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I have been attending ponds forge now for 2 years and I’m very happy with the venue . The gym is well equipped and there’s always staff around to help. I particularly love the classes, spin, kettle bells and Pilates, the trainer Craig is amazing and really encourages us all. Have recommended ponds forge to all my friends and family .
I’ve really enjoyed attending Mark’s fitness classes at Ponds Forge. He is always kind, friendly, and positive, which creates such a welcoming atmosphere. His enthusiasm is infectious, and he explains the exercises clearly, making the classes enjoyable and easy to follow.
Mark keeps everyone motivated and makes each session feel worthwhile. I always leave feeling happier and glad I came. He’s a fantastic instructor, and I’d highly recommend his classes to anyone looking for a fun and supportive workout.
I'm giving the classes five stars Mark and Jill are excellent zumba teachers. I do feel that the step boxes need renewing i have been a member for a very long time and they've never been replaced and fall apart when you pick them up. The staff on the desk for booking in are very good friendly and helpful.
I booked three sessions with a Personal Trainer, Janet, at Ponds Forge to help me in my recovery after Breast Cancer treatment. Janet devised a perfectly customised gym programme that really set me up on my road back to fitness. The sessions challenged me and built my confidence. It was an excellent experience.
Good venue for aqua, and has gym facilities too. limited fare at the cafe and not a good place when packed out as somehow there are only two toilets with two cubicles for men and and 2000 capacity...? but clean.
Venue car park is not too expensive and rarely full even when everywhere is booked. strange.
Had a great experience with Beth. She showed me and my friend around and answered any questions we had about a gym membership. Super helpful and definitely encouraged us both to sign up. Such a warm and friendly centre, not at all intimidating like other gyms can be.
This is not the first time I have experienced issues with the reception service for swimming activities.
The pool itself is excellent, and the staff and other users are generally very friendly. However, my experience with the swimming reception staff between 9:00 and 9:30 this morning was extremely disappointing. The staff member was a young woman with light brown hair worn in two braids.
I was waiting to enter the pool while she dealt with another customer. As I had already been waiting for some time and had received no information, I politely asked how much longer I might need to wait. She responded by raising her voice and telling me that I should remain in the queue. Her manner was unnecessarily rude and unprofessional.
I explained that the swimming session was limited to 45 minutes, but she replied that customers were advised to arrive earlier. I had already paid for and booked a specific time slot, so I don't think it was reasonable to leave me waiting at reception without any explanation and then speak to me in this way. A brief update about the delay would have reduced the uncertainty and prevented the situation from escalating.
I would appreciate it if the management team could address this matter and ensure that reception staff communicate with customers politely and professionally. Customers should not be made to feel criticised for asking a reasonable question, particularly when delays at reception reduce the swimming time for which they have already paid.
Friendly staff but terribly managed, if you are here for gym and swimming, don’t bother, for 40 pound a month you get your money worth elsewhere. There are about 6-7 machines with OUT OF ORDER stickers for weeks and months and they seem like not bothering to fix them, just leave stickers on and hoping everything will be alright, you would think for a medium sized gym they will take care of the equipment and get them repaired asap, the cardio machines are poorly maintained and makes squeaky sound, the hand sanitizer boxes were empty 90% of the time. When I started my membership few month ago I was told that we get a locker key to keep and it only took 2 months to arrive, which meant that every time before you started working out, there were massive queuing in the reception area takes up at least 10 minutes of your time to get a temporary key. The swimming pool closes constantly, it disrupts your training plan before you almost form your own work out routine. I would give 1 star if weren’t for the friendly staff. Avoid at all costs.
As there was no clear way to get a carer’s discount for my disabled child, I booked and then took proof to try and get a refund. They said they couldn’t do it and next time I’d have to just not pay for my ticket and not worry that it might be too full and sort it out when I got there. (I didn’t want to risk this as my son is autistic and I had told him we were going). I paid for parking but then received £100 fine, which for some reason went to an address I lived at 5 years ago, despite the fact my car is obviously registered to my new address. I think it must have been because I had two children, one of whom is disabled, so it took us a long time to get ready and we went over time. I am never coming back here as there is clearly some work for them to do around accessibility for children with need.
If you don’t mind a sport centre with a supervisor receptionist who will shout at you, go to Ponds Forge.
This mid age female receptionist with red hair and glasses, she was so aggressive to costumers, her attitude is absolutely not acceptable. She questioned me in a surprisingly loud voice and made me so upset. When I said I would cancel the membership because of her, she was like “THAT’S FINE” and couldn’t care less. This staff is the supervisor of the reception, now you can imagine how terrible the team is!
This is not the first I have been disappointed by this place. From the booking system which is unbelievably difficult to use, to the enquiries that no one cares and responses. Their higher office, the so called management team, literally has no management skills.
Not even mention the “refer a friend and get one month free membership” thing. It was totally fake. You had to “refer” a friend and wait till someone contact you and start a membership for you, but actually no one will contact your friend ever, so your referral would never be successful. How interesting is it!
Not only that, they always change the rules without notifying people and they don’t see people equally! They don’t allow people who have swimming MEMBERSHIP to use the MEMBERSHIP changing room. That makes no sense. They set this nonsense rule this morning, no email, no notification, no explanation, just suddenly applied. I was told I couldn’t use the changing room I always use before as one of the members. If you ask them what time the rule was set, they say “the other day”, what an answer!
Plus if you decide to buy the membership, be careful! You will have to pay “the last month fee” at the very first. I had terrible experience today so I wanted to cancel my membership, but I’ve been told my membership will have to finish on the end of December. If not, my “last month membership” fee will not be refunded. What a two month notice period!
The only positive thing about this venue is the competition pool, although the 50m lane swim has been stopped for a long time. I have been swimming here for 7 months and have encountered so many problems. I've tolerated enough, I simply can't take it anymore.
AVOID!
