Nordic Leisure Club

This is a review of the gym at Elstead Hotel, this is open to the public and I was a member on/off for 5 years. The TLDR of this review is AVOID THIS GYM. There are much better gyms in the area for a cheaper price. If you have to be a member here, join on a 3 month contract and DO NOT join the gym for 12 months as it is due to be knocked down soon and the hotel will not refund you regardless of the amount of notice you give. I initially joined in 2019 before moving to the superior Better Gym which unfortunately closed which meant I re-joined at Elstead sometime in 2021. Firstly, in that time there has been absolutely no improvements made to the facilities. Much like the rest of the hotel the gym is severely outdated and essentially falling apart. The maintenance man does his best but there's only so much you can do with equipment and facilities that are 20+ years old. I could accept the old apparatus if the gym was well kept, clean and hygienic, however this is not the case. The gym floors are always filthy, the changing rooms are covered in dirty grimy water, the showers are often clogged with hair and the toilets regularly don't have hand towels/toilet paper. You'll often see 1 of 3 cleaners at the gym reception desk but (sorry to say as they all seem lovely) they do next to no work. Rather then giving the place a much needed tidy they seem to spend the majority of their working day hiding away in the storage cupboard / plant room. Before I finish, I'll quickly run through some of the other many issues there are with this place. - Dumbbells only go up to 20kg - No 16kg dumbbells - No barbells - They have 2 benches but they are both short & poor quality - 1 filthy gym mat - No squat rack - No pull up bar - A treadmill that I'm sure has been out of order for 5 years - The hot tub is actually a cold tub - The steam room door doesn't close properly which obviously lets all the heat out - The wooden sauna walls and roof are damaged seemingly beyond repair, the sauna is also a lot colder then others I have been in - Only 1 toilet in each changing room - Lack of a wet / dry area in the changing rooms meaning the whole room turns into a boggy swamp - No hairdryer for around 6 months, recently one was added again but it seems to be one from the 19th century so surprising doesn't work too well To finish (and most disappointingly for myself) the staff at the hotel have just generally got ruder. I'm not referring to the gym cleaners or maintenance men, more so the hotel reception staff. Maybe they don't care anymore as the hotel is due to be demolished soon and make way for flats, but any sort of positive/friendly customer service has seemingly gone out the window. The manager is a pleasant man but seems to have an issue with telling the truth, I asked to sign up to the gym on a 1 month contract (knowing that 1. they used to offer this and 2. the hotel will be flattened soon) but he said they have never offered 1 month contracts. This simply is not true and I have since spoke to 10-15 other gym go-ers who have agreed with me that the gym used to offer 1 month contracts. With the imminent demolition of the building, it is disappointing not to offer a contract shorter then 3 months for financial security. However even more disappointing is for the manager to flat out lie about offering them.

This is a review of the gym at Elstead Hotel, this is open to the public and I was a member on/off for 5 years. The TLDR of this review is AVOID THIS GYM. There are much better gyms in the area for a cheaper price. If you have to be a member here, join on a 3 month contract and DO NOT join the gym for 12 months as it is due to be knocked down soon and the hotel will not refund you regardless of the amount of notice you give. I initially joined in 2019 before moving to the superior Better Gym which unfortunately closed which meant I re-joined at Elstead sometime in 2021. Firstly, in that time there has been absolutely no improvements made to the facilities. Much like the rest of the hotel the gym is severely outdated and essentially falling apart. The maintenance man does his best but there's only so much you can do with equipment and facilities that are 20+ years old. I could accept the old apparatus if the gym was well kept, clean and hygienic, however this is not the case. The gym floors are always filthy, the changing rooms are covered in dirty grimy water, the showers are often clogged with hair and the toilets regularly don't have hand towels/toilet paper. You'll often see 1 of 3 cleaners at the gym reception desk but (sorry to say as they all seem lovely) they do next to no work. Rather then giving the place a much needed tidy they seem to spend the majority of their working day hiding away in the storage cupboard / plant room. Before I finish, I'll quickly run through some of the other many issues there are with this place. - Dumbbells only go up to 20kg - No 16kg dumbbells - No barbells - They have 2 benches but they are both short & poor quality - 1 filthy gym mat - No squat rack - No pull up bar - A treadmill that I'm sure has been out of order for 5 years - The hot tub is actually a cold tub - The steam room door doesn't close properly which obviously lets all the heat out - The wooden sauna walls and roof are damaged seemingly beyond repair, the sauna is also a lot colder then others I have been in - Only 1 toilet in each changing room - Lack of a wet / dry area in the changing rooms meaning the whole room turns into a boggy swamp - No hairdryer for around 6 months, recently one was added again but it seems to be one from the 19th century so surprising doesn't work too well To finish (and most disappointingly for myself) the staff at the hotel have just generally got ruder. I'm not referring to the gym cleaners or maintenance men, more so the hotel reception staff. Maybe they don't care anymore as the hotel is due to be demolished soon and make way for flats, but any sort of positive/friendly customer service has seemingly gone out the window. The manager is a pleasant man but seems to have an issue with telling the truth, I asked to sign up to the gym on a 1 month contract (knowing that 1. they used to offer this and 2. the hotel will be flattened soon) but he said they have never offered 1 month contracts. This simply is not true and I have since spoke to 10-15 other gym go-ers who have agreed with me that the gym used to offer 1 month contracts. With the imminent demolition of the building, it is disappointing not to offer a contract shorter then 3 months for financial security. However even more disappointing is for the manager to flat out lie about offering them.