Bannatyne Health Club

Positive experience: This is an excellent Health Club. I just started my second year of membership at the Chester-le-Street Club. Their hours of operation and location make them a convenient neighborhood health facility. I especially enjoy their variety of exercise classes such as spinning, bodypump and body attack. Their pool is excellent for lap swimming and there are always lap lanes available...as well as clean and excellent showering, locker and changing areas. They have an excellent staff of instructors who motivate the members during classes so they get a great workout. They have free parking right at the facility. The only time parking is a bit inconvenient is during cricket season. But members do get a free pass to park nearby during this time. Oh, their spa at the Belmont club is excellent and reasonably priced. They also have some excellent body care products. Please give Bannatynes a try. You will not regret it.

Negative experience: The gym itself isn't bad, it's clean and the staff are friendly however the members don't respect the space. I've had memberships in much cheaper gyms such as thegymgroup, Onegym and JD where people are able to put their weights back on the racks however here they are often spread across the floor or placed *next to* the racks. Not to be a Karen but people could trip... Members are also chatting on the phone loudly in the gym space, leaving belongings next to equipment and doing a disappearing act and you'll regularly find over 200kg left on the leg press for you to remove before you start your set... This may not seem like much to some however when you can pay 50% less to use (only) gym facilities elsewhere, where people respect the equipment - it's a no brainer. The gym equipment is a bit dated when you consider the price of Bannatyne and the quality of the likes of Onegym which has opened round the corner... It's also a bit of a nightmare to cancel your membership, ignored 3 times via email and phone number for cancellation doesn't work, how convenient. I do not leave reviews unless I'm really dissatisfied and in this instance I am. I really expected more for over £60 a month.

Fantastic experience: This is a great facility. Staff are very friendly and helpful with a wide variety of fitness support. I tend to use the machines I know well but various programmes are always available with fitness instructors to extend individual skills - and take you beyond your comfort zone. I don’t attend classes at the moment but there are a wide range available- but you need to book as they fill up quickly! My wife and I recently rejoined after leaving during Covid! We are really enjoying being back there once again.

Positive experience: Was at

Fantastic experience: Well equipped club with highly trained instructors who will guide you in the direction you want to go.

Fantastic experience: Bannatyne Chester-le-Street has a laid-back, luxurious feel that's hard to beat. You can work out while catching some live cricket, which is a nice touch. The staff and members are really welcoming, making it a comfortable place to be no matter your ability. The sauna, steam room, and pool are great for unwinding after a workout. It's a great spot to get fit and relax at the same time.

Negative experience: It's a gym, it has mechanisms of torture. I was next door watching the cricket

Negative experience: Minimum 12 month contract upon which they do not cancel your membership. Blatant abuse of busy members and illegal under trading standards. No members of staff wearing poppies for remembrance. Absolutely shameful.

Positive experience: Expensive , machines break easy and take months to repair in one case it was broken for 10 months and opposed to repairing they just removed it (peck deck) so no peck machine now ! Little to no investment in facilities Cleaning could do with improvement as well, same cloth to clean buns is used to clean drink fountain and window sills . Swimming pool is canny and staff are great !

Positive experience: Excellent access and helpful staff for wheelchair users. Staff are very helpful and assist when requested. Only using pool for now due to mobility issues after leaving hospital. Having hydro therapy sessions with my own physio who is allowed in free of charge along with my carer for that day ( husband or mother). Hope to utilise the steam room and sauna once my legs are stronger! Pool has fairly shallow steps in addition to the ladder style. There is also a hoist available if required. Only gave 4 stars as it is blinkin' expensive. Hahaha

Positive experience: Good gym. Staff good and the weights and cardio areas are good. Can get busy especially on evenings in the weights area. Pool a steam room and sauna are okay. I haven’t tried the classes but definately get better value than the budget gyms

Fantastic experience: Fabulous gym and health spar

Fantastic experience: As a new member I am very happy with the personnel, facilities, opening times.

Fantastic experience: Good quality gym. Lots of equipment. Well spaced out. Lovely swimming pool. TVs and games on the treadmill & cross trainer to keep you occupied if you are doing a long walk. Good size lockers, plenty of shower cubicles & hairdriers. Café with a good choice of food. Free parking too (restricted parking if there's a major cricket match or music event).

Fantastic experience: Great equipment, great helpful staff 10/10

Negative experience: This gym is so run-down! Since rejoining in 2023 I don’t think I’ve had a visit here where every piece of equipment is actually working. The women’s changing rooms are falling apart, there’s currently doors hanging off their hinges!? Shower area is never clean and same with the pool area. For £50+ a month I think this is actually shocking! Much better value for money gyms in the area!

