Virgin Active

Nice gym with a Pool, Sauna & Steam room. Weights section is not the biggest but does the job. Staff are always extremely pleasant.

The gym gets crowded during the after work shift and sometimes during noon-3:00 rush on weekend. But overall, the conditions and facilities are top notch. They provide two set of towels on entry and the staff if really friendly. Another positive is that cell phones work at this facility as it is above ground. They have 3 rows of cardio machines, bike, treadmills, and other machines.

They also have a full juice bar so you can grap a yummy shake on the way home.

Probably the best in Gym in Clapham and it has a pool! Hooray! I've always been a fan of Virgin Active Gyms and the Clapham branch is great. If only they had tennis courts.


Staff are always friendly here and i'm always impressed with how clean the changing rooms are. If only it cost the same as fitness first!

As Virgin Gyms go this isn't one of the best. The staff and trainers are really friendly and there's a fairly big pool. The problem with it really is one of size. The gym itself is too small so there are few benches for weight training and everyone seems quite squashed together. This means that at peak periods you'll be waiting around for a machine to use. This is particularly true of the cardio machines. I do however like their new exercise bikes which has personalised TVs and video games to play. The good news is that the pool is less crowded, except on Saturday mornings when all the dads take their kids for a swim.

I'm writing to warn people about the Virgin Active contract for the diamond membership, which I sadly signed up for. I joined the streatham branch in Jan 2008 and signed up for what I thought was a standard 12 month contact.


I have recently moved out of the area and called today to cancel. This is 15 months after I joined so I assumed if would be straight forward enough. However, I've been told that because I didn't contact VA between the 11th - 17th Jan 09 to cancel I have automatically been put on a rolling contract for another 12 months. VA didn't contact me about this 6 day window which I think it outrageous and very poor business practice.


I've complained but they've told me that because I signed the terms and conditions, I have no way out.


I'm fully familiar with the standard 12 month contacts that gyms use, but this rolling contact with no communication seems incredibly unfair.


Just want to warn people to steer clear of Virgin Active. The gyms might be nice, but their customer and business policies are ruthless and unfair.

My first experience of Virgin Active and a very poor one at that.
80s style changing rooms although plenty of room at least. Towels are ask included and were nice.
The gym floor itself was shockingly poor:
CARDIO: plenty of treadmills, bikes and x-trainers plus 4 rowers (although one was broken) but you may have to wait to get onto one
FREEWEIGHTS: By far the smallest free weights area I've ever seen in a commercial gym. It was so small and jammed up that users were tripping over each other.
RESISTANCE MACHINES: this area was larger and adequate equipment although the TRX in the middle of it was unusable as there wasn't enough space around it (or too many people)
MATS: this area is even more of a joke than the free weights three people were using it and there was then no space left. And even then you had to hunt for an actual mat
Downstairs:
POOL AREA: looked nice and modern although there were no lanes and it was literally full of young children which made it impossible to actually swim
SAUNA: reasonable size but it wasn't a nice place to sit it (like much of the gym) felt run down.
SHOWERS: This was the one really nice part of the club. Very modern and clearly recently refurbed.
This place really does need shutting down, stripping out and seriously refitting.
The £80 a month they ask for membership is laughable if they charged £25, I still would feel overcharged here. It's a shame as I had high expectations of the chain and, if this is anything to go by, they were way off the mark.

Virgin active is a great facility, but evenings are too packed. Sometimes you have to adopt your training routine, because you can't get some machines. I agree to all people which wrote bellow.
Also whoever wants to learn about fitness and nutrition as well as how to create your own training and nutrition plans fitbodyschool can help you. Fitness workshop in Stockwell. Gym without the knowledge is like library without the books.
http://www.fitbodyschool.com/ visit the website and learn how to create a program to achieve your own goals.

Ah, I wish so much I could still afford to go here! It was a real slice of luxury and made going to the gym a treat of all things! It's like visiting a hotel for the day - you are provided with fluffy towels, the changing rooms are a luxury and best of all is the steam room scented with camomile - beautiful, and enough to get you through 30 minutes on the treadmill for sure. The swimming pool is small but rarely overcrowded and there's a glass roof at one end so you can stare up to the clouds as you perfect your back-crawl. There's also a Jacuzzi next to the pool and sun-loungers which add to the hotel-esque experience. As for the gym itself, it has all the usual equipment and a range of different tv channels that you can tune into from each machine. Personal trainers are available with a one-to-one session on your first visit to provide a programme. There is also a room for classes including yoga and body pump upstairs and a room for spinning on the ground floor. The price for membership includes full use of the gym, pool and classes. If you can afford it, go for it. Whilst I was a member it was the healthiest I've ever been. Sadly, my pockets couldn't sustain it. However, bear in mind that if you get health insurance from Pruhealth then offers on membership are available.

I've been with Virgin Atlantic since 2000, I actually had 2 frequent flyer air miles card sent to me in different occasions, they update their points system accurately and it is redeemable towards a purchase of a fresh ticket! I was on premium economy visiting Texas, stayed at the Hotel Houstonia - lovery 5 star hotel with a golf course; Virgin Atlantic served absolutely delicious croissant - washed down with donperi-on red wine, I would always fly with virgin, they are brilliant on air.

West London gym cold showers on several occasions. Bland apology (eventually, after complaining twice and complaining that they weren't responding to my complaint) but ignored my request to offer even the most basic gesture (I asked for a couple of guest passes). Very crowded at 7pm weekday: no space to park.