.
75" a month. I work too in the cafe - do gym and swim. Fab!
Left DL full of Asian men mansplaining in the sauna

@Dutchhouse14 I live near this one,I signed up, platinum is £140 ,no other tier choices given,it’s a present t myself as I really want to go in a nice pool.I’m imagining I won’t be a member for ever at that price😂.

Wow, I can't believe the figures I'm seeing here 😲.

I pay £30 a month. That gives me unlimited access to 8 leisure centres across the city, including a 50m competition pool, gyms, fitness classes, court bookings, etc.

Yes I do think DL is expensive for what they offer.

All the reasons that the parents are giving for loving DL are the reasons I left in the end. I mainly joined for the pools and the spa area, but they were really unpleasant to use during evenings and weekends because they were full of kids playing and it was impossible to just do some lengths. I accept that the children's parents had paid for membership and they had as much right to be there as anyone else but for the amount I was paying, I would have expected there to be dedicated times adults could use the pool for exercise and not just splashing about!

I left both DL and Virgin for this reason too. I swim a lot and it was so limited times I could actually swim as either lessons or kids playing and too crowded. I changed to an adult only gym and though not as fancy, I can swim anytime I want and don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to beat the kids.

They’re more a lifestyle club rather than just a gym so if you want just gym then prob not worth go to pure gym

They have pushed it too far with too many memberships

I was a diamond tier 1 blah blah... there were 3 within easy driving i was unimpressed with all of them. The tier 3 was actually the best but the spa was dire.

I struggled to park at all of them on a tuesday at 10 - its filled with 20 somethings who presumably live at home and "work" from DL.

The spa was permanently rammed with 20 something gym bros chatting nonsense about their nfts and imvestment portfolios 🙄

I am not fussy and wasnt happy leaving my baby at 2 of the creches AND thry dont tell you when you sign up its open TWO hours per day so it you want an afternoon class... tough!

The cafe restaurant food is garbage not nutritious and poor quality

Kids swim lessons were a waste of time and the pool broke and was permanently too cold for over a month managment had no interest in fixing it.

Kids classes are generally lame - lego or icecream making. Anything decent costs extra ... yay.

I also wasnt impressed with the gym instructors.

Ive used everything from Barry's, soul cycle and third space to pure gym and better gym.

The instructors are 💯 in the pure gym/ better gym camp. Which is fine for £40 per month but not okay when it £250 per person

There was very little to like.

Cancelled our membership… too expensive and didn’t meet expectations.

£259 for one person at my local club, and an extra £199 for my partner and a £170 joining fee each! And there’s a “delayed start” (waiting list). Actually insane.

well if you don't think it's worthwhile don't join OP

Years ago I had a couples membership with some kind of discount via DH's work. We lived close by and for what we paid it was worth it. Now the gyms are just the same and the price has skyrocketed beyond and I don't think it is worth it anymore. We use another gym, no spa but has all the same classes and gym equipment for a fraction of the price.

£100+ a month is fucking outrageous. I pay £28.99 for Pure Gym in an expensive area of the SE of England which has everything I need, and in some areas it's much cheaper than that. At that price I can still do separate yoga and breathwork classes as well in the village hall and the odd retreat.

I used to be a member and I honestly LOVED it and still miss it 🤣 The gym was great, good classes, really great pool including a heated outdoor one that I used year round. A spa area that they have now massively upgraded. We used the childcare for a few years then signed up for swimming and tennis lessons. We were basically there most of the weekend and several evenings a week so for us it was worth it
I dont know how much my local one would cost now for the 4 of us, suspect it would be several hundred. If it was closer I would be trying to persuade my DH to rejoin but we moved to the other side of the city and I csn walk to my local gym which is £36 a month so just cant justify it. Damn I miss it tho.

Well stuff that youve never personally seen does actually happen.

I can't link because MN don't allow links to crowdfunders but you can Google 'help Emma sue David Lloyd'. Their policy is any male who wants can use the women's changing rooms.

Ive been a member on an off for about 20 years, I tend to alternate gyms and also some years dont go to a gym.
The last time I joinex was about 3 years ago and our local one was ram packed and full of poserz, spa was getting a bit dated, outside pool was well just a bit crap and I did the year and havent returned. I used to like it a lot in the beginning, now its just getting dated and too full so not enjoyable to be in there.

It’s actually a really stupid thing to do. My dh had been a member of DL for over ten years because it was next to his office. I joined for a while, hated it and left. I had to wait out three months notice which I resented but he was even more pissed off as he had given them so much business. They didn’t even want to know why a long standing member was leaving. He would never rejoin because of the 3 months notice period.

We’re members as a family because it’s the best option for swimming in the area but it really isn’t worth the money by any stretch. They are also so, so money-grabbing - there’s no effort to look after members - and the service in the cafe is utterly dire at our one, I’m talking waits of 1.5 hours for burnt, cold food.

I’m looking at taking a new job with a pay cut - if I get it our DL membership will be the first thing we cull in order to balance the books!

It used to be nice years ago, but now they are greedy and let too many people in. Can barely park.

All of this - and the crèche also isn’t open on Sundays so if you work during the week you need to get one of two crèche slots on a Saturday.