Virgin Active

Wow. What a shitty place to try to inspire yourself to workout and live a more healthy life.
Having just went through a full renovation at Virgin Active Chiswick Park (same tier), it is clear to me that either Virgin Active Essex Rd or Virgin Active Chiswick Park is in the wrong tier and it’s clear which gym it is — Essex Rd.
Reception is a welcoming. The gym is located in a quaint courtyard with cycle parking. The lounge area near reception offers free tea (and coffee?) and has been renovated recently. There is a large flat screen TV on the wall and plenty of seating. This gym is so tiny, I don’t know why they didn’t better utilize this space for something gym-​y, not lounge-​y.
After passing through reception, you’ll head down a flight of stairs and then down a long ass corridor (more wasted space) to the changing rooms. The female changing room was very messy with toilet paper and make-​up supplies everywhere. Wet towels had been left on the poofs and, in general, it was gross. On the flip side, it does appear that the changing rooms have had a recent facelift. I’d shower there and that’s saying a lot.
So after you have stored all your kit in the changing rooms, the next stop is the gym floor. This is when disaster strikes. The gym floor is like a bunker. Its made of concrete cinder block and it smells absolutely awful. Wet moldy sweat that’s been sitting in a closed room for ages. Awful!
The gym floor is tiny. It is the size of the cardio area at Virgin Active Chiswick Park. Machines are way too close together. There is no where to stretch or do non-​cardio or non-​machine exercising (e.g. lunges).
I made it through half of my workout and then decided that I’d rather spend my time outside in the sunshine than in this terrible and absolutely uninspiring place.
If you plan on making this your home gym (tier 1), then you will be wasting your money. Do yourself a favor and head across town to Chiswick Park to see what a real tier 1 gym looks like before you sign any paperwork.

I like this gym because it is rarely very busy, and hence I can mostly use whatever equipment I need to without waiting. The fact that it is quiet might have something to do with how it is maintained… or not maintained as it turns out. I don’t think I’ve ever been in when everything has been working. Usually something is broken — be it showers, air con or gym equipment. It takes them forever to fix or replace things. It is also not particularly well equipped — for example a bench in the weights area broke about 4 months ago and has not been replaced, leaving only 2 remaining. How much effort does it take to replace a bench!!? Overall I would go somewhere else if there was anywhere else conveniently close to me.

The gym itself isn’t bad although it’s small it isn’t tiny and has a good range of equipment. The refurb isn’t bad — the gym looks a lot better but the equipment doesn’t seem to have a maintenance program. When a piece of equipment breaks down it takes weeks, sometimes months, to repair. The air con is still patchy and poor despite a lot of money being thrown at it. Some staff admitted they didn’t know how to turn it on so how well it works is academic really. in Summer it usually breaks down anyway.
The audio has been broken for 6 months but it’s never been good. You exercise to the radio adverts on Capital — motivating! What the gym needs is a decent manager to get hold of it by the scruff of the neck and shake it up. The staff aren’t motivated at all and treat it like a youth club — water fights in the gym last visit — and the reception staff can be downright rude.
Virgin at the Angel seems a lot better and it’s a lot larger too. I wonder if their manager can be persuaded to move to Islington.

A good Gym club, where you never have to queue to use equipment.
Eventhough smaller than its closest counterparts (Angel and Barbican), that club has a very friendly atmosphere, and the swimming gets direct sunlight from a window on the ceiling, which is unheard of in those nearby clubs.
It’s still undergoing major works, but those have been very well communicated, and performed.

I’m always curious to try out new things and so when I read that Virgin Active has a new branch in Islington, I headed there straight away. My welcome experience wasn’t so great: although having an all-​club access membership, the lady at the front desk made sure to tell me that this used to be an Esporta Health Club and that for some reason seems to make a difference. In the end I got in, but still: why make suchg a fuss and make me feel stupid?
The gym itself needs some renovation — and according to the signs it is on its way. Not that it’s dirty or rotten, but given that most other Virgin Active gyms are quite modern, this seems a little dated.
During my visit I only made use of the pool, which was nice and empty on this Sunday afternoon. I liked that they had separated the pool in only in two wide lanes; for the slower and the faster folks. That way the lanes were itself pretty wide and gave plenty of room to navigate.
I also had a peak at the actual gym, which seems to be rather small and thus tightly fit with loads of equipment.
Overall, not bad to have another option to work out, but this won’t become my to-​go-​choice…

This is now a Virgin Active Gym — you really can’t miss the big red signs everywhere and half way down the street too!
Still a good decent gym, seems a bit busier but that could be just the New Years resolutions in full swing!

I joined this gym because its the closest to my flat, but I’m fairly unimpresed so far. Maintenance seems to be a major issue, especially around the air conditioning. ALso, if I piece of kit breaks in the gym (which feels a bit prison like due to it being underground) it takes forever to get it fixed.
I did have a moan to the general manager about it, and she was fairly receptive so that’s a plus.
When I was at the FInchley Road one, I could barely believe it was the same gym because its so much nicer.
Also they are being sold to Virgin Active, so I’m hoping they invest a bit of cash to upgrade the place.
Update: Having now had access to the Virgin Active at Angel, pass Esporta go not pass go, and head straight to Virgin Active. It’s cheaper, cleaner, and doesn’t feel like a prison. Virgin have seemingly decided to put cash into the Essex Road gym, but there is no way they could compete with the Angel one. If only it was 10 min closer I’d ditch Esporta altogether.
Aug 13, 2012 update: This place has been just as awful as before. They have been supposed to be doing a complete gym overhaul starting in mid June, but not surprisingly this delayed to at least mid Sept. The management is completely hopeless and it took months for them to get music to work appropriately for a spin class. Each time a scheduled class took place it was a surprise to staff. Now the spin classes take place in the middle of the open gym, which no doubt pisses everyone off who is not spinning.

Only went once for a try out, was looking for a new place to train in Islington, so bear that in mind when reading my review.
Agree with Chicken_l’s review, staff seem money driven than customer focused, and considering the price (very high) it was a bit tatty around the edges and the equipment not all that great. Yes they have a pool, (they kept telling me) but who cares really… I got the feelling this is more of a spa gym, somewhere you would go if you don’t really want to work out, but do a few laps in the pool and have nice soap in the shower
Out of all the gyms in islington this is the most expensive by far (over £100 pm) and in my opinion the worst one. and I used to go to fitness first in Old St., so that is saying something.
I have since joined the local councils gym, cheaper and the staff are more approachable.
Is a decent and affordable gym in Islington too much to ask for!

I wouldn’t recommend it here unless you find it difficult to get to Virgin at the Angel. I only go because it’s across the road and the nearer the gym the more likely I am to go. The air con hasn’t been right since I joined when it opened. This summer it broke down (again). It’s hard enough to get the motivation to get up and go there without sweating your way through an hour of airless torture. Some equipment is broken — one piece since May — and there’s general air of neglect despite the refurb of the showers and gym (I don’t use the studios so can’t comment) because there is little or no maintenance and it looks like it’s been done on the cheap. They also got rid of the old staff who were happy to give general training advice. The shift is towards personal training, at a price — more money in it I guess — but they have removed the floor staff so you have to pay for advice. The new staff are also paid a lower rate than the staff they got rid of so they aren’t so motivated and are generally hands-​off. Sorry I can’t say much positive. You get a towel and shower gel/​body lotion in with your membership fee. Hows that for faint praise?