The staff come in two kinds , nice and brusk and add a bit of cliquey with the regulars to that , pool and mens changing rooms are dirty and the poolstaff side need to be more pro active in sorting out swimmers who are in the wrong lane usually slower swimmers, prime example was today when I was there ,me and two other swimmers swam past one bloke who was going slow, I've complained about this on numerous occasions and promised that something will be done (clearly BS)and guess what two pool attendants were by the pool this morning and did sweet FA , maybe it will take an accident or a lawsuit after an accident for them to sort it read more

Excellent facilities and very nice staff. Gave this place a run out this morning on a recommendation by a friend and it's a great gym/leisure centre. I've now cancelled my very expensive membership with LA fitness and joined here for a lot less plus it's a rolling contact that I can cancel anytime! There seem to be a lot of negative reviews about the swimming facilities here which I have to say I haven't tried but the gym is great. Lots of equipment and lots of space. Perfect! read more

Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre - Recreation Centers Near Me - London, XGL

Inspired by Urbanite's review, I debate some of her points about the leisure centre staff and membership requests. However, I certainly agree though with their primitive marketing efforts although, I forgive it as effectively it's a 'council gym'. As a council gym I think it's wonderful. It earned 'Time Out Best Leisure Centre in London 2008'. However, as a member since it re-opened in April 2006 i've seen this Time Out accolade to cause it to be a victim of it's own success with more demand than it can cope hence the problems that Urbanite mentions. My annual-paid-in-advance-membership for this leisure centre causes no problems and swipe card access for classes, swimming and the gym. It also houses a (paid for) climbing wall, badminton, squash and I play 5-a-side (outdoor/floodlit) here which is incredible value for the location. With more investment, a quick fix up and listening to feedback (eg Urbanite's review) this centre can earn it's rightful top leisure centre accolade once again. read more

Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre - Recreation Centers Near Me - London, XGL

This health club is below par from American standards. While it is a good deal at 50£ per month, the staff are consistently rude and not friendly. The gym itself has had a non-functioning sauna (the main reason my husband joined) for the past 6 months. When we signed up we were told it would be a week until it was reopened. Were we intentionally lied to? Or are they just that slow at fixing it? Regardless, this is ridiculous. The classes, while frequently offered and available for online signup, the instructors seem like your average joe who decided one day "I think I'll teach an exercise class!" I guess I have high expectations of instructors, like they are fit and welcoming to all members of the class. I was once ignored by an instructor because I was a few minutes late (the cresh wouldn't take my daughter until 11, when the class started) I walked in at 11:02 and he had already started the class. I apologised as I set up my station. He ignored me and rolled his eyes. How unprofessional! I recently canceled my membership because I was unable to book Cresh times. People book and then don't show up for classes and the Cresh. There is no penalty if you pay a monthly membership. It creates a terrible environment where classes and the Cresh are fully booked but not actually full dying that time. The management does not care and was terrible when I asked for a refund of my last month because I couldn't get a single Cresh time for my daughter (the only way I can use the gym). Don't waste your time with this gym. If I haven't convinced you read the other reviews. read more

Pool is utter shit. Pervy old men, tons of screeching children in the pool and locker room, women shaving their legs in the shower when it explicitly says NOT to for hygiene reasons (are you gonna pee in the shower too?) and idiots who swim laps by splashing as much as possible. ::Taps shoulder:: Hey, you know a proper swimmer does a stroke with minimal commotion aka stop cupping your fucking hands to the surface when doing freestyle. And you're supposed to kick underwater so that you don't splash. In fact, you aren't supposed to splash EVER. Now take some fucking proper swim lessons before you share a lane. But mainly, the shitty swimmers ruin it for lap swims. Just because you can float and doggy paddle doesn't mean you belong in lap swim. read more

