This centre is so unexpected - you'd never think to find somewhere this flash on the Downham…read moreestate! There's a huge pool, a very new gym, classes and Costa Coffee. Downham library is also in the building, and a Health Centre. The creche is the best - great value for money and amazing staff - both my children have to be dragged out of there. My favourite classes are spinning with Ellie and Hi-Lo Aerobics. The only down side is the car park - you can only park for 2 and a half hours - be careful as it's done by camera and if you go over you get slapped with a fine automatically. With so much to do in there, it's easy to spend a lot longer there - I always have to run out and re-park!

I would have to say that the swimming pool at the Downham Health and Leisure centre is the best…read morepublic swimming pool in the borough of Lewisham! It's still pretty new as it was built nearly three years ago and has been maintained well ever since. The swimming pool has got a great viewing gallery and the swimming pool looks out onto the the green fields of Durham Hill! The gym facilities are of a good standard too - I was pleasantly surprised! They do not have a sauna, steam room or jacuzzi though, but they do have fitness classes. I recommend the Spinning sessions - they are very popular, but very punishing for the legs! I would recommend that you travel there by bicycle (there are lots of places to lock your bicycle outside the Centre) or use public transport, because the parking is very limited. If you're lucky to get a space, the you only have two and a half hours otherwise you get fined £90 - so be warned!

The swimming pool is excellent and great for children. They have a wave machine but do send out a…read morewarning for young children. The water is quite warm so is good for babies. Warmer than their sister leisure Centre, Cygnets. The grounds of the leisure Centre are nice and they have a playground and skateboarding area. The gym is not great and I have not returned after my initial consulation as I felt it was not as proffesional as my previous gym.

This is probably the best swimming pool I've been to (foreign holidays excluded) as it's so well…read moreequipped for the whole family. Parking is easy, the changing rooms are spacious and clean and the pool is large, warm and lots of fun! The flumes were out of action on the day I visited but this didn't ruin it as the wave machine was well worth waiting for. There's a small alcove where the force of the waves really picks up and the kids absolutely love this area. It can get a little dangerous with all the flying bodies so young children shouldn't go into that part unaccompanied. The shallow waters are ideal for very small children and a poolside tea/coffee area is great for viewing all the fun from a distance. An excellent trip for the whole family.

Having walked passed the gates to York Hall I was pleased to have a good reason to enter through…read morethe boxing entrance tonight - my first ever Book Slam, and what an amazing experience it was. Not quite sure where they hide the swimming pool mentioned by so many other reviewers as the main space is dedicated to boxing. Tonight's event made the most of it with a number of boxing-related performances. Once we found a seat at this sold out event, we joined the food queue. Big disappointment as they had stopped serving and we missed out on jerk chicken and lamb stew. Unfortunately, the promise of taking orders for the interval turned out to be an empty one ... Joined the drinks queue instead and enjoyed a liquid dinner of cheap wine - from tiny bottles - they had run out of full sized ones ... classy drinkers these book reading folk! Somehow this slight sense of chaos went well with the surroundings which reminded us of better times long gone. It was a magical evening alround.

I got to York Hall to swim, having found that it's run by the same people as manage Ironmonger Row…read moreBaths so I'm automatically a member of both centres as well as loads of others, which is awesome. Compared to shiny new refurbished Ironmonger, York Hall is a bit grotty. The changing rooms look fairly dirty (bring flip flops!) and your 20p for the locker is not returned. Also it's 20p for a hairdryer! I also didn't really like that there were fairly old boys getting changed in there with their mums. I'm not particularly precious about that kind of stuff in general, but it made me feel a bit uncomfortable. The pool itself is huge and the medium lane is 3 lane widths which means you have an overtaking lane. I thought this would make my swim a lot easier than at Ironmonger where there's a lot of traffic but you tend to get people randomly floating about which messes the whole thing up. I don't understand why (a) they don't figure out they should just go to the giant designated slow lane and (b) why the staff don't say anything. Stressful. Overall though it's a very good pool and as it's super convenient to me I'll keep going. The whole historic/boxing side is really cool, too!

