90 Mansell Street
London
E1 8AL
020 7481 0896
Date of visit: August 2011
I had been to this place before, but decided to try out payasugym.com to get a one-day pass. It cost £6 and it was easy to do. The only thing that I didn’t like about payasugym.com is that you have to top up a minimum of £10 – What if you are only in town for one day? Anyway, within a couple of hours I was at the gym and Anthony, the guy at the reception took my code and then let me get straight on with the session. Anthony was friendly and professional.
The gym is on two floors and has all the cardiovascular equipment on the ground floor, with the basement being used for machines and free weights. The cardiovascular section consists of 30 piece of PRECOR equipment, which include treadmills, stepping machines, rowing machines and bikes. Downstairs there are PRECOR weights machines and a free weights section. There are also two power plates and a stretching area.
Good Points: The best points about this place are a combination of location, price, quality of equipment and service given by staff. The staff was really friendly and ready to assists. The owner (franchisee) Andrew Newall came over for a chat and even asked for feedback on how he could improve the place. This doesn’t happen in most gyms and it definitely won’t happen in a no-frills gym (check out The Gym Group). All machines are top of the range PRECOR and they even have a t-bar row, which many other gyms don’t have – this is great to work your upper back. The place was clean and very well maintained and the ground floor has natural light, which again is rare in central London gyms. I also noticed that there was a cleaner on site and the changing rooms were being maintained well. At least when I went in there at 1:30pm it was not crowed and I didn’t have to wait for any equipment.
Bad points: Although there was a big mirror in the free weights area, I would also put in a few more both in the machine/stretching section and in the cardiovascular section. Apart from this I can’t find fault.
Final word: Remember that this is a no-frills place, so you only have cardiovascular machines, weight machines and free weights. There are no saunas, nor steam rooms, nor pool, nor aerobics classes. If you are looking for these things, you need to look at a different club. However, the monthly fee is £19.99, which compares to £60 for the Virgin Active around the corner. This is a bargain, especially when you consider the location. I also found out that they offer a personal training service, which is a fraction of they price of other gyms in the area.
I have given a 5 here because they seem to be carrying out their proposition extremely well – location/price/equipment/service. It’s worth checking out – even if you just get a one-day pass, as I did.
