The Bankside Health Club

I've been a member of Bankside gym for over two years and it used to be a decent gym - friendly staff, good facilities, broad range of classes. But in recent months the club has been so focussed on upping its profits and cramming as many people as possible in the place, it's no longer a pleasant, or safe, place to train. If you're trying to work out on your own, you're likely to find yourself crowded off the floor by classes, which apparently take precedence over any member who's just come in to do a bit of training on their own. The club is making a big song and dance about the fact that it has 150+ classes, but if that means nobody can get into the place, I'm not sure it's such a great promotional feature.

And even if you do join a class, (which means logging into the booking system at 6.30 in the morning as the spaces all seem to get taken within 5 minutes of being available) you will find it just as overcrowded. Far too many people are allowed to book, and there is no control over class numbers (in spite of the booking system). So you now spend half your time trying to avoid contact with people around you; you often can't actually do what the class instructor is asking because there isn't room. I have now stopped going to classes as the last one I attended I was being kicked during the exercises by the person behind me because there wasn't enough room for everybody in the room.

This overcrowding has a knock impact in the changing rooms. If you are there at peak times, particularly in the morning, you can find yourself in a queue for up to 10 minutes for a shower, followed be an equally long wait for the hair dryers, so be warned - you might not make it to work on time. There's barely enough room to change, and not enough lockers.

On the plus side, the staff are mostly pretty friendly, and the facilities are clean and reasonably well kept; that's the only reason it's a 2 star rating not a 1 star.

The only reason I haven't left is because I have a great personal trainer there. But I am looking an finding an alternative. Bankside is so overcrowded it's downright unpleasant to train in.

Given that this is a gym in Central London, the monthly fees are actually pretty reasonable - comparable with Fitness First, etc. For £50/month, you can get access to their other gyms, one of which (in Shoreditch) has a pool - so actually that's pretty good, in my experience. The gym is busy but has a lot of equipment. I can see that it might not be the best choice if you want to do a lot of classes, but if you're sufficiently motivated to just get on with it on your own, it's fine. The women's showers an changing rooms are perfectly nice, I think. If you want really nice facilities in Central London, you will need to pay more than this, so I think it's important to keep a sense of perspective. The staff are sometimes a bit scatty, but generally quite friendly.

Very cramped underground club. Too few classes for the price - most clubs offer minimum one bodypump per day, one similar type of class per day. No early morning classes except spinning and even these are really late if you start before 9am! The grand total of three classes on a Friday and virtually nothing at weekends. They certainly dont put themselves out! Plus the showers are awful. I go there only because convenient location in that area.

Close REALLY early, would definitely not recommend, the staff are not helpful at all, and try and cancel and they do everything to try and not acknowledge you! disgusting, definitely never ever try this place

(1) All yoga classes are freezing. You warm up and freeze. (2) Some yoga teachers do not even bother to demonstrate the moves, just talk through them. (3) during a body pump class, the music is sooo loud, you can feel your hearing cells dying. it hurts your ears. (4) The locker rooms are packed at lunch time. You keep bumping into other people, it is so stressful and unpleasant.

After all these disappointments, when i filled out the form to cancel my membership on the 8th of May, I was forced to pay till the end of June. Amost 2 months from the day i wanted to close the acount.

Staffs not very friendly, I've been to many different gyms but this one operates as a monopoly since there is no alternative gym around the area.

Price very expensice compared to the facilities they have. Some of the people at the reception are unpleasantly unfriendly at times. If you can go to an alternative gym, do so.

I joined The Bankside Health Club when it opened and I love it. the staff are really friendly, the equipment is good and if something does break down it gets fixed quickly.

My only criticism is due to its popularity the changing rooms can get a bit busy just after work, but I understand they are enlarging them shortly so problem solved.

I definitely reccomend.

I joined Bankside Health Club close to Waterloo on the 12th of January. I decided within the same week to terminate my contract because I needed to go home to Dublin for an extended period of time. The gym wouldn't release me from the contract and told me they had no cooling off period for contract termination. I offered to pay a one months notice fee but they still refused to release me. The changing rooms are also too small and over crowded during peak times. DO NOT JOIN!

The Bankside Health club has a fantastic range fo equipment, including a funky boxing ring! I beleive the class programme to be extensive, there's something like 50 classes a week that I can join in on. I also think it's exceptional value for money and I have referred many friends/colleagues to join, better still the club has rewarded me for doing so.

Really poorly organised, over priced for what you get, staff don't know what is going on with mixed messages. have been to far better gyms