Fitness First

Fantastic experience: Amazing gym with sauna and steam for very affordable place. Shame it's closing down

Fantastic experience: Top gym , get a bit packed but is very good

Negative experience: Shower next to the sauna it’s been out of service over two years it’s disgraceful They don’t listen to any of the gym staff, they keep ignoring it

Positive experience: Top notch gym center.. a great place for exercise.

Fantastic experience: My favourite place to train at the moment! Lovely staff and members! ❤️

Negative experience: I started the membership thinking it’ll help me to get back in shape. I couldn't manage to go join any classes due to my work pressure, so i planned to cancel the membership within 1st Month. Fitness first application has an option to cancel the membership but it doesnt allow me to cancel, i tried multiple times and then finally visited the iLford branch where i asked the receptionist to cancel my subscription so he send an email to administration team to cancel. Its been a week and i got charged again for 3rd month without being attending a single session. I tried cancelling again through App but it still doesn't allow.

Negative experience: I'm utterly disappointed with the service provided by this fitness club. My experience has been nothing short of a nightmare. First and foremost, I'd like to mention the exorbitant 30-pound charge that was mysteriously deducted from my account. Let me share the details of this ordeal. I was a member of this fitness club. Today, I took the unfortunate decision to cancel my membership due to the appallingly unclean and poorly maintained facilities. I had initially purchased a monthly membership to avoid any potential refund hassles in case I faced issues, as I had already anticipated problems based on the club's reputation. To my shock and disbelief, I found that the club charged me a whopping 30 pounds for the membership cancellation. This not only blindsided me but also contradicted the very reason I opted for a short-term membership. What's more, I had already expressed my concerns about the club's hygiene in a negative Google review, and yet they had the audacity to charge me for leaving – a decision fueled by my dissatisfaction with their services. I'm kindly requesting a comprehensive review of my situation and the immediate reimbursement of the 30 pounds that were snatched from my account. It's ironic how a club that claims to value its members can resort to such unjust tactics. I thought I was paying for a positive fitness experience, but this club's actions have proven otherwise. I hope that you will take this matter seriously and strive to resolve it promptly. I still believe in the power of communication and fairness, so I am eagerly awaiting your response. However, if this issue is not resolved satisfactorily, it will only reinforce my negative perception of the club, and I will have to escalate the matter to other authorities. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Dirt and Unpleasant Conditions I decided to give the fitness club a try by purchasing a 1-month membership for £45 to determine whether committing to a yearly contract with them would be worth it. After two weeks, unfortunately, I have come to a definite conclusion - it's not. The first thing that catches your attention is the level of dirtiness. The gym leaves much to be desired: half of the premises seem engulfed in an unpleasant odor that haunts you at every step. Couple that with broken equipment, and you get a far-from-pleasant impression. The sauna, touted as an advantage over competitors, turned out to be a disappointment. Instead of relaxation, I was met with a repulsive sight: visitors scrubbing their skin with towels and loofahs. Recently, I even witnessed someone deciding to shave right in the spa area, leaving their hair on the floor. This is far from what I expected to see. At the end of the month, I will gladly put this negative experience behind me and turn my gaze towards their competitors. Hoping for a cleaner and more comfortable workout environment, I am ready to explore other options that meet my expectations.

Positive experience: The location is the biggest selling point. Swimming, sauna and steam rooms are included with the membership but I still feel it is very over-priced for what it offers.

Negative experience: Changing rooms need reinventing, just seems unhygienic, women laying on the floor in the steam room, scrubbing themselves in steam room and probably leaving their dead skin all over the surface, speaking of steam room it only works twice a month IF you’re lucky, don’t bother paying here if you think your gonna get the full service, they deliberately turn it off to save money. Not the best variety of equipment and they seem old, more of like a body builder back ally gym considering it to be fitness first.