Negative experience: Wow what can I say, been twice since joining November 25 2023 Dirty, run down and dated equipment also jacuzzi not working properly. I can’t believe I took full membership and have been told I’m locked in for 12 months now. I wasn’t even told about cooling off period or this I think it’s time Duncan Bannatyne had a visit. Dawn Kelsey

Fantastic experience: Great facilities and friendly staff

Negative experience: Cancelled my membership within 14 days, and the idiots at Chester Le street chasing me for my membership. You are not getting a penny out of me, Jake cannot seem to operate a telephone and call people back! Do not use these people, I pay £26.99 per month at pure gym staff are helpful and the equipment all new!

Positive experience: Love this gym. Staff are friendly, facilities are clean and well maintained with a lovely pool and steam/sauna area.

Fantastic experience: Clean equipment and always plenty of spaces

Positive experience: Clean with a lot of exercise/lessons/relaxation options available.

Negative experience: Done 3 contact forms to cancel my membership, cant even be bothered to call me back and cancel this! if your charging top money make sure you have the service to go with it!

Fantastic experience:

Fantastic experience: Such a fab gym, staff are lovely and caring,they make it such a happy place to go. They are helpful and guide you if your stuck. I suffer with anxiety, and I am made to feel so relaxed and happy.

Fantastic experience: A great experience in fact I would strongly recommend it to anyone who is serious about getting or keeping fit. It is also a good place to relax .

Fantastic experience: 1st class facilities. Clean and well cared for. Staff ingaging and helpful. Was member of Durham and this is a step up. Gym area is well stocked, and equipped.

Fantastic experience: Friendly and knowledgeable staff, who are always willing to help. Very clean inside and no faulty exercise equipment. Ample parking and seating facilities mean you can always find a space and have a coffee before or after your work out.

Positive experience: Nice and clean. Light and airy environment.

Negative experience: Disrespectful staff member

Fantastic experience: Love it here

Fantastic experience: Lovely staff, cafe and facilities.

Positive experience: The facilities are good. But at present the swimming pool is too cold , which is disappointing. The steam room and sauna are usually hot. Showers OK. Staff very helpful, but the management need to listen to the members who are commenting that the pool it too cold

Negative experience: Didn't reply re BLC discount for weeks

Fantastic experience: Brilliant facilities, friendly knowledgeable staff A *

Negative experience: Avoid. Not getting into what happened as it's too long, but if your face doesn't fit or your not the usual 'type' you'll be treated like a target. Also reading some reviews on the cleanliness around the pool area/jacuzzi and staff couldn't care sounds about right glad I only went in it once and it felt unclean. People stare at you and do not let you get on with your own business staff and customers included. Something saved me from staying in this kind of environment. I also got a pair of jeans stolen and the black scarf I used for my head disappeared. Bad energy. Unfortunately the people and the place are trying to be something they're not.

Fantastic experience: Only joined the club this morning,and as a very old gent,rather expected there would be little interest for me to join. Wrong,all staff I met were so helpful,and the facilities I was interested in,were really great. Cannot thank them enough, Brian

Positive experience: It's okay

Fantastic experience: Good to have a catch up with friends and a light lunch

Fantastic experience: I have been a member now for 7 months and I really enjoy the gym. I find the location with free parking excellent. On match days you are required to park across the road in public but it is still free with permits. Classes are varied and instructors are very good. Gym clean and tidy. Pool always has been clean but can get quite busy on weekend and evenings when swimming classes on. During winter months car park was very dark with some lighting not working. Could this be rectified please?

Fantastic experience: Very friendly staff, always helpful

Fantastic experience: Living training here for my big row

Negative experience: As a new member at Chester le Street Bannatyne Gym I witnessed someone spitting in the jacuzzi as they walked past. I challenged the person and reported this and nothing was said to the person. I cancelled my membership as this was obviously acceptable behaviour for Bannatyne staff.

Fantastic experience: Good facilities and very welcoming staff. All areas feel and look spotlessly clean, very important over the last couple of years. Great opening hours, starting at 0600hrs on a weekday, my preferred time. Ways get the machine I need in the gym, or the lane in the pool. Sauna and steam room are tremendous and all that's missing is an ice plunge pool.

Positive experience: Great gym - although I only do cardio and spinning classes - great for winter which seems less appealing for outdoor running as I get ever older! I have the advantage of a great deal through work.

