Topnotch

I just joined Topnotch London Bridge, and have found the team disorganised. I agreed to sign up over the phone in August and arranged the start date to be September. I was told that I needed to drop by beforehand to sign the paperwork. A few days before the start date, I called to arrange this, and nobody had any idea what I was talking about. Eventually I spoke to the girl who signed me up and she said that she couldn’t find the paperwork! When I did go in as arranged I still had to wait for about 10 – 15 minutes for somebody to attend to me!
I was told that I needed to book the classes on the day, so when I called, I was again put on hold for ages before someone took down my details. When I arrived at the gym later that day, I found that they took no notice of who has booked and who hasn’t! I was also surprised to find that you had to bring your own padlock for the lockers, and when I asked about it, the guy at the reception went on about how there’d been posters and emails about it for ages and that I should have known better.
As part of signing up I paid £20 for three vibro sessions. I booked a session and then later called to change it to another day. Unsurprisingly when I got a call to confirm the session, it was for the original time.
So, I’ve only been a member for less than a week, and already they have shown themselves to be a disorganised bunch that hopefully I won’t have a lot to do with in the future.

I joined this gym in December and soon became addicted. To be honest, the main attraction for me is it’s location (very close to both my home and office) but I also prefer it to any other gym I’ve been in.
There are only a few other branches in the country (Blackfriars being the only other Central London one) which I know is a deterrent for some, but I actually liked that aspect.
They have a modest pool, a jacuzzi, a sauna in each changing room, excellent showers, private changing booths (as well as the general areas), hairdryers, sun beds and a mini shop. This is all in addition to a main gym area with weights etc, and a ‘Powerzone’ which is dark and usually has loud, motivational music piped into it via ‘topnotch tv’ and a huge screen. There is also a ‘Spin room’ complete with good bikes, a rotating climbing wall and a studio with a multitude of different classes.
The staff are friendly and they do a pretty good induction — tailoring it to your specific goals. You get a few sessions with a personal trainer thrown in when you sign up so it gives you a good start.
What I like is that members have a huge range of abilities and so anyone can slot in there and feel quite comfortable. I haven’t yet had a problem finding a free machine, although occasionally the mats and stability balls get snapped up quite quickly.
I particularly like going there early in the morning, on Friday evenings or on the weekends, as it’s pretty quiet then.
Other points to note are that it’s always clean, it currently costs just over £50 a month if you sign up for a year, they have permanent lockers you can hire, and a towel hire service.