Hough End Leisure Centre

Negative experience: Can never get through absolute nightmare to phone customer service

Negative experience: Changing rooms rarely get cleaned it should be a thing where it is cleaned every week also the shampoo in the men’s changing rooms for the gym have been removed since they couldn’t be asked filling it up every time they should add it back and make sure the men’s changing rooms are cleaned thoroughly such as in the locker as well because that’s always dirty.

Negative experience: Nightmare car park exit. Taken over 30 mins to queue to get out as everyone turns right.

Negative experience: Potential to be a good spot but the staff are super rude. Lifeguards don’t pay attention to what’s going on in the pool, and when you say something they will dead out ignore you ! Managers are no better

Fantastic experience: Great and modern gym which I highly reccomend to go!

Negative experience: The gym is the worse. Old and insufficient equipment. The weights are a mess and all over the place. Quite crowded and barely can get your training done. One section of the gym closes from time to time for classes so even less space and less equipment left to use. Nice squash courts. The swimming pool is fine, but a lot of children swimming lessons so generally crowded and not a place for relaxing.

Positive experience: Saturday football with the kids, parking can be a bit difficult but astro turf pitches are well maintained.

Negative experience: Staff was unknowingly welcome on desk at reception things are not as good as suppose to be don't waste your money or time on these council run places because they don't care of your money or time if you make complain they will hand you over customer service number what a joke

Negative experience: I am writing to bring to your attention the ongoing issue with the steam room at [hough end ], which has been non-operational for the past two weeks. Despite reporting this matter, there has been a lack of communication and transparency regarding the timeline for repair, leaving members inconvenienced and dissatisfied. The continuous unavailability of the steam room not only affects the overall member experience but also reflects poorly on the standard of maintenance and service provided at your facility. As a regular patron, I value the amenities and services offered by and it is disappointing to encounter such a prolonged disruption without receiving adequate updates or a resolution timeline. I kindly request that immediate attention be given to this matter, and I urge for clear and timely communication regarding the status of the steam room repair. It is crucial for the management to prioritize maintenance issues and ensure that members are promptly informed of any developments. I trust that you will address this concern with the utmost urgency and professionalism. I appreciate your prompt attention to this matter and look forward to a swift resolution. Sincerely, Karzan Ahmad

Fantastic experience: Manchester Sikh Foundation is a charity, focusing on many aspects including poverty & wellbeing. One of our ladies groups has been attending the swimming sessions since Feb 24. >30 ladies have attended the swimming sessions and some had never been in swimming pool. Staff at the Leisure Centre Natallie & Julia have been patient , supportive and very kind. Thank you for your amazing support and our group cannot thank you enough.

Fantastic experience: Great football pitches and a super cafe.

Negative experience: If you want to have a metal break down, please do go ahead and buy a membership here. Every single thing has to be pre booked in here. I think the management are still living in Covid loop. I can't believe paying £40 per month and still have to go through this. And please don't bother replying with one of them copy and paste responses.

Negative experience: Two bad experiences in one week with the football pitches: 1. Booked a pitch for a 5 aside game through the 'Better' app - 7pm last Monday. Got a call from a Hough End employee at midday on the day of the game to say they were cancelling the booking as they close early on Bank Holidays. Apparently the booking platform (Play Football) shouldn't have allowed me to book it. But who enters the information onto Play Football? Surely Hough End do. When I tried to get a refund the Hough End staff said it has nothing to do with them, as it was booked via Play Football, so I'd need to contact them. When I explained it was all booked within the 'Better' app, they just shrugged their shoulders. When I pointed out they cancelled the booking, not me, and so I shouldn't have to be chasing round for a refund, they claimed they were powerless and referred me to Play Football. Having been to the Play Football website, I've filled a form in requesting a refund, but 5 days later have heard nothing back. I explained this to the Hough End staff and they again said there's nothing they can do. 2. As we were unable to play on Monday I booked a pitch for Thursday at 8pm. At 7.50pm, as we were stood waiting by the side of the pitch, one of the people currently using the pitch came over and said they had it booked till 9pm. I went to speak to the Hough End staff, and absolute chaos ensued. No-one knew who had legitimately booked the pitch. Whether it was a double booking, or what the problem was, was never made clear. A pitch space was eventually cleared for us by 8.15pm, and we were assured we'd still get the hour we paid for. At 9pm another group of players turned up and said they'd booked the pitch from 9pm. So after a load of hassle, we still only got 45 minutes of playing time (which included having to wheel goals into place). When I mentioned this to the staff on the way out they said they'd try to credit my account to compensate for the lost time. I won't hold my breath, and a credit isn't going to be much use, as there's little to no chance we'll be playing here again. Brief conversations with other groups on the pitches suggests this kind of confusion is not an uncommon occurrence.