Positive experience: Nice experience Spacious and very good coaches and smiling faces ! Huge cardio room and body weight space. I just regret the weight room to be small in comparison. Great place to have a good pumped work out

Positive experience: I enjoyed the energy everyone carry to the classes. But only dislike is Instructors could be more involved. I know such attentions are got in 1:1 classes. But a few basic things like posture correction, checking if the weights are lifted correctly, verifying if the new comers have got the moves right. Would be much appreciated. Most of the times, I had to correct myself, looking at others in the sessions.

Positive experience: Only bad thing about the gym is the drinking water has a funny taste

Fantastic experience: Best experience. Nice & friendly smiling staff. I always find machines to work out, no fuss, no mess. Clean area... Francis- the cleaner, rather our health engineer always working hard to keep the gym clean. I used to visit an other gym, the gym before but I never felt comfortable as the manager was bossy and was always after you watching as you were doing something wrong. FF is comparatively small in size but gives you the comfort of home.

Fantastic experience: The best woman only section by far in east London

Negative experience: Never again, if you’re going to have foreign people working for you at least get them to understand English.

Negative experience: Honestly such a horrible experience. The gym smells, the machines are filthy. The women’s fitting room is dirty, wet on the floor and also smelly. The ladies that were using the sauna were basically naked and scrubbing their skin off in the steam room. Never going again and I want my money back. RIDICULOUS

Positive experience: Great gym and facilities.

Fantastic experience: I've been with Fitness first for 23 years I love the fact ladies have thier own gym and separate steam and sauna, staff are very friendly and helpful

Positive experience: Al5jough gym is well equipped plenty space , the yoga mats are not separated into cleaned and used ones. A little grossed out on that

Fantastic experience: Great atmosphere Friendly staff - specifically Cintia, Peter and Suri Facilities are all in good working order Overall a great environment to workout and reach your goals

Fantastic experience: Been going here for many years on/off, Never had a problem with fitness first. Staff are always helpful friendly. Everything is clean and working. When something is broken it is quickly fixed . Members are friendly and respectful apart from the odd few that goes into sauna/steam room with underwear. Some days parking can get really full but generally very well run gym.

Positive experience: I luv it

Positive experience: Fitness first is great, has a separate area for women, a sauna a and a steamroom, the only horrible and negative thing about it is the women going into the sauna and ruubing oils into their skin. This should be monitored and stopped by staff, one lady had brought an avocado in and was squashing it and applying to her face and body??? Otherwise I have always found the staff friendly and competent, they have a notice up saying not to take oils into the sauna, but they do definitely need to make sure the rules are respected

Fantastic experience: Nice equipments

Fantastic experience: Nice equipments and good communication

Fantastic experience: Excellent place to workout.well mannered.Good variety in equipments. Good management as well too

Fantastic experience: Great equipments. ❤️

Fantastic experience: Nice Equipments

Fantastic experience: fantastic

Positive experience: Moved here from Anytime Fitness (now closed down). It's a decent gym with a good range of equipment. Could do with a few more benches (really difficult to squeeze a bench press in, in the evening)

Positive experience: I was not too happy that meditation class was only for 30mins, when it said an hour. Plus there is no aerobic class for ladies. A bit disappointed. Spin class was good.

Negative experience: Booked via ClassPass (highly recommend) - booked to attend Open Gym here at Ilford Fitness First and decided to leave after about 5 mins! Upon arrival no one showed us around or directed us to the changing area but we managed to figure it out, reception were not helpful or welcoming. The steam room (our main reason for going) was out of order and having spoken to a PT there she said it had been for some time. The gym was dirty, the stairs leading up to the women’s changing area were covered in dust (not just a days worth) and the gym floor itself the floor was lifting in parts and the cleaners clearly seem to avoid cleaning the corners / edges which again were covered in much more than a days with of dust. Very unsanitary and unhygienic environment, we witnessed a woman going into the sauna having showered in her underwear rather than in swimwear (as stated on regs on sauna). Gym equipment looked dated and tired and there was a lack of decent machinery (eg no stair climber in the ladies area). The locker room had many lockers without doors (assume been busted open?) so didn’t feel like a safe environment to leave our belongings. Decided to leave and not return, a complete wasted journey and will not be returning. Not sure if this is reflective of all Fitness Firsts but I’d personally say my experience at Pure Gym / The Gym Group which are marketed as much more of a budget gym, have been better.

