BH Live Active, Stokewood

Positive experience: One of the BH Live chain. Well equipped little centre with a victoriana feel. Weights gym is a little cramped but cardio and class areas are well equipped and spacious. The poole is the main attraction. Lovely, well maintained pool and facilities, Never overly busy and well managed.

Negative experience: Never again... customer service bad, if you send an email they don't even respond and you're paying high price for a gym that's occupied by students who mostly sit there and socialise for half a price of what the rest of us is paying.

Positive experience: A tad expensive for a swim. Padlocks for the new lockers - terrible idea! Annoying I had to buy a padlock in order to use a locker and I was told by a member of staff that it was based on Littledown changing rooms so I could use it there too - this was not true so I ended up taking my big useless padlock to Littledown instead of a pound coin only to find I needed to buy a token or find a pound coin anyway! Staff are usually friendly here, but BH Live has changed the local customer vibe to a more business-like one.

Negative experience: Not a wery nice place. Dirty, poor management. Even worst customer service online.Staff is nice ,just some members poorly trained with using tablets and cancellation procedures. I don't recommend to get a membership at all..

Positive experience: Upstairs gym is good with enough equipment and space. Spin room is badly outdated and it's a shame this hasn't been updated like the other centres. Feels cold and damp and bikes need an upgrade.

Negative experience: If you like not getting the services you pay for come here. Very poor service continued closure or reduced use of facilities that we apparently pay for. No continuity between centres some want you to use pound coins for lockers others a padlock. This coupled with seemingly random maximum parking times which if you fall foul of your lumbered with an £85 parking fine and these times are different at every centre. Awful weekend opening hours.

Fantastic experience: Nice training of life guards

Positive experience: Lovely staff and always clean. Really needs a family changing area though

Fantastic experience: I had an awesome experience with Ellie and Zaki (Im sorry for butchering your name/spelling bud, I lost the note (EDIT: Updated the name correctly, no idea where I got Tariq from)). Zaki was attentive, he noticed I had just started to queue for a specific individual in customer services, he took initiative and offered to show me around the gym, built rapport, answered any questions I had, offered up handy information about classes, opening/closing times, where I may want to be to work on my specific fitness goals while I waited. Super informative and friendly. Ellie went out of her way to help me. I'm really impressed by her! Professional, friendly and resourceful. She took on my queries and concerns with understanding and ease, and made the whole process incredibly straight-forward. I was pretty burnt out and dripping like a leaky tap from a 2-3 hour day-pass gym/sauna session, the last thing I wanted was to have to think about anything too intensely - forming a coherent sentence felt like a challenge - but as I say, she made the process so easy. I wasn't sure if I set on a BH Live membership, I had a bit of a rough experience at the Littledown Centre, but after these interactions I decided on signing up with the full membership. Both individuals really shone through to me in their own ways, and are an asset to the Stokewood and larger BH Live team - thank you both!

Fantastic experience: My son goes to swimming lessons here. It's a lovely facility, it's been done up recently in the changing rooms. Staff are friendly.

Fantastic experience: Is a nice gym, a nice swimming pool.

Negative experience: Wonderfull gym but has unuseful reception customer service.

Fantastic experience: great local place

Positive experience: One of the best BH Gyms

Fantastic experience: I love the 1930s swimming pool at Stokewood. Despite its vintage, the water is warm and clean. Swim lanes are well organised, although the slow lane is slightly narrow for the wider strokes when there are more than a couple of people in the lane. The staff are helpful and friendly. The new changing rooms (which are now fully open) are lush - just remember to bring a padlock for the lockers!

Fantastic experience: Stokewood Road has improved since I used to go years ago. It seems cleaner, even their cat visitor agrees. Billie is an amazing motivational spinning tutor with awesome music.

Negative experience: Too many people, too expensive, lack of equipment,bad maintenance of equipment. I cancelled my membership, even though I live near it, refuse to pay that amount of money, they had the cheek to inform everybody it was going up by £4 a month as well. Shame really.

