Reviewing from gym perspective. The recent renovation was pointless, it decreased attractiveness of the free weight area. Olympic weightlifting platform removed (why??), the callisthenics bars removed (they were super useful). All that to just leave a massive empty space in the middle. Has anyone thought that through??

To: Islington Council and the Managing Director of GLL. I was bullied in the gym today and your staff did nothing to address it. If anything, your female staff encouraged it. I went to use a mat in the communal functional area. There was another lady next to me on a mat doing handstands. She said she was there first and might kick me accidentally so I should move. I said I'm using a communal mat and I'm in my space. She ignored that, first put her leg on my mat while doing her handstand and then kicked me, without offering any apology. I went to the front desk staff to explain the situation and clarify what the gym etiquette is in this case. They agreed with me that it's a communal gym and I'm in my right to use the mat there (that's placed by the gym) and shouldn't have to move. The female staff came along with me to remind the lady the same. However, once we got back inside, the staff was firstly mute for the first few minutes and then completely switched sides and said the other lady was there first. So are you saying although we are all paying for a gym membership, anyone can go and occupy as many mats as they want, kick and bully others without any apology? And your staff will not just tolerate it, but actively encourage it? By that logic, if I'm on an elliptical and the 2 machines next to mine are free, and if someone comes to use those, I'm well within my right to tell them I was there first and I'm flailing my arms and legs around, so I might kick or punch them, and hence, they should not use those machines? If someone needs additional space, they should move their mat / machine around as long as the gym permits that. They should not expect others to move around based on their convenience. If not, they should get their own personal gym. What's the logic for placing mats / machines the way you / other gyms do, if people can do whatever they want and get away with it? I went back to the front desk to explain what had happened and the male staff agreed that it was not right. He gave me the email of Mital, the manager as he said there's nothing he can do even though he agrees it was wrong. I feel bullied and disrespected. Your gym staff are supposed to take care of their customers, not actively encourage bullying. Also, if they did think it's acceptable to just occupy mats and kick others, they should have clarified it the first time when I went to the front desk to clarify your gym guidelines. They didn't have to agree, then go inside and disrespect me in front of the entire gym. It's also appalling I was bullied by a woman and that was actively encouraged by a female staff. Is this the environment you want in your gym? For people to feel unsafe? I demand a full investigation into the matter including a CCTV footage review of this incident, and for necessary action to be taken against the female staff and the other customer involved.

To: Islington Council and the Managing Director of GLL. The customer service, especially at the front desk, is abysmal. Their evident indifference suggests they're unconcerned about members cancelling due to their poor service. Additionally, the cleanliness of the facility is concerning. I urge you to inspect the changing rooms to see for yourself. It's disappointing to see that after the extensive refurbishments following the fire, the staff seem to be diminishing its value. This has led me to cancel my membership. Immediate action is required. I'm not the only one expressing this view; please refer to previous reviews for further feedback.

Reviewing from a gym perspective. Their pool is easily a 4/5, but the gym is outdated and not worth the cost, especially with cheaper gyms around. Plus side is that the gym has decent technogym equipment and spray bottles, alongside breathing space. However, letdown by things like: - broken rowing machines (1 out of 3 works correctly) - plates with torn seals that don’t slide onto the barbell - most benches with tears - rusty barbells - limited plates, and no bumper plates for the lifting platform. If one person decides to go heavy on the leg press, they’re taking most the plates available - one tiny lifting platform - TVs wasting electricity and budget that could’ve been used on equipment - when the boxing bag is hit, the entire rig shakes which is a silly when you’re using the dip bars. - smith machine rusty and the safety clips/pins can’t even be pulled due to age/friction. This is just a few of the many things which has led me to cancel my membership. As mentioned, pool really is great but the gym is lacking attention. Renovations are taking place over the next 8 weeks, but I wonder if the above will be looked at before then. Staff are cool, kind and always on hand if you need them. Big up to Alfred and Rachel who are always walking around with a smile.

It can get busy, and the change rooms need more regular cleaning, including early evening. Besides that I like this gym, it has good facilities and equipment and class instructors.

This pool used to be great when the kids were younger but not so much now. Very dirty changing rooms. Smell very bad and floors are filthy. When leaving changing rooms to enter pool area needs a good wash. Rats running around outside near entrance and also in bins just outside main entrance. Gym stinks like BO and most equipment is dirty. Only giving 2 stars as staff are really nice and friendly but this place definitely needs a cleaning team on premises all day like britannia leisure centre.

