Islington Tennis Centre and Gym

Negative experience: The changing rooms are gross. Always soaking wet with black water and they smell. Either fix the drains or clean them more regularly. Ideally both

Fantastic experience: Lovely place can't get any better

Negative experience: Walked in and straight out. The conditions of the changing room are unacceptable. Dirty and muddy like a Sunday football game. Never coming back.

Fantastic experience: Great indoor tennis courts. I have enjoyed my tennis sessions at Islington Tennis Centre (ITC) over the last 2 years as the management teams are professional, and I always feel welcome. There are multiple social tennis sessions (pay and play) during the week and the weekend. Also, they are great at restringing your tennis rackets. I highly recommend giving the tennis a go if you are interested. I haven't used the private coaching but I know a few coaches are available if you want to have a lesson. A few areas that can be improved: - Outdoor courts to be taken care of - Better lighting for the indoor courts - Tennis Membership Options to reduce overall cost for players who play multiple times a week (I believe there used to be one, but it is now scrapped)

Negative experience: The worst outdoor courts i have ever played on, cracks everywhere, plantation growing on the side of the courts collecting muck and water which ruin your tennis balls, the nets have massive holes and the courts are more than double the price of much better quality courts in the parks like Victoria Park, Clissold Park etc. Never booking it again.

Negative experience: Absolutely disgraceful tennis centre. No respect and regard for customers who pay dearly and get unprofessional coaches and bad facilities in return. Bad lighting, leaking roofs, unacceptable outdoor courts full of rubbish etc. We were promised a new permanent coach and instead we get unprofessional and rude locum and trainee coaches. Totally disappointing and expensive for what it is.

Positive experience: Nice indoor courts // played as a child // I think quite expensive

Fantastic experience: Great place staff very helpful.

Fantastic experience: Great tennis courts

Positive experience: I really enjoy going to tennis classes with my coach, Pete. He's fantastic! My only reservation about giving a perfect 5-star rating is the inconsistent attitude of some instructors and receptionists. The receptionist named Sarah consistently displays a negative attitude. On several occasions, she has responded to my questions in a loud and dismissive manner, leaving me feeling disrespected and discouraged.

Negative experience: The staff turn off the water so that no water to showerThe most filthy Sunna, filthy changing room and filthy toilets.

Negative experience: Having a absolute night mare with this gym Charging me for tennis classes they cancelled and do not want to give me a refund. If I didn’t call my bank they would probably still be charging me now Very doggy behaviour from this gym Trying to charge while offering no services

Negative experience: I went here for the sauna and shower. The water was turned off before I could use the shower. The steam was not very hot and the area was dirty. I paid for a service which I don't believe I received and I would like a refund. The workers were also unnecessarily rude- a South Asian woman refused to turn the water on despite there being more than enough time before closing.

Negative experience: Good!

Fantastic experience: Great place the staff are absolutely wonderful

Negative experience: This gym is decent , but it's going downhill, the suana used to be open most of the day till ten as the gym is open till 11 , now the sauna is open till 9 and it closes for about 4 hours in the day time, this has not been reflected in the cost of our membership. Also the cleanliness of the facility is not so good I've added pics of thr mens changing room where some last of the drain came up from the floor after someone accidentally tripped on it ... The drain in the men's changing room seems to be blocked. GLL need to do better with thier gyms and saunas as most budget gyms have better equipment just no pool or sauna, but the state of the pools and saunas in gll gyms are become so poor that its not worth paying the extra fees and they are hardly open these days which means they are packed when they are open. Islington set the prices o f the gym so I can't blame GLL. But i have a membership for thegymgroup now so will likely cancel my gll if they don't improve soon

Fantastic experience: Good spot for indoor tennis. Also good for last min bookings usually other spots require at least a week in advance.

Positive experience: Nice courts, just a bit expensive for general public unfortunately. Trying to get a court is very difficult, turns out when you show up half the courts are empty ‍♂️ Quite a few leaks in the roof too when it rains.

Negative experience: The indoor courts are great. However, I personally had a really weird and unpleasant experience. A coach from Islington tennis centre has organised these Sunday tennis groups for advanced players. I attended a ‘trial’ and was then told to join the Sunday team and continue playing on Sundays. This was meant to be done alongside also joining the centre. I then went away on holiday and upon returning the coach that is in charge of these groups ghosted me and never responded to my enquiry about whether the Sunday tennis training will be happening at the same time. This was a very unpleasant interaction. Very unprofessional, inconsiderate and, to be honest, very rude. Not a good look on the centre in my view. Decided not to enquire again and will not be joining or trying to play tennis at this centre anymore. Have decided to play elsewhere.

