Better - New Barnet Leisure Centre Recensioni 

Rased a complaint regarding one of the branches manager's conduct (New Barnet)via official channel and also via regional manager more than 8 months ago. Haven heard a single word from anyone at Better Gym.
Yes they Do cover up and they make sure any complains is ignored
Well done Mr. Peter Bundey

Amazing place! Clean, comfortable , and spacious .
The staff are lovely and friendly . The facilities are good. The changing rooms are spacious but not sure there’s enough toilets, but I haven’t seen everything properly yet. Parking is ok, but I feel it might be a problem at peak times .

Welcome staff happy to help, experienced fitness instructors, clean gym and facilities

GREAT SIZE GYM , CLEAN AND ORGANISED

There was one person at the reception who was very helpful and that made a lot of difference

Gone down hill since Charles has not been around! Classes are not the same, very generic YouTube fitness class - may as well stay home.

Receptionist was very helpful. I had a swimming lesson with Roxanne and I can highly rate her teaching skills. Clear instructions which really helped me

I can't get booked onto fitness classes as they are booked up so quickly, there are cliques of people who book together. The toilet had literal poo smeared on the seat in the ladies fitness changing rooms upstairs. Pool changing room floors always dirty with stray hair and other stuff. Never any parking.

Good community leisure centre, I am glad a registered as a member

I was recommended by my doctor to use Better at my local lesuire centre due to poor balance. I have been having sessions with Billy at New Barnet. My strength has improved and my balance is much better. I booked 3 months of older age concession membership and got unlimited gym access, one monitored gym session and one personal group lesson a week. I have never been to a gym before in my life, but do not find it overwhealming and I find my exercise plan simple enough to understand but a targeted enough approach that I am seeing results.

My first visit today and the staff were so helpful and explained how everything worked.
Lovely pool and showers, very clean and well maintained. No chlorine smells either.

The staff are knowledgeable, friendly and helpful, the facilities are managed well and kept clean. The gym has a lovely view of the park and there are loads of well run classes fit for all age groups

Keep up the good work it's appreciated
Francis

It's a good place to spend time and get fit. Staffs are helpful and classes is fantastic, Easy to book and fit for all Levels.

Good morning Shaun and Laura,

I wanted to enquiry when Charles will return to New Barnet gym to take classes.

I have been attending the gym for over 5 years now but have always struggled to engage with the classes. Last June, I started going to the Saturday 12:15 cycling in class run by Charles and I finally enjoyed coming to the gym! My mum and I eagerly set our alarms for 9:58 each Saturday evening, desperate to get onto Charles’ class for the following Saturday.

I would like to know when he will be returning to teach. The once full classes now have spaces with Charles absence, and the classes lack a sense of community and motivation. The class I was in yesterday was half empty, which says it all. Charles brings people to the gym.

I know that an incident occurred in one of Charles classes involving a very dysregulated member who was not following the booking rules of the gym. I have been in a class with this member before and would like to say that I have personally witnessed classes not being able to start due to her dishonestly about having spaces, arguing with staff demanding that she should be allowed to stay regardless of whether she has a space, arguing with an instructor regarding of the fact that a room of people are waiting for the class that they have paid for to start, arguing regardless of the fact that they are the one being unreasonable, disrespectful and making others feel unsafe. Better Gym need to show loyalty towards their staff and support instructors who themselves are victim to antisocial behaviour from shockingly behaved members.

I know that many other members will be emailing you with other character references too, and rightly so. Charles is what New Barnet gym is all about: passionate, hard working, incredibly kind, committed to each person he teaches and the reason why we are a member.

Please can you confirm receipt of this email and provide me an update as soon as possible as to when Charles will be returning.

I have been going to the cycle class with the instructor Charles since the summer. He hasn’t been there for the last month or so and we have missed his sessions greatly. He is an excellent teacher, he is patient, kind and always respectful. I have never heard him or experienced him being anything other than professional, calm and polite. His sessions are enjoyable and highly motivating. The instructors at Better Gym must have the support of the organisation - this is what they are entitled to and should be able to rely upon. If customers are allowed to use bullying tactics that threaten staff and put their livelihoods at risk then this is a worrying and very unjust situation. The members of Better Gym would like Charles back teaching and it is only right that this happens. Please don’t let unbalanced individuals succeed in their bullying actions.