I am a regular customer at Swiss Cottage Leisure centre for the last 5 years and I must say that the whole centre has dropped in hygiene & cleanliness. The wear & tear is faster than the London Underground!! Last year they closed off the upstairs changing rooms for a refurb that lasted for more than 4 months. It took much longer than they have planned and re-opened in Oct. However there has been a leak recently and now it's closed again. Very disappointing. I have complained on numerous occasions on the cleanliness of their studios. The yoga class is the 2nd class of the morning so you'd wonder if the studio has been cleaned in the last week, every week. Doing yoga and lying on their mats with dusty/dirty floor isn't the most hygienic & pleasant experience. If it wasn't for the yoga teacher I wouldn't be going to any of their classes. I'm surprised how dirty their changing rooms are (upstairs & downstairs) in the morning as I go to swimming/yoga. The downstairs changing room has broken locks on the doors to the shower. The lifeguards tend to be in their own little world because on a few occasions there would be people would be swimming the wrong way or they'd be swimming fast in a slow lane/vice versa. They don't do anything until a swimmer complain to them. Although I've given it 2 stars, I'm still going to this leisure centre due to the yoga teacher, I'm paying my subscription & it's a meet up point with my friends to work out together and they live further up North. read more

I just love the look and feel of this leisure centre, its so large and got so much on offer. The facilities include swimming, badminton, basketball, gym, a place to leave the kids and even a huge rock climbing wall. I have been rock climbing a couple of times and it costs about £12.50, but it's worth it. The instructors are well-trained and you soon get the hang of it. However they're also fond of making a joke or two at your expense, which is kind of off putting when you're half way up a wall. My advice is to ignore them and focus. The class finishes in an hour and a half and you're always left wanting more. It's a great thing to do for a special occasion or as a regular hobby. read more

I went there for a children's party for some toddlers and babies. I was surprised at first that it wasn't in their soft play area and that instead they had temporarily converted half a sports hall. However For a children's party it worked quite well, the floor was covered in soft mats there was lot of soft equipment for them to play on and a small bouncy castle. afterwards we went upstairs to their expensive quasi-Mediterranean cafe which the kids all seemed to enjoy and had plenty of little chairs and high-chairs read more

This leisure centre is one of the best in the north of London. Renovations have been done and it looks pretty good. Great gym, good classes, big swimmingpool, climbingwall. The best thing about the gym is that you dont have to sign up for a year you just pay month by month. Next door is a library and they also have a very cosy coffeeshop with healthy food. The only downside is that queues can be really long, classes are full if you dont book in advance and the ladies changingroom is too small. read more

My wife and I have been members of the pool for a while. One Friday evening, someone broke into our lockers while we were swimming and stole everything. Speaking to staff and other members, it turns out that these burglaries are quite common. The offenders got away despite CCTV. There are no warnings signs and the lockers are still not upgraded. Their insurance does not cover the theft either. We decided to move to a better facility and encourage others to do the same. read more

Nice modern leisure centre/pool and clean spacious changing rooms. Slight chill at first but you soon warm up in the pool.  The first set of changing rooms are much better apparently. Cleaner, less busy. Free to use hair dryers so no messing about trying to find loose change. O beware of the lockers, you can only lock and use the key once as the door swallows the token otherwise you'll have to use a pound coin or go all the way upstairs for another token.  Not allowed to shave in the shower though, for hygiene reasons. What? I highly recommend this, it's nice, right near the library and tube station, and not grotty or run down unlike some others. read more

This is an upscale gym/fitness centre and so much more. It is very well equipped. I most love the badminton, rock wall and the swimming pool. It is relatively kid friendly- which could be either a good or bad thing- depending on your perspective. I am ambivalent - as long as I can get a varied workout and that is easy to do here. read more

Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre - Recreation Centers Near Me - London, XGL

Not happy at all. The showers had cold water and the best thing is that the only have two showers in the pool for kids (family room), long wait to have a shower so we couldn't have one. The changing room for kids was messy and dirty. After all of this the charge you for everything read more

Reviewing the climbing wall only: it's rather nice (high and interesting routes) but a bit pricey for its size. You don't have to be a member of the Sports Center to climb there, and it's nice if you live in the area. Bear in mind that it's facing south and the glass wall is partially open (so you are as cold or hot "inside" as you would be outside). Children parties can be VERY noisy, being such a small place. I like West One (same operator/contractor) much better. read more

