Balham Leisure Centre, Balham, London

Bad classes, dirty gym and changing rooms, terrible class instructors. The classes are so bad I have to go to the gym after to make it feel like I've actually worked out, they are not well explained if you are new to the class and one instructor made us wait while he took a casual phone call during a class and is generally dismissive.

Online booking system is always down so can't book online and the door to get in the gym is always broken so you have to wait for someone to leave the gym to enter.

On the bright side the staff are lovely.

I mainly use Balham Leisure Centre to go and play squash, as their courts are the nearest to where I live in Clapham Junction.

There are 3 squash courts, two with perspex back and one with a brick back. They are not in particularly good shape and could use a bit of a re-paint, but not really any worse than any other courts I have used.

The staff are usually helpful enough, although a lot of the time they seem fairly disinterested. In the past on a couple of occasions they have lost my booking, but this has not happened in the past 6 months, so they seem to have rectified this problem.

The facilities are adequate enough and of a decent standard of cleanliness. I have never used the swimming pool, as it looks a bit small and cramped.

The issue with booking squash courts is that if you want a weekday evening, you have to ring 7 days in advance on the dot of 10am, otherwise they get full. To do this you have to be a member, which is about £30 a year, although this does mean you pay about a pound less for each court hire.

Overall, I'd recommend Balham Leisure Centre, as long as your expectations are not too high!