Rainbow Leisure Centre — Attraction in Epsom and Ewell

18/8/2023 Update on badminton booking at Rainbow centre Epsom.Seriously it managed by incapable people.There is a group taken over every booking where no ordinary members can get the courts 6.40-10 on week days 6-8 weekend ,sometimes courts get booked at 9.59 before booking line open .If the management has thinking ability they will check if those courts are booked every day by same set of people or different members they will identify how this gang misusing booking system but the management doesn't care as they get paid whether they do their job right or not.Its a disgrace how other members denied of getting a court but one group able to do but no action has been taken so far.

20/05/23 Today I tried again to book a badminton court at Rainbow centre by 10pm, when the booking opened all the courts were full. Nobody can get a court at 6-8pm on weekends and weekdays after 6:40 except this group operating there. WE made numerous complaints for the past 8 months, even a petition signed by other members were handed to the management & have got screenshots of how the court disappears just as the booking opens. Is the management taking the issue seriously?. Last week they released the court on Monday instead of Saturday myself and few people managed to book a court but this week we are back to square one, they released all 4 courts tonight and all were full the moments it open seems like we can't compete with a group who in my opinion is using some form of booking program. This group has been breaking rules time and time again and nothing has been done because what ever action the centre tries to take, it lasts only for a week and after that they never follow it through. I believe the management is not fully thinking this through as there are so many members so why can nobody else book courts except this group every weekend evening and at peak times on weekdays. Anyone who has any mathematical knowledge will know the probability of someone getting nearly every court on weekdays and every single court on weekends when the booking system gives an equal chance to anyone is extremely low, and as each day goes by, that probability goes down even more but somehow this group can "magically" get any court any time, so how is it possible? In my opinion The only way everyone to have equal chance of booking a court is to release the court randomly .Now We are forced to use a different centre & inconvenient time we don't want to use despite paying £65 per month.

Today at rainbow centre we went to play badminton and there is group booked all 3 courts 6-8 pm taken over the centre having almost 30 people with loud music and distracting .The practice is only 4 people are allowed in a court but more than 30 people were there nobody checked on them.I asked the reception staff who was very helpful whether they have the permission to have this many people and they said they didn't given any permission and warned these group they can't have too many people sitting there but they ignored their order ,seems like even staff can't control them.I honestly don't understand as lot of people cancelling their membership as unable to get courts but no strict measure...

pool facilities are alright, nothing really wrong there. The sports hall is alright as well, although availability for certain things (i.e. badminton) isn't too good. Gym facilities are decent, there are a plethora of cardio machines which strangely get fixed and the weightlifting section is alright. The PT'S are pretty good too.

The main problem is how poorly the centre is kept, in which there just seems to be 0 care about it for the past few months. Been visiting regularly for nearly 2 years, and at this point and it's just becoming worse by day.

Spas have mould all over them and are just incredibly dirty. These need some proper care as it seems dangerous to even step foot inside as there's a high chance you'll be walking out with some sort of disease. Certain cardio machines are broken nearly all the time, in which they do get fixed occasionally at the very least. The scanning gates have been broken for nearly ~2 months as of writing, which is an issue of course when there are queues for people swimming, as it takes a while for a queue to dissipate. Some staff come off across as ignorant to the issues in the gym and also people scanning in (experienced this quite a few times), hence, the scanning gate should probably be fixed? The water fountains leak and one of them just doesn't work anymore near the cardio section. The machines feel rather dirty, and some of the attachable equipment (i.e. v-bars) are not in a good state. Certain cable machines sometimes just don't budge or the thing you need to pull out to change their elevation just entirely comes out, making it unusable. The changing rooms are also in a very unclean state in general. Very untidy across the gym, across the weightlifting section & open space on entry there are always weights lying around. Probably an issue for people using it though. Gets incredibly warm inside the gym, feels like AC doesn't exist inside. The same TV screen over one of the treadmills has been purple for well over a year at this point. Obviously no one cares about them but it's an indicator of the state of the gym.

Overall, for the purpose of swimming, this is a decent centre, as the pool is maintained rather well. The sports hall is also great for what it can allow. However, the gym is in a terrible condition and it's rather unbearable visiting it due to the mass of issues it has that don't get addressed, in which some have been a problem for a while now. If visiting for the gym aspect would 100% recommend going somewhere else than here as it doesn't seem like anything will be done about how bad it...

13 May 2023,

My review of Rainbow Leisure Centre, Epsom, will not get anything more than 1 star.

The management (including the GLL head office) have so far not taken any action to address the peak time badminton court booking issues. All the peak time courts after 6.20 PM are fully booked when the website refreshes at 10PM sharp.

If you visit the centre during weekdays between 6.20 to 9.20 PM (Mon/Wed/Fri), and weekends between 6 to 8 PM the badminton courts are only occupied by this group. No body else can book a court unless you do a block booking.

We first brought the issue to the centre management in September 2022, and have provided evidence of the group management charging non-members £15 pm to join and play. The membership should be for the members enjoy a game of badminton with friends and family, and not sell the benefits to a 3rd party.

I strongly believe an illegal software is used to book courts as only the group is able to book the peak time courts, when many others try at the same time and not succeed.

11 January 2023,

Booking badminton courts at peak times (Mon/Wed/Fri 6.40 pm to 9.20 pm & Sat/Sun 6 to 8pm) is now almost impossible. The commercial badminton club, as per my post on 23/10/22, now occupy at least 3 of the 4 courts during the times above. The booking system opens at 10pm for the following 7 days, and when we try at 10pm it is almost impossible to get a booking. I have been using this centre for past 19 years and it was always possible to get a court if you book at 10pm, before the 'commercial badminton club' started playing at this centre. I wonder how this group has a probability of 1 for getting a court booking when the rest of us who try at 10pm have a probability less than 0.1. If a booking software (bot) is not being used they must be a very lucky group. Numerous complaints to the Rainbow Centre management so far has not had any positive outcome.

23 October 2022.

I am still giving 1star. My apologies to reception staff who are excellent. If you want to become a member paying £65 per month, in the hope you will be able to enjoy a game of badminton peak times in any day in the week, don't bother. All peak times courts are booked by a group of members, who then sell them to non-members at £15 per month. I have complained about this practice numerous times, but to date nothing constructive has been implemented to stop this happening. Today this group even had a tournament (last week as well) in the...