I work on the Strand right in the middle of London and it often surprises me that there are these…read morehuge cavernous gyms hidden right in plain sight! The Covent Garden branch of Nuffield Health is just one of those places and it's a truly special gym. The gym is on three levels. The first level has what appears to be offices and a dedicated spin studio, the next has the smaller studio, free weights area and changing rooms and right on the bottom is where the main gym floor lies along with another (slightly larger) studio and the pool/spa area. Yes this gym has its own spa - more on this soon! There is a lot of equipment for you to choose from so it's unlikely that you'll ever have to wait for a bike or a running machine if that takes your fancy. Personally I prefer trying out different classes and was able to squeeze in a pilates one during one of my two visits. There's no need to book and all classes are included in the cost of your membership so there's no extra cost for these either which is great. But the real pull for me is the pool and spa area. I don't know of any other gym in the area with such great facilities. Sure the pool is a little on the small side but it's never over crowded and you won't find it full of children like the LA Fitness one. The sauna and steam room are also a great size and perfect for unwinding after a hard session as is the jacuzzi pool where I spent far too much time floating around in.

Covent Garden Fitness and Wellbeing Centre is a truly stunning club made all the more impressive by…read moreits central location. It boasts one of London's largest state of the art gyms coupled with an expert personal training team, health MOTs and exercise classes ranging from body pump and spinning to yoga and aquaerobics. The swimming pool, sauna and steam rooms are complemented by a relaxation zone where you can indulge in an Elemis facial, deep tissue massage or other holistic body treatment. this club is so much better since Cannons was bought by Nuffield.

I'm not really one for paying to make myself push myself and sweat. However luck was on my side and…read moreI won week of personal training in a charity raffle donated by the trainer himself. You can imagine my face as I accepted my prize (I was hoping for the Kindle!) I've always loved playing sports, tennis, squash, lacrosse etc but to me that's not hard work, it's the keeping in shape and staying fit I've always hated! Personally I don't see the point in running unless I'm being chased or for the bus! So with this prize I thought I'd turn a new leaf and embrace the training that waited for me. Enough about me back to the review. The trainer Conor is a really lovely chap, he does tailor made fitness classes for individuals and small groups. But he also invited me to do a boxing class he runs at the Nuffield gym in Bloomsbury. It was AWESOME! The class was really hard work but fun way to do a work out. Major sweat and lots of burning but really worth it. Unfortunately I was only a guest as you have to be a member of the gym to do the classes. Seriously considering joining the gym for the class. As for the gym it's the nicest one I've ever been into. Bright and clean like you would hope and only a faint smell of chlorine from the pool. No mouldy smell and the changing rooms were lush with all the essentials provided, including complementary towels and good hairdryers! I haven't done a complete u-turn but I'm not so anti gyms and fitness now!

As gyms go, Cannons in Bloomsbury is fairly decent. There is a good selection of machines, which…read morerarely fill up. The staff are friendly, and seemingly quite determined to encourage you to have all sorts of fitness assessments and reviews. The swimming pool is well designed and relaxing, with a parents and kids session on a Sunday morning. There is also a beauty treatment centre on site, offering small discounts to fitness club members. My one complaint about Cannons would be that, because it is underground, you can't watch the world go by as you work out. This feels fairly oppressive during the summer, but in the winter is hardly noticeable. The best times to use the gym are, between 10 and 12 in the morning and 2 to 5 in the afternoons.

I signed up for a membership at Virgin Active hoping to improve my fitness. When I was encouraged…read moreto try a personal training session, I agreed as long as we could meet biweekly to fit my budget. I was initially told this would not be a problem. However, I later learned biweekly training is only offered as a 6 month commitment, while weekly sessions require a 3 month commitment. This did not work for me financially. Over many emails, I tried to find a reasonable solution with Virgin Active, but they would not bend on their set packages. I felt pressured to spend over £250 per month when I had joined to use the gym facilities. While I wanted help getting started, I cannot afford expensive personal training. The aggressive sales tactics left me disappointed. My goal was simply to get healthy affordably. But I felt their priority was maximizing profit over meeting my needs as a member. I am frustrated by this experience of feeling pushed into services I expressly said I could not budget for. I wish my health and financial concerns had been respected rather than dismissed. In the end, I will have to cancel my membership over their refusal to compromise on training costs. Avoid this organisation.

