I have my suspicions that the Willoughy Leisure Centre logo depicts a parent and child hobbling in discomfort on the daggy old pebbles that provide floor covering in the pool area. They're aggressive wee stones that leave angry sores on little knees and make bottoms tender and dimply (no it is not cellulite thank you very much!). Turn your grimace upward from the floor covering however and this pool is a great family spot. There's a warm kids pool which I think is mechanically heated as well as being full of wee. The adult pool has plenty of lanes and is popular. There's an oddly cold spa and a heated one if you want to pay extra. Showers are hot and free of charge, which as a local of Mosman Pool where you pay for the pleasure of rinsing off chlorine, that's a welcome change. There's a café, free onsite parking, gym and crèche, so popular with mums and tums. Just what is with the pebbles?! read more

Willoughby Leisure Centre - "Do the pebble dance!" - Gyms Near Me - Willoughby, NSW

As your local leisure centre, Willoughby ranks pretty well - surrounded on three sides by parkland, it's hidden away in the 'burbs and remarkable for the sheer size of its facilities - dominated by up to 30 outdoor under-lights netball courts. Between players, umpires and officials, this must account for pretty much half the women of the northern suburbs on a game night! Sadly, the parking facilities reflect that and it can be tricky to find a space especially at the end of one game and start of the next. Indoors, the Centre has another two multi-purpose courts (also in high demand for netball, basketball, volleyball and badminton) plus racquet sports courts, a large gym and rooms for exercise classes, and a 25-metre indoor pool (I'm never a huge fan of indoor public swimming pools and their associated facilities but this one is as clean and pleasant as they can be ..) Willoughby Council owns the Leisure Centre so along with the independently run competitions, the facilities are also used for schools, older people's fitness classes, swim school and more, so it can be pretty busy. But then the cost of membership - or casual entry - is much more reasonable that you'd pay in a privately run club. read more

Willoughby Leisure Centre - Gyms Near Me - Willoughby, NSW

Would have given this place 5 stars. Didn't though. I'll tell you why in a minute. And *don't* skip ahead. That's cheating. And nobody likes a cheat. Firstly, the Pro's: big, airy, light-filled gym over-looking local parkland with a mixed clientele (read: no Fitness First douchebags who mistake a gym for some kind of speed-dating area). Massive pool with blow-up obstacle courses for the kiddies. Indoor basketball / soccer / badminton courts. An utter eternity of outdoor netball courts (seriously, they go on forever. It's like netball purgatory out there). Now, the Con's: the management. Oh, lordy, the management. I wouldn't have though it hard - a gym makes money from it's members, so customer service is priority #1, right? Wrong. The front desk staff (who are, to be fair, quite young) are empowered with little to no initiative, and it shows on a daily basis. When it doubt, say 'No', apparently. Unfortunately, this culture comes from the managers themselves. Want to sign up for membership? You can only do it in person, at the centre, when a manager is on duty. Which is around 7- 4 on weekdays. So if you hold a 9-5 job, you're bang out of luck - the suggestion is that you need to organise yourself around them, rather than vice versa. Organising something as deceptively simple as a hold for your membership when you go on holidays is also more of a hassle than it should be, as is, well, anything to do with membership at all. Most requests are as painful as pulling teeth out through your eyeballs, it's both mystifying and infuriating. My brother came out from London and wanted a gym to use during his stay. I recommended WLC and looked a fool when I did. He gave up after three attempts, and went elsewhere. The staff in the gym itself are awesome, but management I avoid like the bubonic bloody plague. Such an opportunity they have to make this place just kick total ass, and yet, bewilderingly, they fail. I cry. read more

Swim school has this weird enrollment form which has space to fill out direct debit from your card only once or multiple times/repeat at regular intervals, etc but there are 2 major flaws in it: 1. They fill this part of the form themselves and don't allow you to fill it. 2. They argue that their website/online form allows only it to be filled as a 'auto-renewal' which means even if you don't want, your membership will be renewed! They make you fill out a cancellation form within 8 weeks of the previous membership. They also don't make any effort to explain this ambiguity and absurdity and limitation on their side and blame it on us saying they should read terms and conditions! Really robbing unsuspecting members and being a Govt. organization, a lot more customer-friendliness is expected! Shameful! read more

It's the school holidays, 30+ outside and we are at the pool. There is a grand total of 6 people swimming laps and 7 lanes closed for laps. 1 lane is left open for everyone else. I mention to the guard that it would be good to open another lane for general play since there are more lanes closed than there are people swimming laps... he nods and continues drinking his coffee. Later he tells my kids to stop jumping into the water from the edge. They were not being too noisy or in any way jumping too close to anyone. It's a real shame. This is my local pool but I don't think we will come back any time soon! read more

(Is there a no star option here? I couldn't find one). STAY AWAY PARENTS WHO WISH TO BOOK THEIR KIDS IN FOR SWIM CLASSES HERE!!! Willoughby Leisure Centre Swim School and management in general are THE least co-operative organisation EVER!! They automatically enrol you at week 7 of 10 for the following term and won't allow us to cancel or transfer our classes for our 2 yo despite us giving them 2 months notice. How outrageous is that?! Will NEVER be going back there again. Very unflexible management who do not understand piddly squat about customer service. EVERYTHING IS HARD with these guys! (Exception is that the swim school staff who actually teach the kids to swim are nice). My husband also had a similar problem when he tried to take advantage of the creche services they had there. When he rocked up to the front desk and asked how much membership was, they said they didn't know and that he needed to speak to the membership manager who wasn't around. Hubby left a message with the membership manager and never got a call back. Their usual response to everything is that "the Swim School has approximately 1,800 members and therefore having consistency and fairness for members is paramount." Therefore, they cannot be flexible and if you want to cancel your swim school membership, you can ONLY do this in person when the swim school desk is open (You cannot do it online or over the phone - DIFFICULT especially if you have kids!!). Also, if your child gets sick and therefore cannot attend a swim class, they will only consider arranging a makeup lesson if the sickness means they cannot attend their class for 3 consecutive weeks. Which means if your child has any virus at all (read conjunctivitus, chickenpox, herpes, impetigo, etc), feel free to bring them for at least 3 weeks and infect everyone else otherwise say goodbye to a third of your term's payment. It's so deceiving when their marketing portrays WLC as a family friendly pool when they know the last thing about being family-friendly. read more

Unhelpful (Incompetent?) management. My children were automatically re-enrolled into midmorning swim classes even though they were starting primary school and couldn't attend - I had given over a months written notice but Management charged me anyway, claiming they never received the paperwork. When I requested a refund I was accused of lying and told that my children had attended the classes (which they hadn't as they were in school at the time!) It took me several months to get a refund by going to the supervisor at Willoughby Council. No apology though for their wrongful accusations. Sounds like they haven't changed their approach. read more

I continue to be disappointed by these guys! Where is the customer service?? I have been loyal to the Willoughby Leisure Centre for many years but, to what end? For what benefit? I am at the bottom of the line when it comes to booking lessons for the holidays, just as I would be at any other pool in the area. The lesson times that I require ARE AVAILABLE right now, but they won't hold them for me until I'm there again on Friday (for normal weekly lessons). It's Wednesday afternoon now, they would only have to hold the positions for 1.5 days until I can come and fill out all the necessary paperwork but they will not do it. Why do these people not commend loyalty in anyway? I'm not asking for a reduced rate or a class (or time) that doesn't exist. My request is simple. They have accused me of requesting "special treatment", well, if pencilling in my kids for available lessons for 1 and a half days is special treatment then, damn right I expect special treatment, I've been paying for swimming lessons for 9 consecutive years!! read more