Are you a David Lloyd member? Swimming pools

[CheeryOchreCat]

A new David Lloyd is opening not far from us, and I am potentially interested in joining.

However, I'd like to understand a bit more about how they operate their pools. The new club will have one 20-metre indoor pool and one 25-metre outdoor pool. I appreciate each club will likely be slightly different but I'd like to hear from current members about how their pools are organised, especially if you have a set-up similar to what the new club will have.

Is there lane swimming available at all times? While I appreciate this will be club-specific, does it ever get mega-busy during lane sessions? Is it permitted to use equipment like fins and hand paddles?

Similarly, are the pool(s) regularly taken over for kids' swimming lessons, aqua aerobics and stuff like that?

What about during the school holidays? Are there adults-only times for the pools?

One of the main things attracting me to DL is the possibility of more choice when it comes to lane swimming times. We have a council pool but lane swimming is restricted to certain hours, and over the weekend especially it's very limited as there's swimming lessons, family swim and so forth. The pool itself is also small and the lanes get very busy. During the school holidays the lane swimming times reduce even further.

DL haven't released much info about the new club yet so it's hard to find out about how things might work, and I don't know any DL members in person.

Thanks for any insight!

We’re members at our local club. There are two swimming pools, 25m indoor and 20m outdoor. There is also a jacuzzi (adults only) and a small children’s pool, which is very shallow and used by families with very young children.

There is always at least one lane available in the indoor pool; this increases to a maximum of three lanes with signs at the end indicating which one is for fast, medium speed and slow swimmers. There are three additional lanes marked out by the tiles on the pool floor but not roped off, as this larger space is always available for open swimming. This space does get very busy on weekend mornings and during school holidays. When children’s swimming lessons are running (afternoons from about 4:00pm until 6:00pm, and Saturday and Sunday mornings), at least one lane is used for the lessons. There are also other sessions which take a lane out at other times, for example adults’ swim training and Rookie Lifeguard for older children. Aqua aerobics is scheduled regularly throughout the week, and I always avoid the indoor pool when that class is taking place, as the majority of the pool space is used owing to the popularity of the class.

The outdoor pool is similar to what others have described, open all year (closed very occasionally during very severe weather, or if the area around the pool is very icy) and rarely busy but also rarely empty - there’s almost always one or two people swimming lengths out there. It’s also used by people training for triathlons or Ironman competitions. When the weather is hot, it’s heaving with all loungers taken and people spreading towels out on the grass banking below the tennis courts. There are no swimming lessons in the outdoor pool, with the exception of a couple of weeks a few years ago when the indoor pool was closed to be re-tiled. They moved back indoors when the work had been completed.

The outdoor pool is an adults only pool during most of the year; children are not allowed to swim in either pool unless a lifeguard is on duty, and there are no lifeguards supervising the outdoor pool outside of the May-September period. The indoor pool is adults only until 10:00am during the week (9:30am at weekends) and I think between 12:30pm and 1:30pm as well as after 8:30pm. The sauna and jacuzzi are adults only at all times.

DD11 has swimming lessons (will probably stop once she goes to secondary school in September as she’s a great swimmer now), and also does Rookie Lifeguard which she loves. We pay extra for both, neither is included within the membership. Add in her tennis lessons and snacks/drinks in the club room for all of us, and DL receive significant money from us every month. However, it’s definitely worth it for us; DH and I use the gym regularly, and we all like the fact that there’s something for all of us.

ours usually goes down to one lane between 3-7 for swimming lessons and often the main bit of the pool is only open for aqua aerobics. I am a member and I enjoy it but mainly use it for gym classes. That said it is extortionate, classes are over subscribed and hard to get onto. You have to sent an alarm from 6.30 at ours to get booked on as by 6.40 it’s full. Parking is also crap at ours as there are too many members.

I joined ours locally to use the pools (not into gyms). The outdoor one was only really usable from April onwards to September and was OK apart from in school holidays/after school times. The indoor one was better, but I then found that if you went in from 5pm onwards it was full of students who would alternate from the hot tubs to the pool just standing around the edges. They usually had 2 lanes and then half the pool free. Thankfully I took a monthly membership out and let it lapse after 3 months as swimming proved a bit harder than it should have been.

Fins and snorkels are not allowed in our DL. We don't have an outdoor pool but we have two indoor ones, a big one and a smaller one. Both close regularly for lessons. We also have the Thursday Aquafit classes...

We cancelled too, it was more frustrating trying to swim there than at the leisure centre. Same issues, but a lot more expensive!