The working out equipment works really well, I like going here because they have the hip conductors…read morewhich most of the other clubs don't have so that's a bonus. Also they have a decent sized swimming pool and jacuzzi and they have a steam room and sauna too.

Previous reviews have been GymBox as a company, I wanted to review specifically the Farringdon…read moreBranch. This branch is incredible, the equipment is top notch, has everything you would ever need and there is plenty of space everywhere!! This is one of the best GymBox's in London!

I've been a member for years now and really love this club - I personally love all the classes,…read morethey're intense and motivating with great instructors that make me keep coming back. Equipment in most of the gyms (particularly Farringdon) is great and locations are generally really easy to get to or close to a station. I know people have had issues with wanting to cancel or freeze they're memberships but I've never had any issues with this - broke a bone in my foot once and sent them the doctors letter and they put my membership on hold for the next month. I only wish is they'd open a location in Kings Cross soon!

The wooden planks in the studio are coming unglued and have become a hazard. This has been going…read moreon for a while now - well over a month. And yet, nothing is done. An injury waiting to happen. There is an actual hole in the wall. Someone used a medicine ball to do obliques against a plaster wall. While this can happen, it has been over a month now and it has yet to be fixed.

Soho has done a ton of work to shape up the space and make it both nicer and more functional for…read moremembers. From opening a heavy weights room in the basement to opening up the weights area on the main floor and improving the bathrooms markedly, there is a bit improvement in the facilities here. It's also priced better than nearby competitors like Gym Box, which is great. The Good: -Consistently improving and clean facilities -During the hours I attend (probably described as "off-peak", it's nice and quiet there and easy to move through the gym to get things done. -Reasonable pricing for the area. I haven't found a gym in Farringdon that's cheaper, although with City Uni opening up a huge facility on Goswell Road at half the price there may be additional price competition for Soho and others. (One can hope, right?) The Not-As-Good: -All I really want in life is more/better classes. The times are focused on the 9-5 working hours crowd, with very limited classes on the weekend and it drives me crazy because I simply can never go. They've recently moved to making you sign up for classes in advance, which is not a system I'm a big fan of either. -They use the space well, but it's not spacious. During peak hours, it quickly feels like the basement that it is. But if you're an off-peak hours kind of person like I am, this is your place (unless too many of you take advantage of this obviously useful tip, in which case we'll all suffer...) ;) Overall, I like it. It's A-OK.

This is the gym that ate all the other gyms! Known as the jewel in the crown of the Cannons group…read more(now Nuffield Health, Fitness and Wellbeing) it is huge, so huge I've gotten a bit lost a few times. The facilities include several work-out areas, including one women only, a dedicated Pilates studio, spinning studio, squash courts, pool, lap pool, health spa area, café and Jacuzzi relaxation area. The changing rooms are massive, spread over two floors with steam room and GHDs. Folks, this place is bloody amazing, but unfortunately they still don't exercise for you. The only downside is they use a token system for some classes which can be pain if you get there late and are kicked out of class for not having one.

Please all present and future members be aware that Nuffield Health Centre cancellation policy is…read morean absolute fraud and they are great experts when it takes to steal money without offering any service: The day you join the gym they make you sign a paper where you agree with their terms and conditions, without specifying that, if you are willing to cancel you need to give 30 days notice otherwise you have to pay a full month membership fee even without using their facilities!!! The real scam is that clause 11*( the cancellation policy) is not even on that paper, but it is just hung on the wall, written with micro-characters and when I joined no one made me aware of that. Long story short, unless you bend to their fraudulent rules, they send you one or more intimidatory letters asking to pay what is due according to that clause (I learned about that policy when I first got the mail and I was incredulous) and then they pass your details to Creditlink Account Recovery Solutions Limited that starts harassing you itself. I was willing to meet them halfway so that I went to the Cousin Lane Centre myself 2 times, asking to send me an email in which they stated that I was willing to close the dispute and that this had to be communicated to C.A.R.S. but do you think I got any help/notification? The manager just kept on saying "you should have read the policy on the wall". These guys...what a great customer service they provide? I am not the only one who had the same issue with Nuffield (check the link below) so again be aware that there are a lot of gyms that survive just because they are in fact stealing money, but I have learned my lesson now, and you? http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5653848

Went here for a relax post-glastonbury, just turned up and paid £20 for a day pass to use…read morepool/sauna/steam room - it was a weekday so absolutely deserted and had the pool and facilities to ourselves for nearly the whole time. You get a towel but no robe for the £20. Changing rooms quite small and only one toilet but the pool area itself has loads of loungers and seats if it did get busy at all. Didn't go for any treatments or use the gym but would recommend the pool!

