Better - Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre Reviews 

Staff little slow, long queue at reception. Squash courts dirty and very very hot but nice new gym and swimming pool

The good Offerings help to refugees and I mean that sincerely . Sadly our experience with the local swiss cottage centre as follows. Very very expensive and clearly not for the local community. It's it's a not for profit then why for profit Gyms in the area substantially cheaper offer better corporate deals outstanding offers for blue light workers. My wife being a full time carer of my disabled son and myself just having been diagnosed with a serious illness were disappointed to find that my wife's membership cancelled as she failed to upload proof of being in receipt of carers allowance. Spoke with customers service who we sent a copy to explaining that this was the most recent copy but refused as not within the last year. I guess if your one of the lucky ones that don't have to look after care for a disabled person or in addition have a partner with a severe illness and can afford the full membership it's great. Maybe they need to stop pretending they are for the local community

Mr. Candy. A wonderful man, you can see he loves his job. my kids love it. Mother Alicja&Aleksander

Problems with suana all the time

I don’t recommend this place for children with hidden disabilities. My experience was with swimming and trampolining classes - and the lack of awareness from teachers/coaches is quite appalling

My wife cycled up here from Shoreditch to try out the facilities.and check out the pool, as she sufferes with a sensitive anxiety.
She's desperately trying to find a decent pool in London. So far she has London Feilds at No 1 and The Britania at No 2... However the staff are rude as hell at the Britania So it's quite, cleanish but rude, that's why London Fikeds is the best! It's clean and friendly.
Upon arriving at the centre, She was met by some rude Old Eastern European woman who was talking to the male receptionist - LOUDLY and hanging on the reception desk while I was waiting to speak to him. She ssaw my wife and continued to to talk. RUDE. What made it unacceptable, was that she was the cleaner!
Now I'm not knocking her because she's a cleaner, I'm annoyed that she is being so rude to paying customers when it's not in her job discription. You need to talk with her.

It was the male on reception that noticed her waiting and he asked if he could help?
At this point, the cleaner needs to get on with her chores and mind her business.
My wife asked him what time does the pool open to the public as she had noticed it was closed at 6:45am to the public and there was about 50 team members in the pool already.
The CLEANER told her, 'You need to book'! and it doesn't even till 7!

My wife ignored her rude and intrusive attitude and continued to direct the conversation towards the male who's job it is to tell her the information. And he rudly said. "Like she said, it opens at 7am and you need to book"
My wife told him that he didn't know she hadn't booked that she heard what she said and further more, why is he reiterating what the cleaner said, like she's thick? She said to him, he doesn't know she hasn't booked, she's just asking a question.

My wife suffers with severe Agoraphobia. To her dismay, not only did she find that the swimming pool was packed with swimmers, a training school of some sort, it smelt like a Sewer in there. Maybe the cleaner should be in there sorting out the smell and not poking her nose where it's not welcome and doesn't belong...Just a thought. 🤷🏼‍♂️

My wife looks extremely young for her age. She owns 3 companies and excels in customer service to her clients. She is a conisur in this department and wouldn't speak to or handle someone in this unprofessional way. She's closer to 60 years old and she's being treated like a second rate citizen by an Eastern European? The irony is not even funny.

Please don't assume that every Black person is a thug or has just come over on the banana boat. Treat everyone the same. Yes she was wearing a bally (you could see her full face) because she's just cycled all the way from Shoreditch on a Boris bike and had to walk 30 minutes from the docking station! She was freezing. She's also Aenemic so she get cold very quick.

Whoever reads this review, I would strongly advise you speak to your Cleaner and advise her not to take over a conversation that is neither in her job discription nor her business.

I myself have a zero tolerance for this kind of Racial profiling, because that's EXACTLY what it is. Trust me, my wife is subjected by this ignorant type of behaviour on a daily basis and I'm always shocked, every time I am witness to it. She's got more education and talent in her little finger, than MOST people I meet! She is truly gifted. She speaks perfect English, she was born in this country and she is one of the most kindest, gifted people I know. Naturally she gets her back up when dealing with people that try to be low key racist or discriminatory.

She called me on the phone and told me what happened and I told her just to come home, don't waste your energy there.
I know she's NOT getting in that pool anyway, and I wouldn't either.
Make it clear so people don't have to waste theor journey.

For the record. Nowhere is it mentioned that the pool will be saturated by 50+ teams of trainers in the pool. My wife has OCD but she's says she's just clean 😂

She's NOT getting in a pool that's had a ton of people in it since 5.30 sweating out the water 🤢 PLUS the raw sewage smell in the changing rooms 🤢 Oh my god. Poor girl. I bet her anxiety went through the roof!
That's just horrific for her AND ME! That's why she swims early and she assumed it was open at 7am to everyone, not closed for pre swimmers. How is she supposed to know there will be people in the pool? Be clearer on the app and further more, who said she didn't book?

Do you see what I mean? You just made her feel unwelcome! She's not going back and neither am I visiting. We'll stick to London feilds, where the staff are friendly and the cleaners don't poke their noses in your business. Go to Google for the rest...

