Bath Sports and Leisure Centre — Local services in Bath

The changing rooms are shocking and the showers are abysmal, really, really abysmal. If you go for a swim in the pool with its cracked tiles and yellow stains and want to shower afterwards, what you have is a shower that automatically switches off after 5 seconds so you have to push the button again, some of the showers work for a little longer, but may either run cold or boiling hot. The changing facilities for the gym are astonishingly bad, a tiny tiny room - I was in there once when two women who were sat changing finished up on the floor because the bench fell off the wall, the bolts had come away complete with bits of plaster and mortar, it was amazing they weren't injured. Two showers in the ladies changing room serving the gym, they are often occupied (usually by someone cursing the terrible shower) - again, the showers are on a short timer and have very little pressure, if someone flushes the 1 toilet - which is next to the showers then the pressure drops further, if someone is using the shower next to you, well you both get an insipid trickle of water. I never feel clean after showering there. A bucket on a pole operated by a rope would be equally luxurious. If you want to use the leisure centre at weekend, say after work, tough, it shuts at 6. very typical of Bath, on the surface all splendid but to use a northern saying - fur coat and no knickers.

Update: there is now a new gym, the previous gym was quite small but I liked it because of the natural light, no more though. Since the refurb the gym has moved and is now housed in what looks like an upmarket cow shed. There is absolutely no natural light, at all. Everything is grey; the floor, the walls, the shed roof, grey, varying shades of. It is the most depressing environment I have ever been in. There is nothing to look at but the grey walls, other sweaty people or the telly. When I walked into the new gym my heart sank and I struggled to finish my workout. yes there is great new equipment and lots of it, but Jesus it's design is something to kill yourself in, horrible. I like many other people have to work hard to motivate myself to get to the gym, now it's even harder, the thought of going into that machine cave is very demotivating. Whoever designed that space is either a sociopath or some sort of dead soul, no thought at all for ordinary users. It might suit the gym bunnies but after an hour in there I felt like crying. My partner is looking at other gyms now as he cannot face going into the dark grey shed, I may well do the same, or just get out on my bike and enjoy the daylight.

Further Update. I froze my membership when the pool closed (I no longer use the grey shed) this did not stop "Better" from dipping into my bank account for membership fees TWICE and WITHOUT contacting me. It took 3 weeks to get my money back off them, it took over a week for them to respond to several phone calls and emails and when I got a response it was in the vain of "yeah, um sorry" no real sense of apology or recompense after the last pick pocketing of my account left me in some financial difficulty. Now the pool closure for "improvements" is to go on even longer, first they said "early 2018" then they said May, and now they're saying July. It would be more honest and representative of this shower of a company if they issued a statement saying "yeah, whenever... F... you." I have now blocked the Direct Debit. This company shows nothing but contempt for...

This is a review for the new bowling alley.

Let's start with the good stuff, although the bowling alley is fairly small (8 lanes) it's fun, bright and clean. It's easy to set your group up on the scoreboard and you can adjust the style of the scoreboard which is great fun for the kids.

There is a café so you can grab a drink and snack (although lots of items are coming soon... So I assume not fully open yet)

While we had a great time eventually - I can't ignore the bad service we received when we arrived. We booked online - when we 'checked in' at the reception desk we were ignored for five minutes while the staff member - checked something on the computer, then went to check something with a colleague. A simple 'hello, I'll be with you in a minute' would have been great - but there was no acknowledgment. When we did get spoken to we were told our lane wasn't ready as the people currently playing had run over - they asked us to come back in 10 minutes.

10 minutes later we came back to be told it'll probably be another 20-30 minutes. There was an empty lane and I asked if we could have that - but was told no. So we have a coffee and drink with the kids. We saw our promised lane had finished and was available - so we went back to the desk to be told it had been given to someone who had just arrived. We were then told we'd be moved to lane 7 - as they had finished - but just then the players on lane 7 came to complain that their lane had switched off and they had only played one of their 2 games.

We were then told to go to lane1 - but they too had booked two games and were only halfway through. I was about to ask for a refund but we were then assured we could have a lane that would be available shortly. The lane did become available after about 5 minutes and we did eventually have a great time.

I know the centre is new and will be a great addition to Bath - but I'm annoyed that we were forced to wait over an hour (with young kids) for something we'd booked a specific time. In the end the staff were polite and apologetic but allowing people to queue jump when you have a backlog of players mages me think they need to get some better organisation. We'll give it another try at some point I'm sure (and I'll update my review) - but I'm not in a...

The Main Pool is Distusting!! The Changing Rooms are Scuzzy!! In one of these Reviews, someone said that the Staff kindly let them wash their Dog in the Baby Pool!! That says it all really!! If I had to describe it in one word, it would be UNHYGIENIC!! The Building looks Horrible. It's Crumbling on the inside. The Staff are rather hit and miss! I am a Bathonian, and I find it Extremely Disrespectful towards our Citizens/Locals, that the Facilities for us, including our Sports Centre, have gone from bad to worse! (The Fiasco with the Central Library is another Prime Example!! AND, the Women's Aid Shop, and the Women's Refuge!!). As Thurston Lang noted in his Google Review: Bath is a Cosmetic City, run for Tourists, not for it's Inhabitants. However, they are the only Gym in the Area, (as far as I am aware), that offer a Junior Gym membership, for Ages 13 to 15. My Daughter 'works out' there regularly, after School. She Showers at Home, afterwards. Recently, she turned 16, and her Junior Gym membership expired. Here is an Excerpt from the Letter that 'Better' sent, addressed to me, but, written to her: "As you've now reached the age of 16, we need to let you know that you are no longer eligible for a Better HF Junior Monthly MA membership. However, the good news is that we will be automatically transferring you to our Better HF Student MA membership at a cost of £30.00 per month, via your existing direct debit on 1st April 2017." As I am the Person/Parent who PAYS the Direct Debit, (not my Daughter), that is a TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE Modus Operandi!! The 'Better' Centre should know Better, than to "AUTOMATICALLY" DEDUCT AN EXTRA £20.00 PER MONTH "WITHOUT" MY PERMISSION, USING QUESTIONABLE TACTICS!! The Junior Gym membership cost is £10.00 per month). I find it very Disrespectful, and a rather Dubious way of Operating!! As a Georgian and Roman City, Bath brings in a Huge Revenue from its Tourist Industry. It would be most Gratifying, if some of that could be spent on Upgrading our Facilities, And, if a Councillor at B&NES Council, with some Common Sense, Genuine Care, and High Standards, could be Allocated the Job of Focusing on Properly Upgrading our...