Negative experience: £40 a month is absolutely ridiculous, not worth at all... Reception staff are rude and very unprofessional, floors are dirty, the same stains from people's sweat are on gym equipment for a few days already... Can someone simply clean this place? I'm very disappointed

Negative experience: Gym was refurbished but is dirty. 8am and there are nails and hair in quite a few places. Dust mixed with sweat, etc. Definitely not cleaned daily. Very disappointed. Not worth £40 a month.

Negative experience: Honestly a joke of a gym. Have to book on to everything including gym so no spontaneous gym trips allowed. You also get penalties for not showing and your gym membership revoked if you don’t show up. Not sure what I’m paying for. Also constantly get penalties even when you have shown up. Absolute joke. Just go to a normal gym with less hassle. £40 a month for this is hilarious.

Negative experience: The new extension opened recently after one full year putting up with chaos in the car park. The new equipment in the gymn is nice to see but after a massive investment why have the men’s showers and toilets not been refurbished. There are only 2 toilets currently for the entire gym!!!! And one of the showers has been broken for at least a month. The changing rooms are neglected and sometimes dirty. A modern gymn but very poor showers, toilets and lockers.

Negative experience: Absolutely horrible rude reception staff my mum goes to this gym and is always upset the way she is spoken to and messed about with everytime they had spaces in the class she wanted to go to but the reception staff just to be inconvenient did not allow her her in. However the lovely lady that was the running the class said there are spaces. I think the reception staff should be sacked i would have named and shamed them but my mum cannot remember their name i think its absolutely disgusting.

Negative experience: I joined recently and have been going to several classes as well as using the gym. I arrived less than 2 minutes after the beginning of the session (the electronic gate didn't open on the first attempt to scan because the WiFi is non existent so I had to put my data on). When I cautiously put my head around the door and said I'm sorry I'm late, the instructor Mandy refused me entry to the class. I was stunned by this as another lady was still walking across the room to get her weights and I could not have missed more than 2 minutes of warm up. I was then told by reception staff that this was for HS reasons but also that it was the instructor's decision whether or not late arrivals were allowed in. Not sure which is correct. I felt embarrassed being turned away and while I accept that I was late by 2 minutes, her reaction was over the top and unfriendly. I pay £45 a month for this membership. Seems a lot for this kind of service. Edit: thank-you for your reply informing me that the full warm up had been missed. That makes no sense unless she started the class 10 mins early or only warmed up for two minutes. Regardless, her manner was still rude and extremely abrupt. People go to the gym to improve their health and mental well being. I'm feeling increasingly stressed after the interactions I had with your staff today!

Positive experience: Great venue, but £3.25 for a can of pop! Really? Please get vending machine's that sells bottled water & drinks, that kiosk is expensive

Fantastic experience: Very good facilities all round

Fantastic experience: A top community sports centre. Great for all types of people. Regardless of level, ability or sport.

Fantastic experience: Excellent leisure and facilities for our community in Old Moat. Good to see the new football pitches and leisure centre extension open in May 2024

Negative experience: As of the website, we thought it closed at 7 pm. My self and son went to have a kick about, we heard the man shouting you guys had an extra 20 mins, but he had young pupils playing and genuinely though he was talking to them especially I was sure that ot shut at 7, but infact he was shouting everybody, he did not come to me and made sure that I was aware, he went and locked us in and walked away, when i tried to open the gate I couldn't and he was standing there giving me a lecture!!! He has no right to lock me in, and he was so rude, if I had my phone I would of rang the police, I belive even if I was on the wrong he had no right to lock me and my son inside and be proud of it !!!