Young woman on reception was very friendly, helpful and welcoming. I was very impressed with her and she created an excellent first impression. The PT was equally friendly and encouraging. He answered my many questions and advised me on the best strategy for my particular situation.

A lovely gym, nice staff, the gym’s ok but it’s hopeless when booking classes, it’s easier to get a doctor’s appointment. All spaces are gone within a minute of them being available. Not sure it’s worth the hassle.

It is impossible to call the centre. The number on the website goes through to a huge call centre. I needed to postpone an appointment owing to illness and they said they could not advise my local centre but that I should email an address they gave me, which I did, but no response.  A few hours later, I received an email saying I had missed the meeting! I responded explaining that I had tried to contact them.  Again,  no response. A few days later, I went in person to try to rearrange.  I was kept waiting at reception while other customers were constantly allowed to interrupt and be attended to even though they arrived after me.  Eventually, I was given a direct email by the staff member I was meant to see in order to rearrange. The receptionist also tried to finish setting up my account, even though I kept telling her I had already set it up.  I emailed as requested but I have now been told that my contact will not be  available for two weeks even though I am paying membership now.  The entire time I spent waiting, I was worried about my car in the car park without permission to park but the receptionist seemed incapable of helping.

I've been coming to Better Gym at New Barnet Leisure for 3 years now.
Facilities are overall excellent.
Equipment is always clean however recently, specifically in the gym and spin classes, more and more equipment has been damaged and either not repaired or not replaced.
I'd expect things to take awhile but it's now months that spin bikes have got broken.
However, the worst thing now is that the gym instructors are no longer able to provide music for their classes. This music is absolutely key to the classes and motivation for attendees and creates a vibe and great atmosphere..
This is all changed now as instructors have to choose regurgitated mixes or covers of tracks and can't create mixes using original music. You might think this is minor but it really isn't because the tracks are mostly the same speed or beat and just end abruptly.
Supposedly this change in the music is due to industry wide policy changes on licencing.
What a disappointing state of affairs.
The management shrug their shoulders and are powerless.
Undoubtedly it's down to money but I'd like someone to explain why this has happened as it really has destroyed the feel good factor in the classes.

I feel its only right for me to put forward what I experienced at the body pump class on Saturday 21st Feb. I will explain what I saw and heard.
When Charles realised that two people who had booked the body pump class had no equipment available to them he then asked if there was anybody in the room that had not booked could they please leave. One Lady left straightaway. Charles asked again no-one replied or left the studio. Charles then got the register and ticked off everyones names, again giving this other person a chance to leave. Unfortunately Elham who had not booked the class decided to ignore Charles's request and stayed put. Charles asked Elham to leave the class, as she had done this to him three times before. I know she had done this before in a class I attended but I cannot remember which class it was or if it was one of Charles classes. Elham left the class. Halfway through the class Elham returned to shout at Charles disrupting the class for a second time, Charles asked her to leave immediately which she did, only to return a third time at the end of the class to shout a Charles hysterically whilst pointing her finger at him and walking towards him. Charles looked shocked and said "Whoa! get her away from me, please someone call the manager!"as Charles said this he was trying to walk away from her, she had now disrupted the class for a third time. People began to leave the class as did Elham, some us congregated outside the studio listening to what Elham was saying that no man should speak to women this way and that we were women and we shouldn't let this happen, we (5 or 6 women) said that Elham was wrong because she had not booked the class, Elham said that it didn't matter if she had booked a class or not. I was shocked to see Elham act this way, I thought Charles had handled the situation in a professional manner considering he was provoked, Charles was firm but fair, yes he had his microphone on so it would sound loud but in my opinion he did not shout. Charles was left to teach the next class straight away.
A bit about Charles - I think Charles is an excellent instructor, I can only praise him for the way he teaches his classes, they seem to run like clockwork. He cares about his class members, he explains things clearly, he corrects us if we do things wrong and explains why. Ive been going to Charles classes since the early summer last year and I can say with my hand on heart I really do enjoy his classes he really does motivate me, he pushes me to which I think is my limit, but somehow he can always get a little bit more out of me. Charles has always been kind and respectful to me.

I hope Charles will get the support he needs from Better Gym regarding this unfortunate incident.