Positive experience: Great equipment when it works…quite often half of it doesn’t, or the screen has no tv, or the headphone jack doesn’t work or there’s a problem with the buttons. It can be quite unclean as well. The staff are lovely and helpful but the equipment is becoming a bit of a joke

Positive experience: Personally, I prefer the pool in Littledown.

Negative experience: Cancelled gym, membership and direct debit, Instantly got Debt collectors on my case and a £5 fine, Terms and conditions Just money grabbing, was happy to pay just found it a bit confusing

Fantastic experience: It's been excellent. Equipment is gd, staff's helpful and friendly and always willing to assist and help. I feel lke home

Negative experience: Customer service is awful. You cant use the sauna if the swimming pool allocation is full, even though you dont want to swim. Trying to get a logical explanation for why is impossible. You can speak to a rude customer service manager at the centre though, just dont expert her to be able to explain anything sensible to you. You still wont be able to use the sauna, even though its currently empty. The membership isnt that cheap to expect this shoddy level of service. Avoid.

Negative experience: Friendly staff, but the facility is badly outdated. The changing rooms are disgusting, dirty and 70% of the lockers are U/S, the pool itself is a good size but again its like a flashback from 70s. If you come with a family,no chance to get to the family changing room as there is only 1 changing room shared between the disable people, families and mixed genders. Perhaps that is the ratio of theirs customers. So you will end up with your kids in the adult changing rooms that was surprisingly full of old male weirdos. There are many chairs alongside the swimming pool absolutely useless 90% of all times no one sits there, perhaps the room could be converted to additional family changing rooms, so a single parent can enjoy the facility without the other special species looking around. All around if you want a hole with a water , yeah good enough.

Positive experience: Would be nice to see the lockers maintained. Looks tired now, needs overhaul.

Fantastic experience: Lovely place not too busy, so easy access to the pool. Very friendly staff.

Negative experience: My child's swimming instructors changed 7 times in 4 months. Wasted money and time. The temporary instructors don't mark the progress. Never continuous lessons.

Fantastic experience: We have an amazing swimming coach called Elliot. He's been really supportive and our son really gets a lot of enjoyment from these sessions. It's every week with structure, evaluation and feedback. It's been great to see him evolve at swimming, especially with something he really enjoys, huge thank you Elliott.

Fantastic experience: They have lots of gym equipment and sessions. The convenience area is cool and they have lots of parking space.

Fantastic experience: Today was my first time using stokewood Gym, what can I say. All staff are really helpful and friendly. Lovely gym. I'm looking forward to coming back lots more

Fantastic experience: Better equipment and nice place

Fantastic experience: This is a nice place with lovely staff. Recommend.

Fantastic experience: Great gym, with pool and sauna! Really nice and helpful staff too

Positive experience: Great pool for swimmers, staff friendly and helpful. The pool here is mostly rather deep though, so not as conducive for learners/ youngsters/weaker swimmers as it might be, but great for lengths. The changing rooms are in desperate need of refurbishment, with broken locks and dodgy doors on all 3 shower cubicles. They look bad, but the staff do a thorough job scrubbing them regularly, despite appearances. Come on council, we pay enough for membership - sort out the changing rooms!

Fantastic experience: Second time here, gym is small but got everythink you need for a good workout. Staff on reception are friendly and helpful

Fantastic experience: Great 1st visit. Did an aquafit class with Gabbie which was energetic and fun

Negative experience: I did an aqua class at stokewood road. It was nice to have the whole pool to do the class but the centre felt dirty and run down. There are only 6 showers and 3 of them don't even have partitions so you have to shower with other people. I had to wait ages for a shower because there were about 30 people in the class. The showers were also dirty. I had one with a door that didn't lock and had a thick film of soap on the door. It really put me off going again

Negative experience: This poor gym Seriously it is absolutely dirty look at the equipment Poor standard

Negative experience: Was paying £44pm as a pay as you go member. Emailed them to say I was stopping my membership, but they demanded I pay an extra £44 in order to do so. I will defend myself in court against these demands, and would never recommend them to anyone.

