John Orwell Sports Centre

Positive experience: Even more disorganised since the takeover by Tower Hamlets Council

Fantastic experience: Clean

Negative experience: Terrible customer service and low cleaning standards. The gym is always dusty and dirty like they don't really care. Everyone was hoping that with the change of management thing would have been better, but I guess that if you keep the same people who don't really care about working and just stand around, the result is the same. Changing rooms and showers are just awful.

Fantastic experience: This gym is a hidden gem. Quiet at the right times with stunning sunset views of the City. In many ways it feels more exclusive than the subterranean luxe gyms nearby that cost 10 x more and are 10 x busier. No frills, but I live 2 minutes away, so don’t need a towel and luxe showers. Very friendly and helpful staff - they are all lovely. Luca the PT is a top tier trainer and a credit to the gym.

Negative experience: Really poor place - terrible facilities and awful customer service. Took booking money and refused to refund even though the venue was not fit for purpose and did not show terms and conditions. Avoid.

Positive experience: Agradable

Fantastic experience: Lovely place, staff are nice and welcoming

Fantastic experience: Exellent

Positive experience: Nice place to workout, however very cold. Abdi was very helpful and very welcoming

Fantastic experience: Lovely manager found my lost earphone and remembered my face two weeks later and gave it back to me ❤️

Fantastic experience: I played badmington. The place was clean as a whistle and the personal was extremely polite and helpful.

Fantastic experience: John Orwell Sports Center is a fantastic place to stay active. The facility is well-maintained, offering a variety of sports and fitness options. The staff is helpful and welcoming, making it a great community hub. Whether you're playing football or hitting the gym, it's a top-notch choice for fitness enthusiasts.

Positive experience:

Positive experience: Very nice sport center with great view

Positive experience: Staff was friendly when I visited, and the views from the football pitch were awesome

Negative experience: Their phone line makes me so angry. It takes forever to speak to a human, definitely don't recommend!

Negative experience: Very bad customer service, they rude we play others sports centre they r cum and quite but here fu… very rude

Positive experience: Poorly lighting. Floor very old. ventilation not good at all.

Negative experience: I never experience of more unfriendly and greedy fitness centre! Absolutely disgusting admission fee after you purchase a badminton court! They welcome you with additional fee which they can’t justify. Shame on you! I will never get back there again! You are warned!!

Positive experience: Only stopped here for a few hours, but it was good to see public and teams use the field

Fantastic experience: Nice actually.

Negative experience: Old equipment & music far too loud, it is rapidly becoming too expensive for the facilities it offers.

Fantastic experience: Professional staff, quiet, well equipped to meet your basic fitness needs... Plenty of space

Negative experience: The badminton court itself is decent. Very big but quiet busy. The issue was they apparently charge an “admission fee”, yet when the booking was made, there was nothing about this mentioned But the last time we used the facility, the same guy was there and did not mention anything about a admission fee nor charge an admin fee

Positive experience: The tennis court is in a pretty bad state and it's facing west/east so beware at what time you plan to play

Negative experience: Rude, unfriendly, curt, smart-Alec staff member. Working the morning shift on a Tuesday. Seems like Better always look for the bottom-of-the-barrel staff, the real dregs. Booked the sports hall and was charged a £1 admission fee out of nowhere. Just don’t bother coming here and save yourself the hassle. Sports hall ceiling height is very low.

Positive experience: Good value gym with friendly staff

Fantastic experience: Good sports centre, great parking facilities available. Some signage to show where the entrances would be a good addition for sure...people usually end up going to the car park and then struggle to get in, not knowing the entrance is around the other side!

Fantastic experience: Nice place for workout and get some very intensive training class complementary.

Negative experience: I literally really hate myself for saying this, but sometimes I have no option but to come to this sports centre because it's the only option I have (and the sports facilities are pretty good to be honest), I seriously dread having to deal or interact with almost all of the folks that work here.

Negative experience: It's a good facility but Better are a cowboy organisation. Whenever you book a Badminton court, they cancel it because of a child's birthday party and blame a 'fault in the system'. Why do you offer the court when there's already a party booked? The phone number doesn't work, you just get put through to switchboards with no one at the other end. How this company landed council contracts I have no idea, I can only assume brown envelopes made their way around the council offices.

Positive experience: The centre has an outdoor multi-court, which can be booked for tennis and is very good for last-minute bookings. I'm not sure whether the availability has to do with people being unaware that you can book it for tennis or because of the steep price that they charge per hour. It costs almost £16 now to book a court here, which, in my opinion, is unjustified. I wouldn't mind paying that much if it was a good well-maintained court, but the surface here is uneven, lighting is very poor, and they wouldn't even repaint the lines to make them more visible. But nonetheless, it's a good option to consider if everything else is taken and you are desperate to play.

Fantastic experience: Si può affittare la palestra per feste di compleanno e mettono a disposizione un castello gonfiabile dove i bambini si possono divertire tantissimo! È stata un' ottima esperienza

Fantastic experience: Very nice sport center with great view of city and Shard and super friendly staff. May not be as shiny as the new Better centers out there but lots of character. Also the holiday club is great. No swimming pool though as we are all waiting for nearby St Georges to re-open.

Negative experience: Everytime I've been there, I tend to find there is something wrong with my booking.

Fantastic experience: Great experience. Staff are friendly and eager to help. So happy to have gone there.