Located at the bottom of Mile End Park (furthest from Mile End Road), Mile End Park Leisure Centre…read moreis a relatively new addition to this area of East London. Providing excellent facilities to the local community, this leisure centre can boast an excellent running track, five-a-side football and hockey courts, tennis, badminton, a 25m swimming pool, first-class gym, spa facilities and various fitness training programme. I started going here twice-weekly some years ago as part of a misguided attempt to bring myself back to a level approaching fitness. Predominantly I used the gym and swimming pool facilities but my membership also gave me access to the spa. You're unlikely to find better value for money anywhere else in London. Even without a membership it's fairly inexpensive - a swim costs around £2.50. They also organise weekly or bi-weekly swimming sessions for women only or baby and mother groups. If you live around this area this is a brilliant place to come and relax or keep up with a bit of fitness.

This is a local gym run by Tower hamlets. Which means the staff a fairly inept but it is cheap and…read moreclean. Membership is less than £1 a day. It also has a pool. Massive bonus for ladies is that there is a Ladies only gym. This is to allow for the larg muslim population in the area. There is hardly ever anyone in there so it's great. On certain nights there is Ladies only swimming which my friends and I call "Quimswim". Between7pm and 10pm on a Thursday and some other times there is Quim Swim. The pool is fairly empty by 9pm. It's great.

This is a fantastci leisure centre which offers a wide range of activities for all - the gym is…read morelarge, air conditioned and modern and has a dry area changing for you to get out of your work gear and into your workout gear. A personal trainer is always on hand for a bit of advice if you need it and sessions can be arranged with them for some serious workouts! The swimming pool is brilliant although there is not a lot of pool time available due to the sheer number of swimming lessons that go on here, however great for parents who wish to get hteir child into swimming lessons. During the winter there is an indoor ice rink which is great value and sessions can be booked in advance. The bar is good value and there are some healthy eating type vending machines in the lobby which dispense nuts and raisins and healthier snacks, along with the standard machines that you can eat junk from Wet changing rooms for the pool are always clean and i regular see the floors being washed down. Plenty of cubicles although they are small, and all showers are openplan which hinders privacy if you like to shower naked. There are a range of classes available including yoga,pilates and standard aerobic activities. Reception staff are generally friendly but phoning is a little hit and miss.

As leisure centres go, this place is ok. I mainly saw the swimming pool which was you standard…read morelarge adult pool and smaller children's pool along side it. The changing rooms are mixed which seems to work fine, however I know that's not everyones cup of tea. Whilst I was there I noticed that they were doing lots of development work so I suspect in time it will look all shiny and new.

Out dated machines in the gym. Gym staff a rude, no actual interest in the job. Staff in swimming…read morepool decided to have a go at me for swimming in the wrong direction but letting other people do just as i did. Lost my second job and couldnt pay for mine and my partners membership. Im trying to move somewhere cheaper. Cant really afford christmas for the family. Just about getting by for food and furzefield gym are forcing me to pay £50 for both of us for the next 4 months. Dont bother. Go to pure gym in near boreham wood. No human compassion, lack of empathy.

Very disappointed with the reopening of the leisure centre. After arriving at the gym we were…read moregreeted with a huge queue due to the systems being incredibly slow. After paying, we were left to find out for ourselves that the pool was closed down to one lane for ten people, with the rest of the pool left empty. The life guards then started to kick out the slowest of the swimmers before the session was half way through due to two swimmers trying to over take all the others. On the website there are strict rules of no overtaking but it was the slower swimmers who were kicked out. No where on the website does it state that you need to go as fast as you can and that everyone needs to keep up with the fastest swimmer! Let alone the fact that they squeezed us all into one lane. the staff were incredibly rude demanding the slower swimmers to "leave now" when asking why we need to leave, we were told that we were all keeping up the two fast swimmers. This is a huge disappointment due to the excitement of the pool reopening. Maybe if you can't stick to your own rules it would be best to stay closed until this virus has all blown over. It's terrible to advertise one service online, pay for that service and then be rudely told to "leave now" with the horrible attitude one of the staff members had. Hopefully they will clean up their act, but until then I would suggest giving it a miss unless you're the fastest swimmer in your class.