Negative experience: Absolutely not Worth the money compare to other Gym with the same price! Shower facilities are not clean, the gym is too small compare to the space they have in place! There is not gym assistance in place and the gym equipments are all over the floor! Not recommended! Regret to recently to join will be last month!

Negative experience: They cut their partnership with Whalley Range, so you can't use both gyms anymore. Disappointing...

Negative experience: Disappointing experience. Hough End Leisure Centre falls short on several fronts. Fitness classes are consistently overcrowded, making it difficult to enjoy a workout. The staff, unfortunately, are often rude and unhelpful, diminishing the overall experience.

Negative experience: All machines old or broken. never get fixed on time specially the sauna and the steam room. They still have the Covid guidelines which is crazy. Find another gym

Negative experience: The person on reception couldn't have been more rude and unfriendly and un helpful. Even though the doors were open, she made me wait outside in the rain, even though there are seats just in side the door. I was only a few minutes early for the early morning swim for fitness session. I have been to many Better leisure centres and they have all been great but I won't be visiting this one again.

Positive experience: A nice 2 little pools. No slides or anything. The smaller pool was closed on arrival but opened just before our time slot finished. The pool was a bit cold getting in & took about 15 minutes for me to warm up. They have hairdryers, nice warm showers & swimsuit dryer available for free use. Only reason I give it 4 starts is that neither males or females should be forced to share changing/showering facilities.

Fantastic experience: Came for the first time, staff really helpful, not too busy and the lanes were well organised. Very clean and good facilities!

Positive experience: Obviously parking is an issue bring my sob to play matches here but it's so busy and full that we have to park far

Positive experience: Swimming pool is ok and relatively clean. Not very busy also

Fantastic experience: Just visited to finalise setting up children for weekly swimming classes. Staff couldn't have been more supportive; resolving issues we had queries about. Gayle was so compassionate, kind and understanding, especially about autism needs. Thank you for all your help!

Negative experience: Have a bit of common sense when you coming up with ridiculous rules, not letting kids to use the toilets with their boots on, how can you possibly let kids to use toilets with their socks on,

Fantastic experience: Sunday afternoon 7th of Jan at Hough end. Life guards superb. Lots of fun, good atmosphere. Really enjoyable pool time.

Negative experience: worst gym ever, first of all with the £35 per month fee plus countless amounts of being charge for not attending classes because im not able to cancel in the 4 hours window, why hasnt the water fountain been fixed?? like thats pretty much the cost of one persons memebership, and everyone doesnt have to suffer, not to mention, doesnt it fall under a health and safey to have provided water. why do i have to pay for it. . the gym is dirty and so are the changing rooms and floors. the staff rude and not even doing anything half the time. the gym at night time needs to be monitored better as there is alot of highschoolers up to no good and messing around, and some ive seen get injured using weights. swimming pool cold and dirty.

Positive experience: It's ok nothing special Surprised there are no boxing facilities like boxing bags and gym equipment all are likely similar nothing new No fresh towel facilities The cardio area is really small

Negative experience: The steam room is often out of order and in need of a few repairs. The water fountain in the health suite also needs replacing as it's nearly impossible to use it to fill up your bottle. Watch out for the notice period required for cancellation as well, I was not able to leave this gym until 7 weeks after I tried to cancel.

Fantastic experience: took my 3 year-old grand daughter for 1st swimming lesson, she loved it great patient instructors

Negative experience: The worst leisure centre I have ever been to! Constantly broken equipment and a serious cleanliness issue (mould hair and dirt all can be found in the changing areas and poolside). I've mentioned the cleanliness issues multiple times to staff and they do nothing about it, I'd avoid this place at all costs and go to withington swim baths instead

Positive experience: The pitch quality is second to none but the car parking is a right state. You need wellies.

Positive experience: Great gym with plenty of facilities. Does get busy and people dont put weights away often but other than that its grwat2

Negative experience: Gym is too overcrowded and machines are old/don’t work. Everything is unorganised and dumbbells and plates are never put back or put back in the wrong place. (Some)Desk staff are rude and speak to you in a bad manner.Atmosphere is also unwelcoming. Would be alright for a quick workout but nothing more Wouldn’t recommend-there are much better alternatives

Fantastic experience: We use it for the sauna and steam room , have seen the gym and other facilities, friendly staff always on hand to help.