I’m a member of a town centre DL with 20m indoor pool. There are supposed to be adults only sessions eg after 2pm at weekends but these don’t seem to be enforced and there are often parents with kids at adult times. Also often dominated by teenagers and young adults in groups horseplaying in pool which makes it difficult to do slow lengths (2 lanes available but faster swimmers). Often on phones too which is a concern in pool area… whole gym dominated by teenagers from local schools (including superselective grammar popular on MN which is just round the corner). Club room resembles school common room and they’ve installed table tennis table in reception area which also contributes to youth club/common room vibes. I’ve nothing against teenagers (have one of my own) but they completely dominate and get prioritised here. Rant over!

Here's an example of swimming times - one weekday and one weekend

My images are under review!

Tuesday
Adult Only - 6am - 10am
Family - 10am - 1pm
Adult Only - 2pm - 4pm
Family - 4pm - 7.30pm
Adult - 7.30pm - 9.45pm

Outdoor is Adult Only all day (other than summer)

Saturday
Adult Only - 7am - 9am
Family- 9am - 4pm
Adult Only- 4pm - 8.45pm

As above for outdoor pool

I’m a member. There are always lanes blocked off. It’s busy with children between 4-6 after school and on a Saturday and Sunday morning. The rest of the times it isn’t too bad. I take my son swimming at about 6pm on a Sunday and we’re often the only people in the main bit of the pool.

It’s adult only in the morning and after 8pm week days and 7pm weekends. Apart from summer the outdoor pool is adult only.

In my newly opened DL has indoor and outdoor pools. And a small toddler indoor pool.
The indoor pool has 3 lanes for swiiming slow ,medium and fast and a general area.
The general.area is sometimes used for aqua aerobics and the slow lane for swimmimg lessons.
The outdoor pool has 4 wide lanes ( not sure uf it will change in summer)
Both are nice and warm.
Outdoor pool is quiet all the time atm but will clearly get busy when nice weather arrives.
The indoor pool is really busy during the day on weekends with families but is quiet in the evenings if theres not aqua going on.I joined on an early bird offer for £150 per month but i think current price is £189 per month. DL is a bit smoke and mirrors.
Beware that DL do change things without notice we were a tier 2 club when it opened 3 months ago but are now tier 3 so members can no longer access the other clubs they thought they would be able to.
Also free monthly guest passes still have not been issued to members , we werent told there would be a delay when signing up , then were told it would be march but now not til April -4 months after opening. And guest passes do not include spa. This also wasnt made clear when joining, if you want your guest to visit the spa its an extra £40.
Spa can be a bit like a wetherspoons on a friday night if you go at the wrong time, especially on weekday evenings , so not always the tranquil experience i hoped for! Maybe thats why weve been downgraded to tier 3!!!
Anyway take screen shots , download any details of facilities advertised before opening so if they change it after signing up youve got evidence!
Having said that I am really enjoying the facilities .

Thanks so much everyone, plenty of food for thought here. I'm fortunate in that, by the sounds of it, I'd be most likely to go at times when it's a bit quieter. For instance, I'd love to be able to drop my DD to nursery & go on to swim, so swimming between 8.30-9.30, then straight back home to start work. With our council pool, the morning lane swim is already wrapping up by 8.30. Whereas at DL you might have mostly missed the early morning crowd, but it's still within the 'adults only' time and perhaps not as busy. I very rarely go to swim or to the gym during the evening peak of 4-7ish due to childcare. I'd be happy to get up early on Saturday and/or Sunday morning to get a swim in, but that's not an option with our council pool, whereas it seems like it would be with DL and you'd be finished before it started to get very busy, even in the summer.

You'll be fine on a week day morning, even if it’s not adults only. In term-time you’ll get a few people swimming with babies/ toddlers but not loads. In the holidays it doesn’t get busy until after 10 at our gym.

At my DL the furthest part of the pool gets blocked off for lessons or aqua aerobics.

I’ve not encountered any problems with availability myself…

We use 2 and both have at least 2 lanes for swimming at all times, in both pools, except i have noticed they do mid morning water aerobics and use the lanes for that.

One has 3 lands and during swimming lessons one-off those lanes becomes kids lessons lane.

Your schedule sounds fine - I would be shocked if you have any problems. Even in summer, the pools tend to be quieter in the morning. Ds and I used to go early in summer holidays and no one was there. But by about lunch time its heaving.

I think the new ones are mostly.tier 1 and above though - so v pricey.

I'm a member and our club has a 20m indoor pool and an outdoor hydro pool - small but so lovely and relaxing. There is adults only swimming every morning 6-10am, lunchtimes roughly 12-2 (sometimes aqua aerobics in the middle) and evenings roughly 6-?9 or 10pm.

I find it's quiet if I go at 9am or lunchtimes - sometimes I'm the only one in the pool. Weekends adults only is before 9 or 10am and after 6 or 7pm. There is always at least one lane open during family swim times but it can be a bit noisy so I tend to avoid those.

I love swimming there and I enjoy the pilates classes - mat and reformer - and sometimes yoga too