Negative experience: The fitness room is almost microscopic and the changing area/showers really could do with an update. Shame really, good location but hasn't aged particularly well.

Fantastic experience: It's a good gym and the the classes are good.

Fantastic experience: Nice gym. Nice sports facilities

Fantastic experience: A wide range of Cardio equipment, more than enough for everyone even when the gyms in its peak hours, not to mention it has a pool and a sauna. Very impressed with how friendly and welcoming Pete was, very much a great asset to the gym always greeting me in the gym and can tell he is enthusiastic about his craft.

Positive experience: Nice, clean and friendly sports centre but the missing star is for parking as there's simply not enough and you often have to park in side roads.

Fantastic experience: Lovely customer service. Lovely service all round. Highly sought-after.

Positive experience: Changing rooms in desperate need of renovation. Gym decent but busy

Negative experience: I was a member for a few years as it was my closest gym, however after an incredibly poor experience with their staff I’ve decided to leave to join a different gym. However even when I was a member it is not a gym I would recommend, the only benefit is the location. I raised several times about thick layer of grime and dirt in and around the gym machines which never got cleaned. The equipment is also incredibly old and of poor quality. Glad to have left. Save your money and go somewhere else.

Positive experience: Changing rooms and downstairs gym are tired, old and dirty. Upstairs gym is much better, well equipped and tidy. The studios are also great. Like the other sites in BH live, it just needs some investment to bring it all up to scratch.

Negative experience: They've taken on too many members now you can't get on any equipment. Absolute joke.

Positive experience: It's an old pool, but it's a good size, has free lockers and hairdryers and hot showers, but you may have to queue when it's busy. The staff are always friendly and helpful especially when the booking app is playing up, which is quite often.

Fantastic experience: Towards the leisure centre there was this lovely model of the phosco chine on Stoke wood Road in Bournemouth. One thing I did noticed about the light post itself is that I couldn’t see the number of it that is sticker on the light pole.

Fantastic experience: A genuine establishment. The water is wet the changing rooms clean and the staff are a fabulous and friendly team.

Positive experience: We attended an aqua class, the pool was a good temperature, the class was fun and the right level of activity. But the changing rooms are so outdated and in desperate need of a redecoration.

Positive experience: I was here for a one day free trial, and for that I gave it one more star. Considering how much they want you to pay for a monthly fee, it is a dog house. Dirty and packed changing rooms and weight room, and so didn’t visit the rest of the facilities.

Fantastic experience: Best pool around the nicest of staff ,great clean changing room s and hot water brilliant thank you

Negative experience: Needs lots of investments, showers doesn't work, water in swimming poole dirty, tight lines you can't really swim , more stress then pleasure. Will not be back .

Fantastic experience: Very welcome and friendly Staff, always available to help with the Gym facilities ✌

Fantastic experience: Great local centre with friendly staff and a great range of classes and events

Positive experience: Vintage style swimming pool built in 1930s and changing rooms and showers no better. I swam on a quiet day so would dread to go when crowded. It's about time they either refurbished these pools or pulled them down

Fantastic experience: It's a gym...has gym stuff...went in got my gym workout and left

Fantastic experience: Friendly staff and instructors, carpark gets very busy at class change over but parking on street outside. Must book for classes bookings open at 7am the week before the class. But on the day you can often get a spot due to cancellations

Positive experience: Great pool and gym but the changing rooms are a bit gross, very slimy showers with what looks like black mold

Fantastic experience: Solid gym with a great variety of options in each area. Website/app is used for pre-booking (essential during busy times). Friendly and helpful team in operation.

Fantastic experience: Great swimming teachers!

