Brio Leisure Northgate Arena — Attraction in City of Chester

One of the cheaper gyms in Chester, which is a positive, but over-subscribed. Busy from noon until closing (though quiet if you can get in there early morning) and you sometimes have to queue up for equipment. Staff have been rude occasionally.

I once left some kit in the gym and rang up to see if they could check if what I had left was still there; the bloke said "it might be here, it might not be, it's not our responsibility." Pretty cocky way to speak to a gym regular.

As others have said, its dirty and old-looking and is in need of renovation. PureGym will put this place out of business unless they get their act together.

2021 EDIT:

Initially left the above 3 Star Review, but changing to 1 Star given the appalling way myself and my family have been treated by the staff of this gym. Staff are lazy, incompetent and rude. They claimed my mum had not paid October of my direct debit and needed to provide proof of payment and my card would not work until she paid or proved payment. My mother did this and staff claimed the issue would be wiped and I would be able to use my card scanner as normal. However, I came in again and the card machine instructed me to go to the kiosk again. Staff kept asking me to prove payment for October, which I explained had already been done.

This tedious process has gone into into January (!) in some form or another, with some staff saying Head Office are looking into it and it will soon be cleared.

My mum then rang to complain about this and get it finally resolved, and to ask why it hasn't been resolved. No staff seem to take responsibility and are still asking us to pay or bring bank statement in again! We said we already have and we don't want to inconvenience ourselves doing this again.

Staff then put manager on the phone who said she "isn't paid enough to deal with this" and put the phone down on my mum twice!

I have also had problems with the online booking system. Due to a security upgrade they've asked that passwords be reset, which is fine, but are then asking me to enter my membership ID. I entered the number on my gym card but this isn't working, so assuming it's a different ID I need, which is confusing. Tried calling the gym but can't get through to anyone because waiting times have gone through the roof...

Visited Northgate arena for the first time in 20 years today as I wanted to show my son the pool. We planned to visit Tumble Tots (soft play in the sports hall) then go for a swim but when we arrived we were advised that we could only go to the under 5s session in the pool so had to miss most of Tumble Tots to make the pool session. Doesn’t make sense that these sessions overlap really? It also wasn’t completely clear why we had to go to the under 5s session, there is a baby area in the pool so surely we can just use this at anytime? We might have missed something

Tumble Tots was fantastic. Great value. Lots to do & good atmosphere.

Unfortunately we can’t say the same for the pool experience. The pool was sectioned off into lanes & the deeper end looked to be out of service. We wanted to go swimming properly but the baby / shallow end of the pool is not deep enough to swim so it’s more just playing in water. The water was very chilly, we had a 45 minute session but the baby was too cold / shaking so we left after under 30 minutes

The pool hasn’t been updated since I last visited. Definitely in desperate need of an update. The changing rooms were very outdated / pretty grim. I’m not sure how a mum alone with baby would be able to visit, luckily I had another helper with me. I wasn’t able to put baby down in the changing rooms as the playpen provided had no padding / bottom to it, just a tiled / concrete floor. If you’re alone with a baby you can’t carry baby & the box with all your stuff. There isn’t a locker system just a big plastic box you carry to the poolside. This just doesn’t work for...

We booked a family session during the half term. I haven't been to the Northgate Arena for a couple of years (due to the lockdowns). My first point is not the arenas fault but the road closure into the car park is ridiculous there are no diversion signs so you can find your way to the car park. We therefore had to park a good walk down the road which would eat into your swim time if you didn't know it was there.

The reason for the two stars was considering they are selling a 'family swim' it was only suitable I would say upto the age of 5 at the most. The large slide was closed and the swimming lanes were right up to the island which blocked room for my 9 year old to swim as the water around him just wasn't deep enough.

They should change the description to parents and tots swim as there was nothing for a child over the age of 5. My son said please don't take me there again mum it was rubbish, and I can't blame him. It's such a shame as it was perfect for my 4 year old.

Maybe they should state the slide won't be open on booking, but considering it was the half term you would expect more from a family swim.

I noted in another review about the baskets being pool side, this happened whilst we were there. I asked on check in what coin I needed for the lockers but the receptionist said its a basket system, which means you leave your personal possessions pool side, not the best for security.

However we had no issues with cleanliness whilst we were there and staff were...