Re: Response:
Thank you for your response Charmaine. I hope the cleaner is spoken to, because she was aggressive and rude. She need to mind her business and stop salavating all over the receptionist. (My wife's words not mine) 😅

I am very satisfied with the gym at Swiss Cottage. It has everything I need from gym equipment to a swimming pool. The gym is well maintained and clean.

The sauna and steam room rarely operate simultaneously, which is quite frustrating. Moreover, the area designated for the sauna and steam room emits a strong and unpleasant odor reminiscent of urine. This experience left me not only deeply disgusted but also genuinely horrified by the unsanitary conditions.

All the staff were welcoming and the atmosphere was very friendly from other members too.

Very happy with this wellness center

Very friendly and professional staff. Very clean.

Well where does one start?
The one star is for your fabulous receptionist at Swiss Cottage - totally over worked - it was she who dealt with Malakai's membership and bookings for swimming and soft play.
We ended up with goodness knows how many bits of papers, six emails and several passwords - nope, no bleedin'idea either why it has to be sooo unnecessarily complicated.
Oh and a portal which won't open on my expensive hand held computer, my samsung android phone.
Your poor receptionists doing all this whilst simultaneously helping with enquiries opening gates etc.
Of course you can ring - hollow laugh - your call is important to us - no it isnt. You might just as well cut the crap and say,"sod off and go to our unworkable website", save us all time and frustration.
I did get through to a human,"'er no we're central and cannot communicate with individual sites. I'll send you the email".
No email address. Email read, "please sign/ log in ..." to EVEN open the damn email address!! Couldn't do it. WHAT PASSWORD?
So in order to sort anything out, find anything out; book, change or cancel I STILL have to shlep down to the site and catch your receptionist in between swinging from the chandelier and helping yard long queues of equally frustrated sufferers.
What a way NOT to run an organisation dealing with people.
Utterly dreadful

I recently had a rather frustrating experience at Better Gym Leisure Centre in Swiss Cottage that I feel compelled to share. As a dedicated member, I've always enjoyed my time at the gym, but unfortunately, my recent encounter with the service manager, Ryan Lacrette, has left me disappointed and disheartened.
For the past few months, I had noticed that the showers were consistently dirty, and it was affecting the overall gym experience. Wanting to address this concern, I approached Mr. Lacrette with the hope that something would be done to rectify the situation. Regrettably, my efforts were met with empty promises. Despite his initial assurance to take action, no improvements were made in the following months.

Even more disheartening was the way Mr. Lacrette handled my follow-up inquiry. When I mentioned the ongoing issue once again, his response was shockingly dismissive and unprofessional. He outright said, "Listen, you are the only one complaining about it," and proceeded to be rude. This lack of accountability and the disrespectful tone left me deeply disappointed.
As a result of this incident and the inadequate response from Mr. Lacrette, I've made the difficult decision to leave Better Gym and join another local fitness center. It's unfortunate that a gym I had once enjoyed had to lose a dedicated member due to a lack of attention to customer concerns and a poor handling of feedback. Baring in mind that a lot of fellow members have raised several complaints and have already cancelled their membership due to the terrible management.

In conclusion, my experience at Better Gym Leisure Centre in Swiss Cottage was marred by a significant incident that showcased a disheartening lack of professionalism and customer care from the service manager. While the gym itself has potential, the way this matter was mishandled has led me to seek a more respectful and attentive environment elsewhere and I have cancelled my membership after many years and have signed with Anytime Fitness down the road.

I like the size of yhe gym, very spacious. There is a wide selection of machines to choose from. My main concern is that overall the gym floor is not clean. Some machines are full of crumblles, dust and accumulated dirt.

The teacher is really kind and considerate of my sons needs. He’s very patient

I go to the gym after school , and since the gym closes so early i have no time to go home and get a change of cloths so i go in in a shirt , mostly on the day wear i wear a shirt i do shoulder or something where the shirt doesnt limit me but then halfway through my workout the rude manager come up to me and kicks me out not even letting me finish my set . This gym sucks don’t join

As big and spacious as it is, I don't think the Swiss cottage branch is being managed well. I believe there is a problem with cleanliness especially in the male changing room and showers. Also the layout of the gym equipment is just funny the least be said.
Friendly staff but surely not enough of them. All in all for what you pay services should be at a higher level.

My son (who is 13 yo) and I went to visit your Swiss Cottage branch and registered online.
We then try to register for the induction. But couldn’t find how an your website nor on your app. We called your hotline who kindly tried to do it for us, but didn’t succeed. They told us then that we have to go to our branch to register for the induction. What we did. But they said that they can’t do it there we have to write an email to an address they gave us. They was last week, but so far no answer…

Swiss cottage air conditioning broke, despite many people asking them for months, they still haven't fixed it!

Filmed without permission at their Swiss Cottage gym.

There is female trainer - black hair, quite short - who films and does video call workouts in the gym. This is regular and they have other trainers doing the same.

GDPR would suggest that is illegal and better should raise it with their DPO to address it