I really like being a member of this gym, there's a great variety of classes and great instructors, however, in the summer the women's changing rooms turn into unbearable heat! Last year many of us complained multiple times, but nothing was done about it last year, and this year it's the same issue. Summer should be the time you're most motivated to go to the gym but this always puts me off because you're sweating before you even start exercising! read more

this place has everything and what a brilliant renovation. nice cafe good climbing wall a pool gym what more can you ask for but as a local be careful at night when coming from the side road entrance better to come in from main road read more

Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre underwent a brilliant renovation, the new gym is a far cry from the basic place I learnt to swim in as a child. The new leisure centre is modern, clean, and incredibly spacious for a London Leisure Centre. You cant miss the new climbing wall area with the wall to wall glass windows as you walk/drive past, it's pretty impressive. My favourite part of the new renovation is the cafe/restaurant by the entrance. The cafe is also very spacious and has large sofas for relaxing with a book and a snack after work (then go and burn off all those calories!). There is also a floodlit astroturf, a beauty room, plenty of rooms for group exercise classes and not one but two ladies changing rooms. I love spending time here, compared to the other Camden Leisure Centre I can use with my membership, this is so superior, I actually come out of my way to use this centre. As a member you can book exercise classes in advance online, which is highly recommended as the reception queues in the evenings can be incredibly long and I've been late for a class before because of this. They could do with some more staff. read more

I have mixed feelings about this large centre and overall I would recommend to avoid it if you can afford it. The price is reasonable and the centre boasts several facilities including: -A nice gym (but there are not enough free weights and benches, in my opinion). -A lovely swimming pool: probably the best feature of the centre. -A climbing wall -A sports court for badminton, basketball... and children parties! -A creche My main concern is the cleanliness of the changing rooms and showers. I often found garbage on the floor and even banana skins left in the sinks (once even in the sports court!), empty water bottles lying around, etc. The second issue that I have is that the sports court is generally fully booked at evenings and weekends (especially now that half court is closed due to water leaking from the ceiling). I also have mixed feelings about the staff and PTs: some of them are great, professional, friendly, etc; but a few of them are not suitable to deal with the public. A good point for some: the centre seems to be very family-friendly. In summary, I'd say that the centre is potentially a great place to exercise, but I think it's not managed well. read more

The facilities are excellent, but unfortunately the place is let down by the rude, lazy and incompetent staff. They don't appear to have had much training and are utterly shambolic. It is a great pity as they ruin what would otherwise be a great leisure centre which has clearly had a lot of money thrown at it. read more

The worst ever sports centre in the universe! The centre will never answer your phone call, you have to stay on the phone for more than 40-50 mins until the line cuts off, as a result of this, you won't be able to cancel the booking 2 hours before as no one answers your call. You can't cancel it online as they won't give you the credit for some stupid reason. Complained many times but no manager really cares what's wrong with their booking system. Bikes were stolen in front of their eyes but no one wanted to help or even looked at their CCTV system, every single manager was incompetent. After waiting for over 45 mins, I had to call the head office 0208-3175000, guess what? the line was cut off twice after 15 mins wait each time. Better is truly the worst management ever - Council should really take action and terminate the contract with them. Shame on Better.org!! read more

I have had a terrible experience putting my children into the swim lessons offered at Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre and would discourage any parent from using them. Of course, it is tempting to go there because the overall cost of getting lessons here is much less than some of the other local options. However, the staff does not ensure the safety of the children adequately, and they have been openly dismissive of the concerns I have raised about safety and supervision, and about the utterly inadequate communication between the teachers and parents. My children are 4 years old and were confused by the setting and the routine of the lessons when we started, but no one gave them any orientation or permitted me to show them around and tell them what was expected of them, where to wait for me (parents must view the lessons from a great distance and then come back to collect children at the end), or any other basic orientation information. As a result, they got lost in the pool area multiple times at the end of the lesson. Let me repeat--they were wandering, completely unsupervised by anyone, around the pool area. The instructor let them go at the end of the lesson, but they had no idea where to go or how to find their way back to me, I was not permitted to come collect them, and no staff person took responsibility for making sure little ones found their way back to their parents. When I told the supervising instructor Marius that the children were missing, he shrugged his shoulders and said "I cannot supervise them all, what do you expect?" After that I didn't care about the rules, I took them to their instructor personally and walked to poolside to collect them. Then came the day when they had to go to the bathroom during the lesson, and the instructor sent them off with someone on the deck, who left them in the toilet and never came back to check on them. They were too little to open the very heavy toilet door, and were screaming for help, but no member of staff came. It was me who found them there after I knew they had been gone from the lesson too long, once again disregarded rules to find them, and found them utterly unsupervised, trapped in a toilet, and terrified. The senior management have offered no apology to me for this incident and maintain that their supervision of the children in their care is adequate. Obviously it is not and I have withdrawn my children due to inadequate supervision and safety procedures. Aside from the safety concerns, there is no communication between teachers and parents, and parents can't get a good view of the lesson, so we have no clear idea of what they are learning or how to help them during family swim time. There is an internet reporting system in place to show the child's progress in various skills, but in actual practice it gives no useful information. It is not useful to a parent to know that the child's "moves forward 15 meters" skill "needs Improvement." It IS useful to speak the teacher himself (which I had to break the rules to do) and learn the very specific small things that the child could work on to make progress. But parents are supposed to stick to the reports for their child posted on the website, which give absolutely no practical information. This swim program failed us from teaching and safety standpoints. What more is there to say? read more