Positive experience: Could do with updating, quite run down compared to other BHlive gyms.

Positive experience: Needs refurbished, but good vibes.

Negative experience: Gym is clean and customers all very respectful. However just be careful of the refer a friend promotion, I took a friend with me and referred him at reception and they helped set up his account and we were told a few months down the line we would see a free month each. 4 months later I’ve enquired when this may be but have been told the offer does not apply to flexi memberships so appears to be a training issue as we just followed the advice of receptionist. However they were still polite and friendly, just feel a bit mislead with this offer. Resistant gym area very small so best to avoid peak times, like most gyms

Positive experience: Mostly good. I don't like the sauna closing every hour though

Positive experience: Very good

Fantastic experience: Very pleasant, staff were very helpful

Positive experience: It was very good nice staff

Fantastic experience: I've been going to stokewood since I was young and completed my swimming lessons there, I enjoy all facilities and will soon be taking my son their for his first swim. Staff are great too!

Fantastic experience: Really enjoyed todays class. Can we have more?

Positive experience: Good position. Big car park, which is of course very convenient. The structure offers the gym with a space for cardio and another one for resistance, a swimming pool and a great range of classes. In my opinion though, it is in need of a refurbishment.

Fantastic experience: A very good gym, has everything you need from a swimming pool, classes, weights room and a cardio room. Nice and quiet so you can work out and do your thing in peace, staff are very polite and helpful, and make you feel very welcome. There are plenty of paper tissues and sprays scattered everywhere to clean equipment after use, to keep everything hygienic, I am happy with this gym. Sometimes the car park is so packed that's it's hard to find parking space, wish the car park was a lot bigger, But definitely cannot complain, as the gym speaks for itself!! My favourite gym!!

Negative experience: As mentioned in a review below if your focus is cardio, it has a nice area for this upstairs however if your focus is weights, then you’re going to be very disappointed as it’s a dark, gloomy, claustrophobic and small space with limited equipment. If only BHLIVE had another gym close by that they could open and utilise…. (Queens Park)

Positive experience: With Friends we done Deep aqua fitness was brilliant a defo workout and great laugh at the same time defo be goin again x

Fantastic experience: My gym, if I love it then you must love it. Simply the gym to be. Join us today.

Negative experience: Serious Hygiene issues of concern with the current Covid situation also equipment and facilities outdated. Poor experience I'm afraid. Such a shame as could be a lot better.

Negative experience: Very very disappointed. My son swimming lesson space given to someone... member of staff at reception was very rude and does not suitable for the job..

Negative experience: Absolutely horrible gym, very small weights section, leaky aircon, and if you cancel your direct debit and not attend, they’ll send debt collection agency after you! And they’ll make you pay even more, very antiquated contract method with no flexibility. I had to prove I moved a certain miles away from the gym to cancel? What old fashioned contract is this, I know I signed and agreed but honestly don’t go to this gym I would never step into it again.

Fantastic experience: Very nice and friendly, love going there

Positive experience: Nice small gym too many students tho

Positive experience: It’s probably a pretty good gym if your main goal is cardio and crossfit as there’s a good amount of facilities specific to cardio & HIIT, but I mainly use the weights, so I’m going to focus primarily on that area. The weights area is pretty gloomy and small as modern gyms go. I was told when I joined that they planned to extend the gym area, but in the 4 years that I’ve been going there it was never done. At peak times (after 5pm) it’s pretty rammed, so I was only ever really able to go in the mornings. A lot of the time, this area can feel quite ‘laddy’ at any time of day and I don’t often feel like it’s a very nice atmosphere, it probably feels even less nice if you’re a woman down there. Also for some reason it’s incredibly rare that the gym plays any playlist other than the one they have had on loop since I’ve been there. I really hope I go the rest of my life without hearing ‘Lemon’ by N.E.R.D – they played that song to death. Most of the staff are nice people, the women on reception are always lovely, but there is one absolute jobsworth guy who is sometimes on reception. One time I was less than 1 minute late before the cut off point of entering the gym and he kicked me out of the gym saying that I should have been a few seconds quicker (to name one example). I know a couple of the PTs are good, and some aren't so good. I think it would be worth spending some time in the gym and keep an eye on the trainers so you can get an idea of who might be right for you. A lot of the areas in this gym feel pretty run down. The toilets and showers never looked very clean and the air conditioning seemed to be almost constantly leaking too. In summary, it’s an alright gym. If you’re really close to it, you might as well consider going there, but if you’re closer to any other gym? There’s probably a good chance that one will be better.

