Tunbridge Wells Sports Centre — Attraction in Tunbridge Wells

The family changing room (or the I can't be bothered to walk to the other changing room) is a disaster. There is a small A4 notice at the entrance which states “This is for families with small children”, this isn't clear enough for some people.

Just this morning my 9-month pregnant wife and our two and a half-year-old son went swimming like we do every Sunday. The usual battle for the changing rooms commences before/afterward — families with small children .vs people who finish their exercise class in the pool next to it and can't be bothered to walk to the other changing rooms. This is a common occurrence and one I thoroughly dislike but in typical British fashion I keep my head down and remain quiet while my wife and I wrestle to get our son showered and changed.

This morning however I found myself in an argument with a woman who for the purposes of this story will call 'Jog-on'. This is how it escalated …

As my wife, son and I were entering the changing room, we were following closely behind Jog-on who was hastily trying to beat us in. Jog-on beat us in and clearly marked which changing room would be hers for the duration of her stay by placing her belongings in it, you guessed it — she took the one and only changing room with the baby changing table, not the disabled one at the end. While Jog-on dropped her bag off my son and I hopped in the two working showers (one of them has been broken for 6 months). We had only had time to turn the showers on before two very dark shadows fell over us, I looked up and to my horror, Jog-on and her friend were standing just a few feet from us, this is where they decided to stay as I struggled to wash my son and myself. I thought to myself I think they're trying to make a point and I was right — 2 minutes after turning the shower on Jog-on decided to ask me to share a shower with my son. This was my moment, I had bitten my tongue for so many months and finally, I had my opportunity to say what I really thought:

“No we can't share a shower and this is the family changing room so you shouldn't be in here”

Jog-on replied “it's for disabled people too”,

I replied, “It's for families only according to the sign at the entrance”.

This went back and forth a few times until a lifeguard intervened to announce that the priority goes to the families so they can share a changing room and get their children changed and washed together. They blamed the fact that there weren't enough showers in the other room which I found ironic.

Once we had got our son changed and ourselves we came out to find the disabled changing room at the end empty and a woman with a newborn baby wondering where to get changed. We cleared our things out so she could use our changing room and explained to her that unfortunately, a lady without a young family has decided to use the only changing room with the baby table. To which she replied “Jog-on”.

On a serious note, this was an incredibly uncomfortable experience and to have two people stand in such a confrontational manner next to my two-year-old son while he showered felt like a huge invasion of our space. There are disabled changing facilities in the main changing room so why is there any need for a second changing room? There is only one for families which is small enough as it is and in desperate need of repairing. This must be sorted out, it is not clear enough and in the responsibility of Tunbridge Wells Sports Centre to resolve this and prevent this...

Whilst boasting the most expensive gym membership in the area, the centre also throws in unreliable services free of charge!

Whilst it’s true that the membership offers Gym, Swim and Sauna facilities - which may seem like good value at first glance - you can also guarantee at least one of these is not operational.

I really do want to like this Leisure Centre. I have been a member here cumulatively for around a year and a half, but I have been disappointed too many times by unreliable facilities.

If it’s not the sauna, the shower is broken. If not that, then there is maintenance on the gym.

The most laughable part is that they have recently invested nearly 500k for new equipment. Meanwhile - the facilities continue to breakdown.

It has gotten to the point where a membership here simply can’t be justified relative to the alternatives.

If you’re intent on joining, you best set your expectations to seeing “out of order” signs most weeks.

If you’re intent on leaving, guess what? It takes 1 month to cancel - so you’ll have to make another DD payment, which will keep you on for even longer.

All these factors combined are a real sign to me that this leisure centre fails to act on feedback and is solely focused on attracting as many customers at the highest price point possible.

A real shame - but you are much better off trying another centre nearby. The drive may be further, but at least you’ll get your...

unfortunately i don’t think i will be using this leisure centre again. after using the gym and spa facilities for a while, it’s got worse and worse and i can no longer do it. the women’s changing rooms aren’t pleasant, broken lockers without doors, often sanitary towels or other unpleasant things in lockers when you open them, always dirty with hairs everywhere, the showers are absolutely disgusting, they smell like fish and urine 😷 and the soap dispensers are cracked and never have soap in them. there is a sign up saying “do not urinate in the spa facilities” which tells you all you need to know. the stream room smells horribly damp and isn’t relaxing as you can hear people above you in the gym dropping weights on the floor, and sauna is actually okay, the shower is often broken in the spa area. pool is often closed and hard to access but i guess there are classes etc on so can’t be helped. design of the centre is strange, to get from the pool to the sauna/ stream room you have to run through the communal entrance in your bathing suit or towel and the facilities aren’t linked! very embarrassing. also the open hours aren’t brilliant, what gym closes at 4pm on a saturday? overall the whole place needs a good refurbishment, but for now i will have to find an...