Fantastic experience: Excellent range of classes

Fantastic experience: Excellent facilitie

Fantastic experience: Fantastic gym and spa. Facilities are brilliant and customer service is top notch.

Fantastic experience: Swimming coaches are awesome

Fantastic experience: Good classess

Positive experience: I've been a member for many years and hope to continue for many more. The whole place is continually being cleaned Very pleasant, friendly staff. Its like we're all one family.

Fantastic experience: Clean, friendly and a nice place to work out. Tuesdays body balance is the highlight of my week. Deb is a lovely instructor

Fantastic experience: Clean, tidy, well equipped and helpful, friendly staff. Can't really ask for more

Fantastic experience: Very high quality equipment I like this gym

Fantastic experience: Good high Windows in the gym over the cricket ground offering fine views over the cricket pitch

Fantastic experience: Had a fabulous time, my 2nd visit in 2 and a half yrs.. oh how the great have been missed by the gym steamroom and sauna

Fantastic experience: Good quality gym and pool

Fantastic experience: Love it at this gym.

Fantastic experience: Brilliant. Thoroughly enjoyed the gym session and subsequent steam and jacuzzi. A great gym in my opinion. Sb

Fantastic experience: Doing a great job at keeping the gym covid safe

Fantastic experience: Fantastic weight room with well maintain equipment. Ticks all my boxes - except for the music. All they play is dance music - constantly ! No variety and and does not cater for the majority - only the under 20's

Fantastic experience: Love this place

Positive experience: Cleanliness is paramount in these 7ncertain times. Great staff always going the extra mile , thanks ❤

Negative experience: Weights left around all over, no staff in gym area and rude receptionists, broke my toe have pictures and they charge people 50 quid for this and yet broken equipment and steam room etc it's an absolute disgrace will be seeing them in court other reviewers have said same thing will dig out the photos at some point and post them up here avoid this terrible gym

Fantastic experience: Love having a spa day here with my bestie

Fantastic experience: One of the best gyms I've been to. The staff are really nice and helpful, the gym and other facilities are always clean and tidy and I live locally so it's super handy for me.

Fantastic experience: Good, modern facility located on cricket ground with great views. Friendly staff welcomed me when I arrived. Free parking. All equipment in excellent condition, clearly well maintained. Not as large as some other Bannatyne's clubs I've visited in the south, but a brill gym nonetheless. Wish Duncan would reopen a gym in Newcastle- he shut it down in around 2003 to make a casino which subsequently failed. Come on Duncan, Newcastle needs one of your finest gyms please!

Negative experience: The gym is great yes, and the classes are vast, but forget the pool. Its constantly overrun with noisy kids from early in the afternoon to the evening. As a health club, or an adults playground this shouldn't be allowed. It's suppose to be an adult sanctuary, somewhere for us to unwind or destress after work. There's a huge public pool just up the road, take the kids there! This place is £50 a month for a membership and yet, it's not relaxing. The pool was always my thing after a training session, the perfect way to chill my body out before I go home but forget that. So many of the same sickened expressions on people's faces but they won't say anything about it. I hated typing this, but it needed to be done.

Fantastic experience: 10 from me

Fantastic experience: Great facilities in great surroundings

Fantastic experience: Went there for my pisio vry up market and a popular place to work out or have lunch

Fantastic experience: Polite and professional staff and trainers. Excellent classes and facilities. Best value for money!

Positive experience: Expensive gym where everyone all pay different prices. There's some good equipment to use. Cleaning standard is average - depends which cleaners are on duty. You now have to pay an additional £10 per month to use the scales!!! It can get very busy, car park checks are random, lots of lazy parking means 2 spaces are taken up. Staff are very friendly but I think staff should do more regular walks through the gym and keep free weights in order and tidy and advise the lazy members who leave things lying around to put them back themselves! These are common complaints of most members! I did email the manager and also the regional manager about 1 year ago!

Fantastic experience: Up to date gym with good selection of apparatus always well attended from morning till night and loads of car parks.

Fantastic experience: Best gym around and cleanest

Fantastic experience: Best gym for classes and new equipment. The staff are just lovely x

Fantastic experience: Nice place to work out staff are so friendly and kind

Positive experience: Excellent.

Fantastic experience: Everything is back to normal now, you do have to clean equipment before and after use. Which to me is just good gym etiquette, but the gym is very clean as always. Great place to train with a nice café to relax afterwards.