Positive experience: Great couple of days. Change rooms a bit tired, but it's a gym. Everything else is fine.

Positive experience: Unlike the other Fitness First gyms I’ve been to, the Ilford gym doesn’t give you a towel

Positive experience: Just moved across from DW Leyton . Gym needs updating especially the locker , shower and steam / sauna area . Gym ok and pleasant staff. I do have an issue with the males using steam / sauna in there underwear which is disgusting and makes the pace unpleasant . The staff need to clamp down on this behaviour .

Negative experience: They’ve stopped taking care of the place now that they will close soon due to redevelopment of the area. Showers in the men’s area hasn’t been working for a year and half the lockers don’t work

Fantastic experience: The gym is is well equipped with very friendly staff. Got 3 months membership at 50% off.

Fantastic experience: It’s good. I like the session. It’s very useful.

Negative experience: Avoid this gym at all costs! Rude, unfriendly and useless staff. Made me pay £27 for a month and an extra £23.50 to cancel my membership when I only went for 11 days and was NO MENTION AT ALL of a 10 day cooling period that I could leave, and was lied to that it was mentioned when it wasn’t at all. Avoid the incompetent receptionist Josnara who is ignorant and not helpful or friendly at all, and seems to lack basic manners. Not sure how she received the job as a receptionist as well as inappropriate flirting as an older women with younger men at the gym- absolutely disgusting and unprofessional She also refused to help me sign up for my membership and told me to do it by myself on my phone despite having issues signing up. They also only have one female personal trainer which lacks variety in choice as well as being falsely advertised that I have options. The personal trainer Haitch was unfriendly and made rude comments, I was only a beginner and was very forceful. I emailed the manager addressing this issue and he lied saying I was told information regarding my membership which I wasn’t. Instead he asked me to pay to cancel my membership which was unreasonable. Would not recommend this gym to anyone as it also lacks equipment and facilities! Complete false advertisement as it took such a long time to find someone to introduce me to gym equipment as mentioned of the “30 minute free FFX intro”. Had to chase them up for this and basic help, not useful at all and falsely advertised

Negative experience: It was my first day and it wasn’t very nice experienced. Receptionist called Kirby wasn’t nice at all, she was very rude and arrogant. I don’t understand how she got the job for front desk. Apart from that wasn’t bad. The gym manager was very a nice guy.

Fantastic experience: Food is very good place is very clean want to go again

Fantastic experience: I love this place, There is everything you need to do for building up your body and health fitness! Tash from the reception and the staff team helped a lot and provided everything possible to accommodate us. Thanks Tash ) you made us happy to return, I won’t exaggerate to say this place equipped with motivation.

Fantastic experience: I highly recommend fitness first ilford branch,they are having all equipments with free classes scheduled every day,from beginners to beast level experts training available, Friendly approach in reception area Josnara will give correct guidelines how to spend good time in gym,with affordable price you will feel quality of the time.

Fantastic experience: Went to use this gym with a guest pass, guy was very helpful on desk explained everything promptly great weights section and cardio and sauna thank you

Positive experience: Nice, a little worn in places

Fantastic experience: Came to check out the womens section and yes! Definitely better than I expected. For me cleanliness and hygiene is soo important and Fitness First defo lives up to it! Found my new gym

Fantastic experience: First time visiting Fitness First Ilford after joining and I couldn't fault this place. First impression, Friendly helpful staff especially 'Will' who showed me around the gym, so big up Will and the rest of the FF Crew Ilford. They all seem very approachable which is good. This gym has a good selection of training equipment across the board but it will be good if they can upgrade the existing lighting in the gym with LED's as it seems very dim, apart from that all is good.

Fantastic experience: It’s the best gym from all Ilford !!!

Fantastic experience: The staff are always very helpful, very friendly, and always make me feel welcome. Very clean gym, good vibe. Steam room and sauna sometimes broken and not fixed quickly. Nice family atmosphere.