Baby swimming classes - the kids pool is decent and the instructor Ash is amazing (Friday mornings), in fact he is the only reason i keep using this facilty. The cleanliness of the women's changing rooms really lets it down, it's grimy with hair, gum and used plasters on the floors and in the family changing room. Crumbs and dirt from shoes everywhere so definitely take sandals and the showers are very uncomfortable and dangerous to take a baby into. It's not large enough and you cannot rest items anywhere. My husband can't take our son swimming on his own because there is no family changing room in the men's changing area. Very disappointing for a gym that had a massive makeover.

It seems Better have plenty of time to reply to people's negative reviews, and offer false platitudes, yet are doing absolutely nothing to address the numerous complaints that have been made about the same things. I say this because the same issues that were complained about on multiple review platforms months and months ago still persist to this day. This includes: 1) Overcrowding in the pool and people selfishly and inconsiderately using the wrong lanes. I'm a slow swimmer due to health reasons, and therefore need to use the slow lane. However, pretty much every time I use the slow lane, it's packed and several of these swimmers are extremely fast. This poses a safety risk to actual slow swimmers. They take advantage of the fact the slow lane is relatively wider than the medium and fast ones. Many of them swim very recklessly - and some quite aggressively - with their arms and legs thrashing all over the place, and making it very difficult for me to swim. Last week, some bloke from the medium lane decided to swim under the rope into the slow lane and almost kicked me in the face whilst doing so. He managed to kick my wristband off my wrist. I told him that he needs to watch wear he's going as he almost injured me. He ignored me and proceeded to swim on at a stupidly fast pace down the slow lane. During the same session an extremely bad swimmer straddled two of the one-way lanes, meaning others couldn't get past him. Myself and another swimmer politely asked if he could stick to one lane. He reacted angrily to this and said he wasn't doing anything wrong before shouting after us as we swam off. The lifeguards witnessed this but did absolutely nothing. There's a strong problem of terrible and aggressive male swimmers dominating the slow lane and intimidating weaker swimmers. Better, I don't think it's asking too much to advise your lifeguards to keep an eye on this problem and tell fast swimmers to move to a more appropriate lane. Also, they shouldn't idly sit back when customers start shouting at other customers. 2) Gym classes constantly being cancelled last minute and gym-goers not being informed about it. This has happened multiple times. I've turned up to gym classes and queued outside, only to be told be an unapologetic member of staff that the class has been cancelled. On several other occasions the regular class has been replaced by something completely different but this isn't communicated by the gym, including on the app. 3) Overcrowded gym classes. The class studios are very small. A lot of the classes permit a moderate number of class-goers to reflect this. However, some of the classes are so ridiculously overcrowded that it's obvious not everyone has booked the class, and have snuck in instead. This is really unfair to those who've booked ages in advance. It means that more high-energy classes which involve a lot of movement (including punching and kicking the air) are a nightmare as you get people constantly joining the class late and getting in your personal space, so you can't move around properly. It also poses a safety risk as I've had several near misses with crashing into other class-goers and nearly being hit in the face by other people's arms. Some class instructors are letting daft amounts of people into classes, despite there clearly not being enough room to accommodate them all. They should start asking people to show proof of booking, like responsible class instructors at other Better gyms when they clock too many people are there. 4) Poor facilities. The changing rooms smell rancid at times and aren't properly cleaned. The hairdrying space is tiny and cramped and gets overcrowded easily. One of the hair straighteners has been broken for months and staff are aware, yet no one bothers to remove it or get it fixed. In the swimming changing rooms, there is no drying machine for swimming costumes, which seems very outdated and poor.

Showers dirty to a point of extremely unhygienic, cannot believe this is legal. Lived in many countries and visited gyms all over planet earth but London “leisure centers” are the creepiest thing I've ever paid for. Expect lots of strangers hair, boogers, mould, mud, rust etc...

It's so great to be able to swim here once again. Online booking was super-easy and on arrival the staff were very welcoming. They explained the Covid-secure procedures regarding timings and changing facilities - I felt safe and looked after throughout. Thank you for a great swim!

A nice gym and pool with a relaxed atmosphere and not too crowded. Gym could do with another bench/rack and a few more benches. Not much space for mat work or stretching since they added the cycle suite but even peak times are still fairly manageable. Only downside is that the changing rooms are badly in need of a solution for the muddy slurry on the floor – even just to get some mats so the water can drain under like many other pools and gyms do. Especially after the schools have been in, or when it's busy the changing rooms are very filthy due to their small size and water from the showers mixing with the dirt.