Negative experience: Such a shame, this has all the potential to be a fantastic gym but the management fail to maintain any standards. Around the showers next to the swimming pool accessed by everyone including children and the elderly, there is actual mould on the back of the shower doors, EVERY ONE OF THEM and around the shower areas are full of mould and filth. There is no way that can build up like that if the place is bleached or deep cleaned even just once a week - that mould is a result of months of neglect. Appalling standards, the management need replacing or the staff need basic training. Someone needs sacking as otherwise it’s seems to be a fantastic gym. It does make you wonder though if that’s the standards with cleanliness, is the stuff we dont see kept on top of such as health and safety, especially when a lot of children and vulnerable people use this facility.

Negative experience: The car park is atrocious not enough spaces to park , going round and round trying to find a space cars parking anywhere regardless of blocking other cars , the under 11 football pitch is excellent that's about it

Fantastic experience: plenty of space, friendly staff and everything you want in a gym, rarely busy either!

Positive experience: Hough End Leisure Centre has lovely staff and runs like clockwork! The place is clean, which is great and they have plenty of showers in the changing rooms. I can only speak about the swimming area as I didn't visit the other facilities available. The only thing letting it down, in my eyes, is the parking situation. Hopefully, this is a temporary bugbear. The drying machine is now up and working again, which is great for swimming suits.

Positive experience: lovely warm pool, only thing I don't like is the mixed changing rooms.

Positive experience: Really nice pool & gym, great facilites but construction works for another year?

Fantastic experience: Excellent fitness session. Well structured,well balanced between different activities which benefit different parts of body.

Fantastic experience: I've seen lots of good reviews by family and friends. I wanna ask if a 12 year old can lift weights in junior gym

Negative experience: Arrogant and discourteous attendants. Second time experience on a Sunday morning.

Fantastic experience: Great Leisure Centre. Very Clean & Modern. Recommended

Negative experience: Everytime I go I get let down, always something getting in the way I go with my little brother and the gyms “booked up” you go upstairs and there’s barely anyone in there, the app is very very poor I bought a membership and on the app nothing loads this gym is the opposite of simple, you should be able to just walk in pay and do your workout but there’s always some sort of obstacle in the way the staff can never seem to help with your problems

Fantastic experience: Really great place to getting in shape in the gym, or having a relaxing swim after work. The place is clean and well maintained, great activity for you or a full family

Positive experience: I am having a positive experience at the gym and the pool, but I must be completely honest in saying that the staff is being rude. To clarify, there are a few staff members (around 3 or 4) who are decent. If these employees can understand the distinction between being strict and being rude, I would be more inclined to give a higher rating.

Negative experience: Staff extremely rude. They pick when the feel like saying hi. And this is 7am every morning so it’s not busy. Gym equipment always breaking.

Fantastic experience: Great facilities health suite sauna n steam room was amazing I feel like a new born baby again

Negative experience: There are a lot of things wrong with this gym. Before you get to the gym the app is clunky and requires you to book to use the gym. When you arrive the carpark is too small. The changing room is often dirty think used underwear in the lockers. The gym is overcrowded if you are only able to go mornings or evenings there's no chance of getting access to a bench or rack. The equipment is poorly maintained and machines are often out or order. At £35 for a full membership it's a total rip off.

Positive experience: Lovely little leisure centre my son is learning to swim

Negative experience: No respect for Asian culture. I'm so disappointed as when I went to the women's swimming session, men could access and use the changing rooms . I hope this facility will be more inclusive like Arcadia Leisure centre.

Fantastic experience: Great facilities for swimming, gym and racket sports. The area is tidy and clean although maybe starting to get tired in some parts.

Negative experience: APPALLING customer service... or should I say lack of. I have been a member of the gym (which is more just a room of running machines) and used the pool which isn't great. If you ask the staff any kind of question for any reason they speak to you like you have taken the first born child. I've observed that they seem to go out of the way to be extra rude to people of colour. If you can I would use an alternative centre.... once my sons swimming lessons are complete I'll be moving on.

