The Climbing Lab — Attraction in Leeds

I recently shared some feedback with Climbing Lab and was genuinely surprised by the quick and thorough response from the owner. Not only did they reply promptly, but their message was incredibly thoughtful and professional. They addressed all of my concerns, offered explanations, and even recognised areas for improvement. In the end, they made sure everything was sorted to our satisfaction.

After taking a moment to think it over, I realised my initial 2-star review was a bit harsh. I also noticed I didn't quite express one point as clearly as I should have, which I've now corrected. I decided to keep my original review here because I believe how a company handles feedback says a lot about their values.

Looking back, I should have given the centre a 3 or 4-star rating from the start. It's a solid place with great routes and facilities, and I shouldn't have let the frustration of our journey impact my judgment. So, I've updated my review to a well-deserved 5 stars. The center truly is fantastic, and the exceptional customer service and integrity of the owner shine through.

I know this update is a bit scattered, but I wanted to share my thoughts quickly and fairly.

Original Review This is quite a difficult review to write. We live in the Northeast but drive around various areas to climb and train and as such our recent visit to Climbing Lab left us feeling quite disappointed and frustrated. Despite the promising pictures and information on their website and social media about the Power Tunnel, our experience fell short of expectations.

We called ahead, completed online forms, and even confirmed details on the morning of our visit, only to find out upon arrival that the Power Tunnel required an assessment for under 18s, a detail left out of their online information, waiver forms and our phone conversations.

After starting our climb to warm up, we noticed signs next to the Power Tunnel area indicating the need for assessment. When we inquired at the reception, we were informed that no one would be available that day to conduct the assessment. This essentially rendered our trip and visit pointless, as the primary reason for our visit was to train roof sections on the Power Tunnel.

Communication at the reception was a little lacking; we were only informed about the top out boulder restrictions and not about the Power Tunnel being off-limits at the time of booking in and paying.

While the setting and range of problems were commendable, the prevalence of high starts was also challenging for shorter climbers, although there were shorter reach problems in most grades ... it is clear some thought has at least been put to this in parts. Additionally, the gym area is also off-limits for under 18s, which was disappointing as we couldn't carry out any of our usual S&C.

Moreover, a climbing centre of this size typically has a pull-up bar available outside of the gym area, which was noticeably absent. So we couldn't even work any pull up variations as a finisher. These amenities are important for climbers of all ages and abilities and having an area to do pull ups is useful.

Most of the staff were friendly, and the parking situation was good. However, the overall experience was marred by the lack of information regarding the Power Tunnel and the restrictions for under 18s. This is particularly galling (and expensive) when driving big distances to train.

In the future, I hope Climbing Lab can improve its communication regarding restricted areas and ensure that visitors are well-informed before making a trip. This would greatly enhance the experience for all climbers, particularly those traveling from a distance.

I'll probably reach out direct to them via email or phone as no senior staff appeared to be on site and will update this review if there is further info to add. Just a heads up for anyone who has younger climbers that may be thinking of...

Update: The reply from the managing director below is insincere. He has completely ignored my clearly outlined suggestions to resolve this issue (ie. allowing customers to use safer direct debit payments for monthly membership, increasing the amount of time for which personal possessions are kept, and giving me the information I need to attempt to retrieve my climbing equipment). The Climbing Lab simply does not care about the wellbeing or financial safety of its customers.

The Climbing Lab climbing centre uses an unsafe, unprotected payment method, called 'continuous payment authority' (aka automatic card payments) for thier monthly membership.

Martin Lewis recommend against signing up to anything which uses this payment method, which is most often used by disreputable companies like payday loan lenders. My own bank advised me to cancel my membership after I found they had been taking extra payments from my bank account, and that i had no legal recourse to claim the money back.

I've had months of unhelpful interactions with staff over this issue which have left me increasingly distressed due to being ignored for weeks at a time, treated dismissively and outright lied to (they insisted I was paying by direct debit; they don't even offer this as a payment option even though it would be much safer for the customer).

The climbing lab refused to change my payment methods to safer direct debit and instead cancelled my membership, forcing me to pay a premium for individual sessions.

They have also taken my personal climbing equipment which i left there and given it to charity, refusing to give me the information I need to reclaim my items; i strongly suspect that my equipment has instead been sent to landfill. The two week rule is incredibly wasteful in an era where sustainability is paramount, and contrary to standard policy of exercise venues, which usually keep items...

Very odd. Guy working at the cafe who greeted us was quite condescending. Addressed only my boyfriend despite me trying to ask him questions and respond to his question of ‘how do you safely get down the wall?’ My boyfriend replied saying ‘you hang and drop down’ which yeah might not be the MOST concise answer but god did this guy rip us a new one. He reacted so patronisingly, and despite my boyfriend pointing out that at least 5 people behind him who were already climbing had dropped down, he told us we’d ‘failed’ this imaginary test that we’d had no clue was apparently necessary to pass and refused to let us in. So bizarre. As adults, surely after having been explained the concept of something, or provided instructions, the assumption should be that it’s fairly easy to follow them, which we would’ve done once corrected. If we were under the age of 18 I would understand, but we’re both in our mid 20s, and more than capable of taking on board simple advice. This guy seemed to treat us like children, stating that because we’d not satisfied his strange interrogation, we couldn’t enter, and had to take an intro course, for a lot more money, which is obviously a pathetic attempt at rinsing people of their cash. I tried to explain that I was a climber as a child and that it had been a while, so was trying to dip my toe back in the waters. He literally just spoke over us and basically dismissed us from the premises, saying ‘yeah I guess you could drop down, but like I don’t really trust you guys to do that.’ I would recommend trying a different climbing gym if you’re keen to get back into bouldering or trying to get into it full stop- there are plenty in Leeds. Odd rules and an even odder attitude. Felt like next step to enter was to name Alex Honnold’s exact time of birth lol. Climbing is supposed to be accessible, not elitist and judgmental of...