From the owner: Situated in the luxury 5 star Grange Holborn Hotel, the Holborn Health & Fitness Club offers the…read moreultimate in health, beauty and relaxation. Facilities include a state-of-the art gym with a range of cardiovascular and resistance equipment, multiple exercise classes, a dedicated free weights area and expert personal trainers on hand to provide supplementary health advice and one-to-one support. Luxury water-side facilities include a stunning 13m heated Greco-Roman style swimming pool, complete with sauna and steam room, which use the therapeutic and cosmetic benefits of heat to relax limbs, burn calories and invigorate skin. The newly incorporated Ajala Spa also has a sumptuous selection of holistic and beauty therapies to thoroughly refresh, relax, and revive. Let us develop a more youthful, balanced and energetic you!

Have only been a member for 3 days, but so far I'm a fan!…read more I signed up for the classes & the unbeatable price. I'm a big fan of working out (HIIT, bootcamp, pilates, yoga, even ocasional running, etc.) but I'm not a big fan of gyms in general. I don't understand half the machines and until about a year ago this had definitely prevented me from signing up to one and working out more often. But no more! I'm now addicted to HIIT training and cardio in general. This is what led me to sign up and so far I have to say I'm pleased with the classes. Here is the breakdown: 1. You sign up online for their classes - plan 2-3 days ahead bc the get booked out! 2. They have 7-9 classes a day during weekdays which is pretty good for 25.99 3. So far I've done Core & HIIT. Both were challenging and left me a DOMS souvenir next day but were not inaccessible for a new beginner. Finally, staff are friendly and helpful and the facilities, whilst not luxurious are clean and very functional. I highly I recommend if you just want treadmills and the like (they have LOADS) but also if you want some variety and classes that are short, hard and do the trick!

Cheap memberships mean that the gym is ridiculously full during peak times (before and after work),…read morehowever being a 24hr gym means you can visit outside these times and make the most of your workout. I love to workout late so the gym is great value for me

Jubilee Hall is a very good gym that has all the facilities you would expect apart from a swimming…read morepool. With a huge open floor design there is a mass of resistance machines and free weights, making this club an excellent choice for people wanting to bulk up. There are over thirty cardio machines to, so there is something for everyone. There is a large gay community at the gym and the management address this by focusing on this community as the main target audience. This leads to a gym with a diverse culture, although the majority remains well- toned, well-groomed homosexual males. To join this gym costs £50 per month. This is excellent value for the facilities.

Good gym, friendly staff, had a fantastic experience visiting them via Helsi app. They offer water…read moreand sauna, towels cost money, but it's only 1.5 pounds, so its ok.

About a year ago, I was temping up the road from here. I would get an hour lunch break every day…read moreand decided to make the most of it, and join this gym. Thankfully, Soho gyms is very accommodating, and offer a wide range of memberships. I explained that I was only going to be working in the street for a month, and they gave me a months membership. They also do daily and weekly passes. What I was even more pleased about was that I didn't have to pay any membership fee. This gym in Covent Garden is not as big as the other Soho gyms which are dotted around London. However, there are all the machines that you will need, plus a weights room, and a studio room. I remember they had a fantastic version of a cross trainer here, where the foot rests operate separately and rather than just going back and forth, they make a kind of triangle shape. It is difficult to explain, but it gave me a work out which was about 5 times better than a standard cross trainer. The only thing that I thought could be improved on was the girls showers. The showers were communal and felt like old -school shower heads - were the water dribbles out. Definitely not power shower quality.

Since I was visiting London during the holidays, my friend urged me to get my ass in shape and…read moredragged me here. I bought a week pass at a reasonable rate. Equipments were always available and the members are really considerate. My problem--the clientele are so damn good looking, I can not concentrate. Alessandro, one of the personal trainers, and the ladies at the front desk are really helpful. I wished I could try one of their fitness classes next time I'm around London.