Great service. The staff helped us immediately. We are travelling so finding a gym to accommodate us for swimming might not be that easy. The staff helped us and we went for a 1.5km swim. Really enjoyed the experience.

A truly breathtaking experience at this leisure centre amazing facilities ranging from the sauna and steam rooms to the gym and the swimming pool. All staff are incredibly kind and helpful especially one of the younger lifeguards who I believe his name started with a T. Would definitely recommend

Nonsensical refurbishment I review the gym, not the pool. There used to be a good range of equipment, if a few issues and layout flaws. The recent refurbishment was a waste of money and made things worse. There is now just one squat rack rather than two, a much inferior callisthenics frame, removal of lifting platform, seemingly all to make way for a big empty space in the middle. Why?! Obviously this was not thought through or consulted on with gym users. I won’t be returning

I came her with school for swimming and it's pretty decent although not the cleanest. There is a 2m deep pool and a 0.8m deep pool, the small pool was good and the trainers were really helpful. There are hair dryers too which is good

Great gym area with spacious clean bright pool even though I don’t use it. The Sauna is controlled well, overall all the staff are very welcoming, friendly, helpful and approachable. I have seen a lot of improvement recently , and Thank you guys for making the centre enjoyable. 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿

The pool is a nightmare until around 8 pm , it’s overcrowded and no one checks if people booked session ( even I didn’t know we had to book with the membership and only discovered that recently ) , the changing area are disgusting as people keep going in with their outside shoes creating a brown slurry on the floor . The showers are full of hairs , shampoo on the wall … the state of the pool access in general is quite repulsive ( a lot of people don’t shower before coming in ) sadly it’s the only gym with a pool in the area but 50£ for a disgusting pool filled with people that sticks to your bottom the whole smim time is a bit much . Otherwise lessons and gym is nice and the big windows are appreciated .

For a Year now since the change in management, the leisure centre has only moved to become the best centre in the borough. keep up the good work, love coming here, positive staff, great gym and pool.

Friendly staff and good value. Nice pool and well kitted out gym. Shame that pool does not have exit at sauna end.

Nice refurbishment. Swimming lessons are awful. Lack of teachers, unsafe ratios leading to lack of supervision. Not safe for swimming lessons at current staffing levels.

Was only allowed to use the small pool although the website made it seem as if me and daughter could use the big pool. I probably missed it to be fair. Facilities are good although I had to use the male showers and changing rooms there was a family change cubicle. Good experience in all and the staff were very helpful.

Better are an absolute disaster for booking and changing swimming lessons. Their phone line is understaffed, cuts you off without warning and you can't do what you are supposed to be able to do online. BUT when I walked in here, having talked to 2 other guys first, Frances took control and ensured my previous lessons were cancelled and swapped for new ones. I was very angry when I walked in and she solved everything. Very impressed!

It's a well situated leisure centre, with good facilities. However, what I feel lets them down is the hot and cold front desk employees, who can have a snarky attitude. Previously, we arrived to scan in for our pool session, but the gates were faulty - so after queuing and speaking to a team member, we were told to 'turn up on time next time'. It's a shame they felt the need to be snappy, as we had patiently been there 10 mins prior to the session start time. It's also a very busy indoor pool, so it can be quite hit and miss as to how many people are swimming at a time, with little crowd management and over busy lanes.

All members of staff are very friendly, and accommodating. My children are learning to swim there, and enjoy it very much. The facilities are well maintained and clean.

The swimming pool is warm, clean and sunny thanks to the skylights in the roof. What puzzles me is the customers who don't change their shoes for flip flops and go straight into the changing rooms. It's such a small effort that is needed to keep the place clean for all.

Great pool. Modern and clean. Water not too hot for a long swim but outside air temp nice and toasty.

Rude staff on the front desk - you also have to book sauna/steam room (which isn’t even possible on the weekend).

Not bad looks well small from the outside. But is very spacious. Wasn't too busy. May return again.

After the lockdown everything is changed for better. Clean, the measures are following, the pool is open as well. Definitely recommend

Totally upgraded gym experience compared to a couple of year ago. Lots of space and ventilation in the gym. Not sure about the viewing gallery for the pool, but luckily I didn't have to go there.

Great pool, clean and airy. Easy booking on the app, not too busy and very good price. Poolside kept clean only issue is floors in showers and changing rooms need to be cleaned more often, especially when the weather is wet.

Friendly and professional staff. Clean pool and a safe spacious gym.