Negative experience: Be careful with the colleague name: Nathalia. Be careful if you like to play tennis session ‘pay&play’, because first you need to be friends with Nathalia, otherwise you can’t get enough time to play, and she encourages players to argue with each other to get limited positions. Be careful with Nathalia, she is racist. Be careful with Nathalia, you can’t point out what she did wrong, because she will write your name down, we don’t know what she will do with it. Be careful with Nathalia, she doesn’t care if you report her or not, because as she said, she does this job for casual, she doesn’t care if you have bad experience or not. If you come play tennis, please avoid Nathalia.

Negative experience: Better is expensive compared their competitors like Puregym & Gym group. But better gym quality and equipment are not so grate compared to others. This gym was tiny one and I went there for a year and later realised Gymgruop is few meters away and they got amazing equipment and 50% less expensive and switched.

Positive experience: Decent

Negative experience: I don't recommend the sauna and steam room....small,overcrowded ,dirty,everyone is shouting and I personally go there to relax

Fantastic experience: Such wel organised clean sport centers with amazing tennis coaches

Fantastic experience: Always a good place for an enjoyable social game of tennis.

Fantastic experience: Great Gym nice and clean , staff all nice, friendly and helpful. Tyrone does a great job keeping the Gym clean and tidy.

Positive experience: Every time I come to this gym I can never find parking. When I asked at reception they said there's nothing they can do so I always end up missing out on classes because you get people from outside parking in bays that don't belong to the gym.

Negative experience: Called to enquire about tennis and was told that no tennis membership exists anymore except for "pay & play" at £61/year; on top of that you then have to pay £28.30 every time you want to book an indoor court (only down from ~£30 per court without a membership). How is this affordable? Charitable organisation, right....

Fantastic experience: Great gym to join highly recommended. Always kept clean and tidy.

Fantastic experience: Nice

Negative experience: Male toilets and changing rooms are disgusting and unhygienic with blocked sinks, urine all over the floor etc. Standard of play at the tennis drop in sessions on Sat/Sun evening is so bad. Too many beginners / people who can barely play when its supposed to be intermediate and above. Some abusive members which the managers don't do anything about even when notified. Even worse, Islington TC over subscribe the number of available places ie. 4 courts available (ie max 16 players) yet they allow up to 31 players to book onto the session which is just nuts, so you spend half the time sitting in reception. Rip off and a waste of time. The manager who put this together needs to be sacked because they don't have a clue.

Fantastic experience: Gym recently refurbished. Equipment all high range and well maintained. Steam and sauna a real treat x

Fantastic experience: Escola com excelentes professores e muita paciência para crianças pequeninas!!!

Fantastic experience: great place, great facilities.

Fantastic experience: Great indoor tennis courts!

Positive experience: No air conditioning very hot

Fantastic experience: It was great.

Fantastic experience: £30 for indoor tennis, free rackets and balls so that was nice. Turns out I suck at tennis so might not do it again.

Negative experience: Rude and unhelpful reception

Positive experience: It's ok ... I am using its Suma and steam room it's not busy and the facilities are working correctly

Fantastic experience: Fantastic

Negative experience: The sauna smells disgusting and the gym is Not very clean the kids in the gym are disturbing overall 2 would have given 3 but as you can tell they don't deserve it

Positive experience: Indoor courts are expensive but they don’t keep them at the level they should be considering the price of membership and booking court fees

Fantastic experience: Friendly atmosphere open to anyone booking required

Negative experience: I've been trying for over a month to cancel my membership incurring £40 soon to be £80 in fees They literally do not pick up the phone for anyone, avoid at all costs

Positive experience: Nice gym and it has a studio for yoga and other classes.

Fantastic experience: Fantastic indoor courts, open till 11 pm usually. A bit pricey but a good deal for doubles!

Positive experience: Overpriced little gym, usually quite busy. I think it's mostly the tennis centre

Fantastic experience: My son has weekly tennis lesson here and loves it. Coaches are fun but strict and he is progressing well.