I am a member of Move GB, and this is one of the locations you can use the passes at. When I…read moreintroduced myself at the desk and said that it was the first time I was visiting, the lady on reception was so friendly and helpful, gave me a tour of the facilities, explained that the pools are public and the health club side is members-only, but that through Move GB I could choose which side to use. As I was only there to swim I gave the sauna and steam room a miss this time and went on through to the pool side. Only the main pool was open (it was around 7.30pm on a Thursday), but it is a good sized pool. There is also a teaching pool and I think there are outdoor pools too for summer! There were a few different lessons happening, and the two remaining lanes for lane swimming were a bit confusing and not very well patrolled in regards to the direction of swimming, and the whole pool was quite busy. This was probably worsened when half of one of those lanes was cordoned off for an aqua aerobics class, but it didn't bother me as I took part in the class! And it was great exercise! The changing rooms are mixed/ family ones, a good size with plenty of lockers that take tokens, which you can get for £1 from reception. Overall a welcoming place, and probably better when it is not quite so busy!

I wanted to join a gym closer to home, but was very disappointed by what I saw. The…read moreSpring-in-to-Health is the 'health club' part of the public swimming baths. But in reality all it provides is a separate changing rooms for monthly paying guests The entrance lobby is poorly designed and the men's changing room is split into two on the ground floor, fitted out with what looked like the cheapest fittings they could find. Upstairs on the main gym floor - most the equipment was showing its age. All 1990's equipment squeezed in. The dumb bells had chunks missing from the rubberised edges and looked terrible. Considering the competition around, its extremely poor value for money. Having been a member at more modern gyms, you really notice how totally out of date and ratty this place is.

When I first signed up for the gym membership here, I was expecting to work out among only the…read moresenior members of the local community - not that that would be a bad thing. But then I was the more surprised that the clientele here is actually very diverse: from the teens, who are posing in front of the mirrors in the locker rooms to show off their muscles, the bus drivers working out during their breaks, the house wives gathering in the morning to do engage in chit-chat on the cross trainers, and the grandma from next door who's the most enthusiastic participant in the tummy session... When you join with a yearly membership - which is really affordable - you get a package of personal training sessions, a gym towel, a T-shirt and a water bottle...all this is nothing fancy, but then again it kind of entices you to continue coming. Also, the trainers here are really great, I have to say. What's best about them is that they engage in ever-so-brief conversations with you; they ask you how you're coming along, or when you haven't been there for a while, they notice you coming back and congratulate you on that. This, I feel is great and it makes me feel as being part of some kind of community. Keep up doing the good work!

I have used this pool a lot over the years as a great place for younger kids to gain pool…read moreconfidence and have fun. Its another beach style pool with a tiled island area - perfect for little ones getting to grips with jumping in the water. Much of this pool is really shallow. It has a reasonable wave machine - with a shelf you can sit on and get battered by the waves. Great fun when the kids were under 8 - we came here after school every 3 weeks over a couple of years (we use to alternate with Britannia in Hoxton and Waterfront in Woolwich) - but we have outgrown it . All the kids swim competitively now and the fun here is too tame for them (even with the youngest at 9). It has a really small swim around the island with no jets - just a waterfall that flows over your head as you swim by. A good shower jet for standing under that is powerful and always catches new visitors out as they desperately try to stop the jet removing their swimsuit. There is one slide which is great for first slide experiences....It snakes directly over the pool and is only half tube so if you go fast enough you get to splash the water over the top onto the pool below (and unsuspecting swimmers). Guess I spent too much time here. Main jacuzzi pool was always out of action and the small version was pretty poor. They do offer lane swimming if you want to train after public sessions - they stretch a few ropes across - so many better places to train, not sure why anyone would use this unless they lived next door.. We got to know most of the staff really well - slide was always open and on quiet nights we would get the waves to order. If you are looking to build water confidence in your toddlers or provide fun for under eights then this is great - otherwise travel there are better places about. Showers hit and miss, changing facilities basic and there is a gym. Never used it so cannot comment.