Negative experience: I'm adding to my old review today and though and behold it's still 1 star. I tried to call the reception, as directed by their telephone service for swim bookings, only to find they cut the call off without answering 5 times in a row. I'm now having to drive down there due to their awful customer service. Utterly useless in customer service and service in general. I had to wait over 3 months to get a refund for swimming lessons for my daughter because even though I paid they didn't organise a start for her. It took 8 telephone calls and 4 emails before they sorted it. Now I could have lived with that to a certain extent but today I checked their swim timetable, because they are only doing 50 minute sessions, on their App and on their website. It states categorically it's 4pm to 4:50pm. So I went down at 3:50pm to be ready for the session at 4pm only to find they are halfway through a session and they couldn't care less that all their swim details are wrong. A serious change in management, timetable marketing and customer service required.

Fantastic experience: My son enjoys his swimming lessons here. The facilities are good.

Negative experience: I was eventually banned after asking for reasonable adjustments relating to my Aspergers. Seems that BHLive only consider autism to be something that affects children and not adults. I agree with Richard's comment re changing rooms and pool. The water surface is about 300mm (1ft) below the edge of the pool. The layer of air above the water smells disgusting and I would be greatly concerned about it not circulating during the Covid pandemic especially. There have been reports of staff bullying in the press and I think that adult autism discrimination may well have stemmed from this toxic bullying culture.

Negative experience: Dirty changing rooms and swimming pool. Not going back again, littledown and pellems are much better.

Positive experience: Tbh some staff are quite rude, especially one in particular. Other than that it's a decent place

Positive experience: Good selection of weights and cardio gear, as well as class space and swimming. Would be great if it was larger, and sometimes (as with most "leisure centres") is sometimes a bit rough around the edges, but all being said a great location for a workout!

Fantastic experience: The receptionist was so very helpful an explained everything

Fantastic experience: The gyms are well equipped, the staff are very friendly and the pool is well lifeguarded.

Negative experience: First aqua fit here for a couple of years as I now mostly use Pelhams. Dismayed at the state of the pool and changing rooms. Spent so much upstairs on gym! Now urgently need to do something about downstairs.

Negative experience: Gyms starting to look tired. Cardio Suite gym floor has too much equipment, so barely anywhere to train, and worse when there's PT sessions on the go. Customer service could be vastly improved.

Positive experience: Cardio gym covid-19 secure. Plenty of machines free during day. Stretch area full ... So not so good... Why are we all cramped into swim changing area?

Fantastic experience: Very very safe feeling experience in both general swimming, and children's swimming lessons.

Negative experience: Alright gym. But when the government announced gym closures on the last lockdown, this gym took full payment 2 days later and refused to return it. Absolute joke of a company, avoid at all costs.

Positive experience: I have only good swimming. For me that's good because I swim about 45 minutes.There are 3 sections - one for swimming fast, one for slow swimming and the last for space to play e.g for your little kids.

Positive experience: Great gym upstairs and downstairs, great range of classes, good pool, changing rooms are a bit dirty and old school, no shower cubicles.

Positive experience: A little Expensive for the quantity of equipment have. But it's okay.

Negative experience: Too many people per lane in a swimming sessions, they could add an extra lane and actually make people go in the lane of their ability so its not a waste of time for the rest of us