Positive experience: 1st time using this facility for my yoga class. Enjoyed my session although must admit that the studio is a bit small. Will feel uncomfortable if or when it goes back to full capacity. Great that it has a car.

Fantastic experience: Cheap tennis court. The gym is not that big, but has the necessary equipments.

Fantastic experience: Clean, nice staff, good music, cheerful environment.

Fantastic experience: Great lessons for kids- enthusiastic teachers. Also host parties with a lesson and then use of a room to which one can bring self catering/music etc

Fantastic experience: Great time in this very clean gym. Staff so friendly.

Fantastic experience: Welcoming and friendly and helpful and clean. 5 Star

Fantastic experience: Excellent facilities Operating within covid guidance Clean Always Friendly staff

Fantastic experience: Great tennis courses for kids

Fantastic experience: I go to the gym there. And sauna. They have Tennis courts and football.The staff are friendly and very helpful. Recommend this

Positive experience: Booked online and arrived early. Social distancing measures in place and the outdoor court is clean and has floodlights.

Positive experience: Very good centre..shame only one studio but nice gym

Fantastic experience: The gym here is a great place to train, been a regular for over two years and there's always been a good ambience. Can't fault the staff, equipment or standards of cleanliness. Actually I can fault the equipment as only recently have they added a leg squat rack!! It's just reopened in light of coronavirus with social distancing etc and a easy-to-use booking system, although the opening hours are reduced. As for the price/membership, my adult fee is £51.45 a month and I get unlimited gym and swimming and classes. I think that's a great package (never been to classes). Better have some fine swimming pools nearby like Kentish town and Ironmonger, Cally pool aint bad either. Also I assume a refurbished Highbury pool will reopen in the not too distant future. So great choices for swimming. Other gyms might offer low-cost membership but you're not getting swimming included and imo the ITC gym is a superior environment to them anyway.

Fantastic experience: The best

Negative experience: The courts are nice and staff very friendly and helpful. But it is impossible to book courts two weeks in advance because the coaches receive preferential treatment. Furthermore, coaches and members often cancel last minute resulting in empty courts at peak hours. The booking system and the club need better management.

Fantastic experience: Really nice sauna!

Fantastic experience: Great sauna steam gum and tennis

Fantastic experience: Im a active tennis player, can confirm the indoor courts are of high quality. Go to the weekend Pay & Play often and was quite enjoyable. Thanks, Jeff Wan

Fantastic experience: I do intermediate level tennis lessons and the teacher is excellent - and it's fun and friendly and reasonably priced and: I love it.

Fantastic experience: Great facilities!

Fantastic experience: Very nice courts

Fantastic experience: Best gym in town. Very friendly staff and equipped with cutting edge machines.

Fantastic experience: I love having tennis lessons there

Fantastic experience: For children to learn how to play tennis I would definitely recommend this place. Great staff and great teaching.

Fantastic experience: Good tennis courts, recently renovated changing rooms

Fantastic experience: Very good

Fantastic experience: Super experience and very nice and knowledgable people

Positive experience: Rounders

Positive experience: Great for training g for tennis match , and the gym is pretty good as well

Positive experience: The gym is pretty great if you play tennis but when it comes to the gym it’s just about average. With free weights there is only 1 squat rack and one normal bench press (so be prepared to wait when busy). It’s what you’d expect from any gym these days. Nothing special. Decent. Don’t think it warrants £34.99 for students, yet alone full price of £51.99. Well overpriced if you don’t play tennis.

Positive experience: Good for tennis dead for gym

Negative experience: There may as well be no phone line at all because no one ever picks up the phone.

Positive experience: sauna steam is the best hot water clean locker rooms open space just need some equipment. Staff are friendly You enjoy relaxing after work out

Fantastic experience: Have you heard of BLIND TENNIS? We volunteer on WEDNESDAYS 6-8pm. There facilities are for hire & clean easily accessible for wheelchairs. Also there is a gym and changing rooms. Plus Caledonia Park for a nice walk & see HISTORIC CLOCK TOWER.

Fantastic experience: Excellent Indoor Tennis Court and Booking system is excellent

Positive experience: Really great gym with many classes on offer throughout the week including yoga. The gym is usually not too busy. Only issue is the change rooms which get very wet and dirty towards the end of the day. The sauna/steam alternates days for men and women to use which can be frustrating sometimes. Tennis courts are great.