Very happy that I joined 3 months ago. I use it almost every day now.Clean and spacious. I try to avoid when is busy. Swimming pool is great.N.K

Great gym, very well priced for the area. The equipment is very new, and everything is modern & clean. Particularly attraction is the swimming pool, which I believe was built new 2 years ago. Would recommend!

Highbury Better has been refurbished. Gone is the pokey little gym now the gym is huge. The pool was also rebuilt after the fire. Its been a long time waiting but worth the wait. Inside looks as impressive as Kensington better gym which also has a huge gym area. I so happy this gym is on my doorstep. Everyone and anyone local should want to go.

Great facility! I like this center, the staff is very kind and always try to help us when we need it. The pool is clean and doesn't freeze like some others I've tried. The changing rooms are clean and the hair dryers work! The swimming instructors are very good and enter the water with the children to demonstrate the correct swimming gestures and to keep them entertained. The only thing I don't like (in the women's locker room): there are few showers compared to the influx of children and the first one on the left is always cold, be careful! They should also build a series of open showers where the kids can take the shower all together and don't freeze waiting for their turn.

Facilities are good, toilets could be cleaner. Would be great to have more mirror/mat space for using the smaller weights/doing other exercises because there's only mirrors in the weights room and it gets cramped easily.

Great revamp with spacious, clean and bright gym and pool. Sauna doesn’t open till 8am only downside. Staff are all friendly and welcoming and great location near the tube.

Had not been here since the fire. What a transformation. Helpful staff and very clean throughout. The showers are a bit of a letdown but have thoroughly enjoyed the spa area and the pool.

Pool could be great but often half of it is allocated to children and swimming lessons and better do nothing to reduce the number of people that can use the other half and don't share this information on the all. Staff also do nothing to manage the lanes properly,

Very good.. the disabled changing room was available. I like this changing room but there is no shelf to put my shampoo. Also inside there is the Locker, to put my cloths in but what would I do if while I'm swimming someone else uses the room?

It's been a while since I've stepped foot in here, it's been refurbished and looks amazing! So much cleaner than before. The pools are sectioned off for Lane swimming, for different abilities which is helpful.

Strongly recommend avoiding this place. Called in the morning to inquire about getting me and my 15 year-old son registered. Was directed by a lady on what membership to select, how to pay. When I arrived in the gym in the afternoon I was not allowed in, on the grounds that 15 year-olds are not allowed in the gym. I had asked precisely that question in the morning, as that was the only purpose os my booking. People at the front desk not only were rude but also stated that they could not issue a refund, that I shall spent now another hour on the phone with the same lady I spent an hour in the morning, so that they can process my refund as there was nothing they could do. Overall, a very messy and unprofessional experience, wasted a few hours and who knows how many days more to get my money back. Follow-up to my review: Four weeks later I hadn't got any refund. I called again, and it turns out the person that had told me that it was canceled and would get my money in two weeks, did not cancel at all, essentially didn't do anything. A guy called Darren in customer service handle this with extreme patience, apologized in the name of Better, explained to me everything they did wrong in every step of the way, and issued a refund.

It's clear that management have no clue about fitness as the constant changes to equipment, layout or swimming lesson times are counter-intuitive, unergonomic or nonsensical. Gym equipment has been swapped again, so now there is only one squat rack and hanging bars are too fat & slippery to do pull ups or inversions. Floor mats are placed close to walkways, swimming lessons change week to week forcing swimmers to cram into single lanes, machines are placed facing blank walls or right up close to tv screens or under bright lights. Surely PTs could have been consulted at least?! Worst is that when you complain by email, responses from management are full of platitudes and place responsibility on guests to be accommodating. A polite FU. We are training here every day out of love for fitness, it would be nice if management could also put an ounce of love into our gym experience.

Im new to the area, and i had decided to go to Highbury for a swim, the facility was very clean and presentable the staff was also very lovely. I had a few questions about the centre and had asked this young man working there ( i think is name was sheldon) he was particularly nice and understanding and gave me all the information i desired. I highly recommend this leisure centre if you want to go somewhere welcoming and relaxing.

Please enforce the "no shoes" rule in the pool changing rooms by providing a space to remove shoes. The floor gets dirty, encouraging more people to leave their shoes on. Otherwise the pool is nice and the showers are ok- do add a holder for soaps in the showers!

I was unable to book for me and my husband to attend the mixed Sunna session. I was told we have both to be registered separately and book it individually. I cancelled my 2 bookings I made. It’s been more than 2 months it has not been refunded. They have bad customer service.