Negative experience: Very poor, it's got worse, week by week, and now the groups are over crowded and witnessed a child starting to drown and have to be pulled out of the pool only because his mum noticed him downing not the instructors and then after this there was 3 instructors all talking and not watching the kids. This is a shambles and is a accident waiting to happen save your money and your kids lives and don't visit

Fantastic experience: Perfect place to have a nice swim trust me if you don't believe me then o don't know what to say great and nice staff AND Great gym to work out and if you need help you only have to ask staff witch is nice and efficient

Fantastic experience: Just been to join hough end and pauline on the front counter was very very helpful

Negative experience: Customer service serious need to be improved. Staff at the reception rude and unprepared, they never have solution for your needs, you e-mail customer service then and will never have answer back. They only happy to take your money or steal your money. They have this ridiculous booking system and you get fined if you don't cancel your class within 4h if you cannot attend, which is fair enough. The problem is that you might get fined even if you attend the lesson and scan your code. Then nobody can remove this fee or help. And you cannot book your activity if you don't pay the fee first. So you pay monthly membership but are not actually able to book unless you pay a fee that was applied unfairly! And that no one can remove or help you with! Which I did! You ask for refund and customer service is silent 4 or 5 days! So I thought to write here a review and see if something happens! I noticed they sometimes answer to negative review! You wouldn't need 30 grumpy members of staff. You'd need a third of it but prepared and smiley and happy do do their jobs.

Negative experience: Truly one of the worst gyms I’ve ever set foot in. Equipment is old, knackered, or completely out of service. The gym space for free weights and machines is tiny and crowded. Weights are always all over the place. The floor is dirty so if you’re doing press ups on it, you end up with all sorts of rubbish on your hands. Wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who won’t make use of the pool or classes as these are presumably the only benefits to being a member here. It’s shambolic.

Negative experience: I usually go to women only swimming sessions and most of the time, I see men in the changing area. Please , stop men to come in the same time as this is make us uncomfortable and don't want to come to the session.

Negative experience: I went on the women-only day to find men in changing room! Absolutely inappropriate and inconsiderate. Center needs to either fix this or stop their false advertising.

Negative experience: pointless women session men allowed into changing rooms, beats the whole purpose and denies both muslim and non muslim women the right to privacy during their session

Fantastic experience: Great place to swim. Staff are excellent. And the place is very clean.

Fantastic experience: Again thats where my normal Pars class was. Everyone is helpful and friendly. Lovely really inviting swimming pool.

Negative experience: The booking system is a joke. I do not have smart phone so I am not allowed access to my local pool. Total rubbish.

Fantastic experience: Lovely pool, good family changing rooms, friendly staff

Fantastic experience: The NHS have rehabilitation gym sessions here. Via your GP. Excellent facilities and staff are helpful. Undergoing a serious overhaul in the coming months is the Hough-playing field's. There are some ambitious projects ahead. Restaurant, several artificial 5 a side football pitches and more !

Positive experience: Great leisure centre with many activities including swimming pools and gym as well as sauna + steam room. It gets quite busy during swimming lesson times, toilets are in a terrible state - definitely needs a cleaner during those times. Would also benefit from a larger parking lot.

Fantastic experience: Nice squash courts whilst all others are closing…

Negative experience: Been a member here for a few months now and it's been.. okay. Today I was looking forward to jumping back in following a few too many pork pies over Christmas, but travelled there to find I couldn't get in because it was "fully booked" for the rest of the day. If you are thinking of joining then make sure you bear that in mind. The maximum occupancy of the gym according to the booking system is just 30 people and you need to book all sessions in advance. There was no alternative option available, like one-in one-out, just simply 'no not today'. This after being closed most of the festive period. I will now be booking as many half hour slots as I can well in advance. Equipment-wise, quite a lot of squat racks but the machines are all dated and pretty useless (no proper lat pull downs or row machines sadly). During peak hours it's like the purge in there with dumbbells all over the floor, so I tend to avoid these hours where possible. Overall looking forward to finding a new gym but sadly not many options in the Didsbury area.

Negative experience: I went fir my child class today and was being informed there is none after reaching but there was no formal communication beforehand about cancellation. Pathetic service.

Fantastic experience: Very nice pool to swim in, spacious and well maintained. I am very happy to have found it. It's really worth it!