Fantastic experience: Great GYM nice and quite and friendly staff

Positive experience: Great gym. Really friendly staff

Positive experience: Good for tennis activities for the kid And good gym to try while you waiting

Positive experience: It's expensive and the toilets are never clean. The staff are really nice though.

Positive experience: Islington tennis centre is run by the council it's part of the Better group. It's got a descent size gym, steam and sauna, tennis courts, and studio's for class's transport is good.

Fantastic experience: #WonderfulMarvelousFantastic staff

Fantastic experience: Great place

Fantastic experience: Nice quite, not too busy gym. A bit expensive though, £34.99 for students and £51.99 normal price.

Fantastic experience: Great gym. Not crowded

Fantastic experience: Great facilities for a good game of tennis.

Fantastic experience: Modern updated sports venue. Friendly staff's homely ènvironment. Check it out. You will love it!

Fantastic experience: Nice clean centre and friendly staff

Fantastic experience: Play doubles with strangers who become friends!

Negative experience: Following the £1.8 million pounds invested on 'improvements' for the refurbishment of this tennis centre in the previous year- the ITC has gone really downhill. It really has. Most of the fantastic old staff that had made the ITC a great friendly environment have now left because of the new systems in place were unworkable. One manager who worked here for over 22 years was forced to resign and had to throw in the towel because he could not get used to the beauracracy that now operates at the ITC. He looked very depressed when I saw him sitting alone in the changing rooms when he returned from his holidays to only find the place was not where he felt comfortable anymore. I could see in his eyes that he was contemplating his future at the ITC. This was really sad he had to leave as he was one of the nice managers that were left at the ITC. Hence this was once the place you was felt very welcome by the previous staff who knew how to treat people with respect and courtesy. There now seems to be a culture at the ITC that is adopted from the staff, stemming from the mangers higher up to those working at the desk and on the floor. It now is run like a police-state- quite literally! The main manager James acts like an off-duty police surveillancing the whole centre checking up on what people are doing throwing his weight around to make his superiority know and his own staff have complained about this type of behaviojr from James. I was once kicked out of the gym, told that I wasn't able to use the gym when I was fully entitled. Shocking treatment! Though James is actually a police officer in his second job workinv outside of the ITC that doesnt give him the right or authority to act like he still wears the badge in the ITC. I'm sure GLL do not pay his salary for being a police man at the ITC. lol. On a separate note. The millions spent on the refurbishments are nothing up to standard! I list them below: 1. The Sauna/steam room is now located with an entrance directly from the men's changing room. This Was major flaw and mistake whoever came up with this pathetic idea.. it has caused major problems such as persistent wet floor that are filthy and flooded. There are major hygiene concerns here.. 2. The tennis coaches seem to use the lockers for their own convenience and leave their stuff inside overnight leaving not enough lockers for the members. The coaches here also have previlage over court reservations for their own business incentives. Yet members pay near £1,000 for annual tennis membership and still have to book and pay for courts. Court availability during the day is almost near impossible because of the coaches having prior reservations. 3. Showers are awful with no water pressure and do not operate properly.. what was the millions money spent on GLL! 5. Steam room is now worse! Not enough steam but extreme heat. Was much steamer before.. the Sauna stinks really bad that I almost vomited. 4. The courts have been upgraded with new lighting costing £75,000. These are worse than before and that are far too bright where they interrupt and distract your eyesight from the lights on the courts ahead of the other side. This has a massive impact on your tennis. 5. The indoor courts have water leaks from the ceiling when it rains which is a major hazard when playing tennis and yet they have a right cheek to raise the prices of booking a court. Again where was the millions spent to improve the amenities of the ITC? 6. Gym - better facilities but be warned there is a police state operational here where you are investigated for a wristband. 7. Tennis- the pay n play sessions are badly managed by staff. The levels are abysmal with beginner level players playing in doubles matches with the intermediate level players! Nothing has ever been done to resolve this recurring issue at the ITC. This is a indoor tennis facility affiliated with the local council yet it feels like a private institution. Gets one star for making a feeble attempt at renovations here at ITC. Laughable.

Positive experience: Great people and staff but the leaking roof for past 3 years is shameful!

Fantastic experience: Never too busy, always clean and friendly staff