Went to take my baby for a swim. Apart from the staff on the front desk the rest were rude and grumpy. The baby changing facilities were non existent, I had to ask someone to get a key to the wheelchair accessible toilets as they were the only ones I could find but their attitude was so poor and they basically never came back with a key. I changed my baby on the dirty wet floor!!The so called family changing rooms don't have changing tables which I would expect. I also asked where I could leave my buggy and the guy basically shrugged and said 'there I guess', pointing to the side of the pool?!! The actual pool was great, no complaints there. Just the staff and baby changing facilites. If they are there then they two staff members are completely unaware/useless. Rant over! read more

No day tickets for the gym (you have to sign up for a full membership and go through the full orientation booked in advance just to use the gym), stupid locker key system, no towel rental, and a website that fails to mention any of the above. I can see why the reviews are good but its disappointing for anyone who wants to use the gym on a day to day basis. read more

newly renovated it is now more accesible for the elderly and also more user friendly

Horrible horrible customer service! I signed up for a 2 week membership in person. The actual online system was down so I had to speak to the manager in order to get a 2 week membership. I explained repeatedly that it could only be a 2 week membership since I would move from the area. I made sure that I would not be charged for an ongoing membership. I asked three times in person and was told that the membership was only for 2 weeks and there would be no charge following that. Rest assured, there was a 60 pound charge to my account the following months. I have called and emailed repeatedly regarding the refund, which I was promised in my first phone call. The manager said that they would indeed send me a check since they could not do a refund to my card. However, 3 months later and I still have not seen a check. Moreover I am being totally ignored. I have emailed a complaint several times but nobody responds. I have tried to call and at one point a person simply hung up on me. It is unbelievable how horrible they are at this gym. I want my 60 pounds back! read more

I signed up my 4 year old boy for swimming lessons over the Easter holidays. The nanny took him on the Monday and there was a lady running the class who was an absolute nightmare. She shouted at the kids, told them to get in the water. My son didn't respond well to that (as can be expected!!) so she made him sit down on the bench while he was clearly distraught and crying his eyes out. Furthermore, parents / carers were not allowed to stay and watch so the nanny waited outside but had asked that if he got upset if someone would call her (he was already put off at the beginning by that lady's manner). They said yes, but nobody bothered to come get her when he started crying. It was another parent who came out of there and told her he was really upset, and my son NEVER cries. My partner called the centre to complain several times and several times someone said they would get back to him, but they never bothered. What a way to treat children and put them off swimming forever, especially at this young age when they're just building up courage. Shame on this horrible lady, she should not be around kids. She had a foreigh accent, like South African. Parents, be careful. read more

I would not recommend the climbing wall. My two children (15 and 8y) attended the Junior Club. On arrival, the instructors ignored us, there was no organisation and we had to 'work it out' on our own - helping ourselves to shoes/harnesses. There was no safety advice or explanation of what the class would involve. The instructor was wearing high heeled boots. In an hour and a half - they did one climb only. Disappointing for the parents and children. Absolute shambles! Can I give zero stars? read more