Positive experience: Nice facility, very clean, but very crowded for Swim for Fitness sessions, with two small lanes for faster swimmers that get very busy.

Negative experience: Very very bad gym ,especially the app and registration system , Not putting enough information in the registration system, I made a mistake because of this, after that I wanted to change the membership. Stealing the old registration money.

Negative experience: I am changing my review from 5 star to one star review. Totally desrespecful to the need of South Asian and Muslim community. They have 3 per week women only swimming sessions which is great they managed to make it recently all led by female lifeguards, with a big sign at the entrance " Women only session in progress". But, they allow men to use the changing room while the sessions are in progress!!!!!!! I have pointed this out to the manager, but he was not interested to take any action. The staff have zero awareness towards the community needs. Also, they do not provide a pool ladder at the middle lane, when they divide the pool into lanes for diffrent speed swimmers. It is quite hard even for people without disability to get in and out of the pool.

Negative experience: I can’t recommend this place to anyone, one of the staff at the reception never try to help out with the booking, swimming pool steam room and sauna are rarely available despite paying for it every month.

Negative experience: Terrible booking system and unacceptable level of service. Not able to use the pool when I want to. Have been turned away from the gym multiple times despite the gym being open and spaces available. I have never been so physically inactive and I have my membership at Hough End to blame. Negative response from customer services regarding a refund. Rude reception staff. Go elsewhere.

Fantastic experience: Take our school year 4's swimming lessons every week , fantastic place and fantastic staff.

Negative experience: The attitude of the staff is vile, they treat you like rubbish and are very very rude. I joined and cancelled after a month. I strongly advise everyone to avoid this gym. Withington baths gym is near by and is smaller but is much better. To the manger here, you need to be sacked.

Negative experience: It's appalling that you can't pay and gain access upon entry. I have seen many people including the elderly being turned away because they don't have internet access or their phones cant download the required app. They are prioritising technology and efficiency before the needs of the people. It's absolutely disgusting.

Fantastic experience: Fantastic swimming facility,staff all very helpful and highly recommend to anybody of any age.

Negative experience: Majority of the staff are either very unhelpful or rude. Especially the people who work on reception. When going to the gym I don’t expect to be shouted at by the receptionist. Also, the equipment is years old and often faulty with weights being left scattered across the floor. If not for the lack of gyms in the area I would not be going.

Positive experience: Really nice gym. Great facilities with pool and squash rooms, quite affordable. Honestly the only con was ups be that the younger staff are not nice or service oriented, and they would start going about their cleaning routine around 21:30, hoovering between your legs while you’re exercising - which isn’t cool IMO.

Fantastic experience: Nice place, go there every Friday with Manchester diving group. Wonderful. X

Positive experience: I am baffled by my swimming experiences here. I specifically booked swimming sessions for children, however they only open the second pool based on their own discretion. What adds to the confusion is that there were more children in the pool designed for adults, which makes absolutely no sense. Their explanation for this was that they only have one lifeguard allocated per pool. This crucial detail should have been clearly highlighted before allowing customers to book swimming sessions with children.

Negative experience: Today I visited your leisure centre with my sisters and the children for an hour's swim. As I've just had a baby, I was unable to join in so sat up in the spectator's area to watch them enjoy themselves. I sat on the row of chairs closest to the safety glass and handrail. I had a new dress on and it has brushed past the handrail which you would agree is only a small space. My dress is covered in rust off the hand rail and it's not just a little bit. I come home and tried to remove it with stain remover ect and it just won't come out. I'm really annoyed that a new dress I've just put on is now ruined and I'm not able to wear it again. If you could get back to me I'd very much appreciate it. I have sent this via email on the 16/08/2022 still no reply

Negative experience: Staff openly swearing in front of young children. Staff member condescendingly explaining to visitors they’re playing sports wrong. Disappointing customer service. Pool was fine and nice facilities but let down by staff

Fantastic experience: Went swimming here yesterday was great. Nice and clean and well laid out.

Fantastic experience: Popped in today to book a gym session for my son and myself, Pauline on the desk was very helpful if there's some kind of employee recognition programme I would like to nominate her. going back later for our first session.