Fantastic experience: Nice friendly staff and you can get all facilities

Positive experience: I've recently used this gym and I can say it is packed with a lot of equipment not mention a large bank of treadmills. It has all the equipment you would want plus facilities such as classes, personal training and sauna/steam. One thing you do appreciate is the amount of space this gym has. It is clean and maintained very well. Staff are on hand for help and very friendly.

Positive experience: I've been coming to this gym since it first opened it been nearly 20 years I have found the staff to be very polite helpful and very kind I always use the gym pretty much every day being fair I always find the hygiene in the gym ok it always clean and very presentable great manager called Paul very friendly and quite funny I really like the PT trainers like josh and Andrew their a great bunch of guys fun to be around fitness first thank you for your great service my it continue

Fantastic experience: I like Gim and Fitness First Ilford is the Best

Positive experience: One of their Staff members (her name is H I think) got beaten up because she slept with someones boyfriend! Another man came into thw gym screaming at her because she curated problems between him and his feyonce and they were all customers! They lady boxer should have beaten her up so that she doesnt come to fitness first anymore. So much drama i switched to romford now. She has been creating a lot of drama That has interrupted us from working out. Regular users cant even work out properly anymore.Very unprofessional gym with unprofessional staff and a lot of drama. The other branches aren't like that. I used to come to ilford a lot now switched to Romford instead. She got beaten up by a lady boxer. Its the second time people at Fitness first have witnessrd the same lady being verbally and physically abused. A lady hit her right in the face saying that she slept around with her boyfriend while being friends with her. Another time the same staff member created a scene between an Asian man and his feyonce, the man came into thw Gym shouting her name and was very angry. This woman is filthy and not only a lot of male know her, but she even discusses her private stuff with some of her client. I also hesrd how she took money on advance and then didn't provide lessons. Very unprofessional gym with unprofessional staff and a lot of drama. The other branches aren't like that. I used to come to ilford a lot now switched to Romford instead. Filth.

Fantastic experience: I used to visit this establishment regularly for physiotherapy and I must say every time I was treated very nicely by the staff, they were kind and helpful. The gym seemed really nice, clean, fully equipped. The changing rooms were always clean and warm, as for the toilets, they were also clean and well maintained every time I visited. I would totally recommend this place to gym users or class lovers.

Negative experience: Staff always making announcements every 5 minutes from 8pm about their closing time. They stop playing music at 8pm.

Fantastic experience: Nice

Negative experience: Poor customer service, communication and lack of respect from Adam in management of the Ilford branch. Continuously chose not to respond to several emails I sent regarding my membership and then once I finally got some form of second hand communication after 1-2 months of no response there was no apology. Messages were ignored in order to receive more monthly payments from me until i had to resolve the matter my self after no help was given. I advise not to train here and a young adult. Stick to The Gym or Pure gym as they are fair and there are no loop holes in your membership and cancellation is free and not excessively priced.

Fantastic experience: Always a good atmosphere and the right equipment for a good work out

Fantastic experience: Steam sauna ‍♂️

Fantastic experience: Best gym to workout. You can also enjoy both sauna and steam experience.

Negative experience: Decent gym but looks aged and is lacking in terms of equipment compared to budget gym offerings like the gym group or puregym. This gym does feel like it is lacking here and when you add the limited opening hours then cons stack up. The only benefit this has over the budget gym is the inclusion of a steam room and sauna (not always working and when broken takes an age to fix, think months). In many instances things are left broken and safeguards are not put in place. Furthermore, far too many members lack basic hygiene, by going into the steam room and sauna in their dirty underwear.

Positive experience: Nice gym, separate place for ladies

Positive experience: Good amenities and neat and clean equipments. Refreshing spa facilities.

Fantastic experience: Best gym in the he area.

Fantastic experience: Great place to work out

Fantastic experience: Every one come

Positive experience: Management must change Heart AMT machine.. Use precore AMT machine.. Precore machine much batter then current machine.