Positive experience: Ok place

Positive experience: Returned as a member this year. Gym itself is good, all the machines are in very good condition. The staff are pretty friendly as well. This issue is the spa side. The changing rooms are dated, the family ones are poor. Often broken hooks and shower issues. The pool is good but the sauna, steam room and hot tub all need updating. Often tiles missing in the the latter two. Hot tub has about 3 working jets for 10 places!

Fantastic experience: Great club. Great staff.

Negative experience: Joined before the Christmas rush. Later found out the club was introducing some new classes to which clashed with my usual training time. The whole functional area is unavailable, but apparently the class 'is only 30 minutes'. I only train for around 40 mins, I have now not been using the gym and have been told the only way I can settle my £50 a month contract is to pay a settlement fee of over £300! Disgusting! Swim classes are the only decent thing about the gym and they are run by a separate company. Poor customer service, small area which is now often over crowded, dull atmosphere, poor variety of equipment and ridiculous prices to bring a friend and even your children. Never will I join again and I would advise anybody even considering to stay well clear.

Positive experience: Everything is a little dated and could do with some TLC, especially given this site charges more than the Durham one. However, is you ignore the shabbiness, the layout is good, the facilities are usually working and it's very convenient for stopping on my commute.

Fantastic experience: Great

Positive experience: the locker rooms need refurbishment lookers need updating quite surprised at the state of the lockers needs a mega update in chaging rooms sauna and steam room could also do with a re fit but outher than all good

Positive experience: Excellent facilities

Positive experience: Decent gym with pool and steam room etc

Negative experience: Just had the most wonderful last swimming class before Christmas at Chester le Street Banatynes with my little Boys. Apparently, I have to pay an extra £6 per child to the club because they aren't fully paid members (that's now £14 for 30 minute session). Not even allowed to finish this block of lessons (today would have been the last in the block) unless I give the 'pound of flesh' to Banatynes so had to tell boys they couldnt swim today. My 4 year old in flood of tears. Tried to explain the terms and conditions given clearly state only the parent needed to be a member not the child too but apparently Duncan Banatyne was in the building and it wouldn't do to let the boys in this once then sort out any error before the new block begins in case it offends his business sense of profit. Well, here is my business sense of profit... high turn around of coaches who get low pay and double as cleaners, classes over booked, cancelled or nobody to run them, heating not working, lockers often not working, maintenance issues within complex, poor class timetable AND utter failure to put the customer first. JUST CANCELLED MY MEMBERSHIP. My husband still a member but I don't think for long....... That's nearly a £100 a month lost but hey, easy come easy go Duncan.

Negative experience: £15 to take one member of family whilst visiting us. Used to be £10 awhile ago and that was over priced. Totally ripoff charging £15 for a gym session. Think they need to reconsider their prices. Feel robbed!

Positive experience: Quite a spacious and well laid out gym on two levels. Downstairs contains the reception area where you can purchase meals, protein drinks and freshly squeezed orange juice. The changing rooms, swimming pool and dry & wet saunas are also on the ground floor along with the cardiovascular gym. Upstairs hosts the main weights gym which also has a few cardio machines and 3 rooms to host classes. The class timetable changes every 6 months or so. The gym also overlooks Durhams cricket ground so you can usually watch a bit of good quality cricket from within the gym. Overall the gym is clean an tidy and the staff are very helpful. The only two negatives are maintenance of the equipment could be more regular and the jacuzzi often seems to have a little to much chemical in which irritates your eyes. Overall a good gym.

Positive experience: I agree i am currently a member and have been for several years and have also complained about things and they do not get rectified. The spinning bikes are the worst they are 10 years old and really don't think that they get maintained as every time i get on one they don't work its so annoying!! The staff don't do anything they're not interested on the other hand Durham Bannatyne is exceptional and very friendly staff too.

Negative experience: I have been a member of Bannatyne's Health Club for over 4 years, but did take a year out when I worked overseas. Upon my return I re-joined. But unfortunately the Health Club's gym has become one of the the worst run gyms that I have ever used in over 24 years. The weights suite is always untidy with dumbbells and barbell plates strewn all over the place and the staff never do anything to reserve this trend, I would estimate that over half the weight machines have minor faults and that the staff do not check them regularly. On a positive the cardio machine equipment's are generally in good order and the pool is okay. However, the untidiness of the main upstairs gym is unacceptable and when I reported it nothing was done. My advice would be to pay half the price for another gym where you bet a better service, because to put it Frankly and quote the owner of the company 'I'M OUT' time to train elsewhere!