Better - Clissold Leisure Centre Avis 

Top leisure centre and gym, great staff and super convenient facilities.

Great facilities, a relaxed mix of people, good vibes. I’m an off peak user, and generally have good access to the spaces I want to use, when I want to use them. And the staff I’ve spoken to have been professional and friendly… very happy so far. 🤓

Staff not very friendly and i had an appointment with one of the staff and went through the offices backstage. And it was quite messyand unprofessional.

From the outside, the Clisshold Better holds an abundance of promise and allure; a snazzy and spacious architectural design draws you in - but the magic sadly fades once you get past the entry gates. The first big niggle is the confusing layout of maze-like building, which is very poorly signposted. On my first visit, it took me several minutes to figure out where the sports hall was. There is only one small sign that actually shows you where each of the studio and sports spaces are located, but even that was a hassle to find. Once I figured out where I was going, boy did I regret not staying lost...

From here, I descended into the underbelly of the building, where the sports hall was located. Any small glimmer of daylight quickly plunged into greyness peppered by incandescent office-style lighting, as I made my way into the depressing basement area. It was here that I was immediately struck by an eerie pang of deja vu. And BAM...All of a sudden, it is no longer 10.20am on a mild October 2023 morning; instead it is a frosty January evening in 2006 in the bowel unit at St Mary's Hospital Paddington, where I visited my dear ailing aunt Eda...The grey walls are the same, the harsh eye-wincing lighting is the same, the smell is very nearly the same, as is the sense of impending doom as I advanced down the hall way towards the changing area. (Actually, the smell comment is a tad unfair - the changing rooms smelt faintly pooey compared to dear Aunt Eda's ward). And 3,2,1...we're back in the room...

As I found the small changing area, I was overcome by immense horror and hilarity in equal measure. Let's start with the showers...Now I have frequented many Better gyms in my time, and countless other leisure centres, but never have any of these gyms had a fully open shower area. As in there are NO PRIVATE SHOWER CUBICLES. Cue horrendous flashbacks of my Year 7 PE days. How on earth is it 2023 and there is still a leisure centre in existence that does not offer PRIVATE SHOWER CUBICLES?!! I do not enjoy showering naked in front of complete strangers, and find it hideously uncomfortable. I thought there might be some respite in different changing rooms on different floors, but nope, they're all as open as each other. Why?!!

As for the showers themselves, I went on a month-long trip to Colombia last year, and as part of this rich cultural experience, stayed two nights in a Bogotan slum. Hand on my heart, the shower in this slum was infinitely better than the ones at Clisshold Better. More pressure and more privacy.

The lockers are a law onto themselves - imagine the dingiest swimming pool lockers you encountered during childhood and imagine having to pay 20p per use for the pleasure. Who carries 20ps with them in this day and age?!!

Once I recovered from the traumatic sight of the changing room, I headed to my fitness class. The instructor was ten minutes late - no apology offered, nor did she make up the time afterwards. That aside, it was a thoroughly enjoyable class and I'd like to do it again, but ideally not at this Better gym. There are some very good instructors here but it's massively let down by the woeful sub-par facilities.

no internet signal inside the centre, so it is not possible to listen to music, search for exercises, etc.
The yoga classes are not as such, they are more stretching classes, it was very disappointing

I'm here to talk about the service given to me by the telephonist who work tirelessly to sort out any problems we may incur with any leisure centre we may use.
Amir and Anthony dealt with my problem.
Believe me when I tell you they worked tirelessly to solve my issue.
Such calmness and professionalism that I have not encountered for many a moon....
For just under an hour constantly dealing with a computer glitch that would not give in......
They prevailed !
Leisure centres come in many different forms.
I look for the service provided when a problem arises and how I'm dealt with.
This is the most important thing for me.
So I must give BETTER 💯 percent rating!
We are living in a time now when 90 percent of call centre's are in foreign soil.
I totally disagree with this.
Everytime I've dealt with this issue they have NEVER dealt with me professionally.
And only 1percent have fixed my problem.
And you have to go through 10 different people.
Thus was not the issue when I dealt with BETTER .
So thank you for Professionalism of a very high standard 👏

Rather crowded.
Some kids with bicycles and scooters inside the facility.
There should be some separation between males and females.

Great service, anyone can always help you around

Pool Water was very cold
Instructor told us to arrive at 11.45am which was not mentioned to be available when course was booked

Thank you for replying.
The broken machine is labelled by you.
Thanks

My friends and I enjoy playing badminton every weekend, and for the last three weeks, we booked courts at Clissold Leisure Center. Unfortunately, they kept canceling our bookings at the last minute, citing birthday reservations as the reason. We find this unfair since we booked the courts a week in advance. We're disappointed and might not book there again

Easy to navigate app and book sessions

Lily replied promptly to my query and helped me to solve my booking question.

I had a membership freeze claim, but my request was denied even though I could prove being off ill.
The customer service rep just kept repeating process instead of hearing me out and understanding what happened.
This benefit is part of the membership, but in my view it is false advertising, since it is quite impossible to qualify for it by the 'process'.
I just wanted to save 1 month of membership fees, since I couldn't go.

I was eventually compensated, but it took too many emails for something that was evident and factual from the beginning. Their process must change.

The changing rooms are dirty and need cleaner , cleaning more regularly in the evening , this includes the showers and changing cubicles as there is always dirty plasters and bandages on the floor

Friendly staff member

George was very helpful, showing me around the gym and showing me how to use the equipment in the gym.

I think the leisure centre has a lot to offer and very popular with customers .