Rockstar Climbing & Fitness Swindon — Attraction in Stratton St. Margaret

This place and facilities is excellent, my children absolutely love it! It is such good fun for them. It would be a 5 * review for the facilities itself but the staff, cleanliness and inconsistent covid rules give me no choice to review lower.

Staff on the front desk could be more polite and friendly, we booked and paid online for 2 adults and 2 children from the same household, we arrive and were told we wasn't allowed to climb with our children. Very disappointed that I was allowed to book and payment taken from me online, just be aware when booking adults are NOT aloud to climb with their children as stated on website.

No mixing of adults aloud on the fun walls maximum of 6 guests but only children aloud to mix. So we went upstairs to watch the children and surprised to see 6 adults sat at a table having tea and cake and a birthday party in another room with at least 8 children and 4-5 adults. If you are going to have rules please ensure you keep them in place for everyone. Not just pick and choose.

Finally, very important in a time of a global pandemic to clean and wipe down tables after guests have finished every table had used and dirty plates and cups on we had to wait and ask them to be cleaned.

Apart from the poor attitude of front desk, the children love this place. Hopefully they'll improve over time as I do appreciate these unprecedented times are new for everyone and having to make...

The gym is very modern with great hold selection and an awesome ropes area. The team is very friendly and the bouldering area has lots of routes, however, if you are a short climber (and not a comp kid) then you might struggle here. Being 5ft 2 with a -3, I always struggle with certain moves, however, I feel there is a lack of accommodation for shorter climbers here. As an intermediate boulderer, there are even some V2’s that are a real struggle due to how far apart the start holds or finish holds are. Due to previous injuries, I am hesitant to commit to dynamic jumps at the very top of the wall to reach the end holds, which is something I don’t often see in intermediate routes. I always struggle with the concept of difficulty equating to less holds - further apart as a shortie, because often times I am having to be dynamic on moves never intended / or even possible to do that way. I understand the difficulty of setting routes accommodating all heights, however, I would love to see extra footholds (too scrunched for tall people to utilise), more density of harder hand holds, forced difficult static movements, routes with multiple intended betas, more use of volumes, more traversy climbs and more range of dynamic moves set with different heights in mind. But for everyone else of average height (which I wished I was) this shouldn’t...

First session back on the ropes after a four year long break. Last time I came it was just the one bouldering building in 2015-16 or so. They've expanded a lot! Building 5 is really impressive, lots of auto belays for those without belay friends!

One of the best things about rockstar when I previously came for bouldering and youth lessons when the gym first opened, was the staff. Everyone is friendly and always willing to have a chat about anything climbing. Instructors know what they're doing, always are safe and never put you at risk. This is still exactly the same in 2021!

The bouldering is still damn good as well and it's nice to have both options in one location. They have also added a training area since I last came, not quite good enough for it yet! Fully intend on learning to lead climb after finishing this...