Positive experience: Really nice ladies gym, can get busy in peak time.

Negative experience: Hardly any equipment..full of old crazy equipment.

Positive experience: Its a good gym but less equipments

Fantastic experience: Good

Positive experience: Nice to see sauna and steam room is accessible

Positive experience: Need upgrade baadly

Fantastic experience: Este ok

Fantastic experience: Excellent facility at reasonable cost

Fantastic experience: Great facilities and friendly staff

Fantastic experience: Best Gym for Exercise and for Spa In Good price. Amazing classes ' helpful team. Clean Gym. Friendly membership Just Love it all ❤

Positive experience: Clean gym, enough equipment, good size weights room. The locker room is a bit antiquated though, and could do with less cross trainers and more treadmills.

Negative experience: Smelly and grotty , run down , rude staff. Music too loud .

Negative experience: Extremely disappointing experience from head office. The gym closed down suddenly without any warning or due notice, either to members or to staff who have been working there full time. Members were originally told that they would shut on the 3rd of Nov. On reaching there on the 31st Oct they were informed that the club would permanently close that very evening. Local staff had just been notified that evening of the closure which is completely unacceptable and unfair. Really bad communication from the head office. They had given members a complimentary upgrade to other clubs for the remainder of the year but I do not wish to give this company any more of my business after seeing how they treated their members and staff.

Negative experience: The dirtiest gym I’ve ever been to. They are letting down the Fitness First brand. The gym has no paper towels, disinfect wipes and everything is filthy. If you want to catch a virus please sign up but avoid at all costs. I have complained a number of times to no avail.

Fantastic experience: Lots of Gym equipment and classes available and parking aswel..!!

Positive experience: Would not go there again

Negative experience: Steam room is broken from last 4 weeks and no one has an answer when will it be repaired..

Positive experience: Two hours free parking, and if u register Ur car reg one more extra hour is added. It is often the case that something is not working but it happens in every gym, the problem is that it takes a long time to get it repaired. The place is kept clean but most of the people do not take hygiene seriously.

Positive experience: Pretty decent gym. 3 hours free parking available (need to enter car registration on the screen inside the gym). No towels, nice lounge area. Mens showers are clean and hot water was working. Good range of equipment too.

Positive experience: Good atmosphere and friend staff / customer service

Negative experience: Very crowded.

Positive experience: Good atmosphere, and great value

Negative experience: Having to update my review from 4 stars to 2 as the standards of this gym have fallen so significantly over the last few weeks, i truly believe no one really has the slightest interest in its operations. Machines out of order for months, weights strewn across the floor, nothing in its correct place, rack loading pins missing, bent weight racks (just a workout to get some of the bumper plates off the rack). Ill keep going as i use the fitness first in the city during the week, however this gym is shockingly bad now. One of the more spacious Fitness First gyms i've been too, some of the equipment is worn and they need some more plates for the weight machines, but generally fairly easy to get a nice workout in, especially around late afternoon when the premises is fairly empty.

Fantastic experience: Wonderful gym

Fantastic experience: Love this gym. The classes are magnificent and the atmosphere is terrific. It feels more like a family. Although, I have attended other gyms in the past, there is only one FF Ilford.

Positive experience: Good gym facilities, but Shower needs some attention hot water always not available.

Negative experience: NO HOT WATER for 2 month's management don’t give toss about it. Manager keeps blaming head office. But no one is fixing the boilers. One of the staff said to me gym is closing down. So therefore they are not bothered to replace the boilers. Don’t waste yr money don’t join this gym. It’s going done hill.

Fantastic experience: I love this place

Negative experience: Nit really good

Negative experience: Most of the Gym instructors are very helpful and friendly especially Vas and Denise. But I had bad experience with one spin instructor who completely ignored me and help her favourite clients during the session. I had to ask for help where as others got without asking. Tried to complain to the manager no respond yet.

Positive experience: Nice place with lots of equipments

Fantastic experience: excellent facilities and very helpful staff . Definitely recommend