Fantastic experience: Good sports facilities

Negative experience: Good availability of booking and good quality courts. However the floors are quite hard and slippery. Also there are many hanging beams from the ceiling which makes it very difficult to play badminton.

Positive experience: In good condition overall. Cheaper than premium gyms and fitness centres. Needs some more weight lifting equipment though

Negative experience: I have been there for badminton with my friends. Customer service is awful. Staff is not helpful and friendly

Positive experience: The only downside in my opinion is the artificial turf... when the surface is slightly wet it's not great when your running in full pelt and having to change direction can be dangerous.. other then that it's great facilities...ample parking etc.

Positive experience: Okay

Positive experience: Average AstroTurf, but in a superb location

Fantastic experience: Helpful staff. Unreliable schedules though, which sometimes change and also auto cancellation of bookings

Fantastic experience: Friendly staffs

Positive experience: I'm a casual courts player and they seem to be in good condition. Only issue I have is with the 40 minute sessions in peak hours seem a little stingy

Fantastic experience: Became a centre for my junior volleyball club! Very willing to collaborate to grow local community and junior activities. Great facilities, lovely staff☺️ and reasonable prices!

Fantastic experience: Great facility and staff. Well done to Better and Tower Hamlets

Fantastic experience: Regular user of this gym friendly and helpful staff,that maintain strict covid 19 rules

Fantastic experience: Ok

Fantastic experience: Staff are really friendly and even more during this pandemic

Fantastic experience: Cleanliness is spot on post Covid 19 reopening

Positive experience: Good outdoor footy pitches in a nice location but could do with some modernisation.

Fantastic experience: Very clean and equipments are well maintained. It’s never overcrowded, well not at the times I go anyway!

Fantastic experience: Great location for the Wapping Hockey Club for kids, and a great London backdrop too! George Orwell centre is there providing toilets... always important!

Fantastic experience: Staff was helpful, kind and patient.

Fantastic experience: only use this place for table tennis. have your own room to play in.

Positive experience: Cheap gym in central London but spider webs on the ceiling??? Come on...

Negative experience: It's a shame that I have to give this rating as I did enjoy the gym from my initial membership. The membership is overpriced considering the facilities. The roof in the main gym often leaks when there's slight rain, it's not well kept at all and a lot of the equipment doesn't seem to be sanitised or maintained regularly. The water fountain is often dirty and the taps are flimsy, water spills are very hard to avoid which is a worry considering exposed wiring at the back. I do enjoy the new functional sports area they have introduced upstairs which is the main reason for the two stars. The old studio has now been closed to general gym goers for the purpose of classes. I understand that a separate area for lessons is required however it seems a waste of space that it is not possible for the rest of us to use the space when the studio is not booked. The staff are nice however I've gotten conflicting information on membership prices every single time I have asked which is frustrating. Either there is a communication issue or each staff member is competing to get the most money out of me. I'm not sure how this gym focuses on fitness over funds as they advertise in the centre.

Positive experience: Pros: Gym is reasonable for the price. Staff are pretty decent. Cons: AC seems to be for display purposes only. Doesn't stay open late.

Positive experience: In general really love the place - despite some people complaining about the latest and greatest equipment. I've been playing tennis here for the past 6 months and most of the time all is fine. The only thing is the net is incredibly old and almost falling, almost worried if I touch it will have no net. Nonetheless, I recommend the centre invest a bit more in the tennis aspect as there's a significant population that is willing to pay extra to have even better conditions on the court - such as a ball throwing machine (e.g. Costs £1200, rent if for £5 per request and get your money back in 2-3 months with minimum usage, and it doesn't depreciate as other pieces of equipment). If there's a will there's a way and I'm confident this place will choose to invest in the right things in the end to maximise their return as well.

Fantastic experience: Good variety of activities! Yoga classes on Monday and Wednesday have great teachers

Negative experience: Not enough equipment. No new equipment. Old rubbish equipment. Saturday closes at 6pm. Lot of new competitors with better facility yet this gym still hanging on old furniture.

Fantastic experience: Quality gym

Negative experience: Decent facilities, terrible customer service. Regular mistakes with bookings and inability to acknowledge or learn from their errors. No online booking system for football pitches and seem to be using technology from the 1970s. A simple text/email confirmation of booking wouldn't go a miss. On three occasions now, we have turned up to play football only to find out that they booked us in at a different time.

Positive experience: Great place to do exams

Positive experience: Good

Fantastic experience: Nice sports centre with a great badminton hall with four courts.

Positive experience: Has a gym with free weights, resistance machines, cardio, fitness classes, stretch area, changing rooms, sports hall, football pitch, hockey pitch, basketball court, tennis courts, changing rooms indoor and outdoor, heating for winter and A/C for summer. Lastly it has vending machines.

Positive experience: Sports grounds needs revamping

Positive experience: Although the classes are not that many, they are fun and with top quality instructors. I could not imagine life without this gorgeous centre!

Fantastic experience: Great price for annual membership for over 60s - good space, exercise machines always available, good changing and shower facilities, helpful staff

Fantastic experience: Superb

Negative experience: The gym is really tired but the hardcourts for football are excellent.

Positive experience: Play here every week and it's really great.

Negative experience: I cancelled my membership 4 months ago, despite raising several complaints - money is still being deducted from my account. The staff never answer the phone or return any emails sent. This morning I called the office 13 times and still no one answered. Complaining to head office does not help as you still get nowhere.

Positive experience: Below average premises, sports hall is always dirty and very humid, staff is very arrogant and disrespectful

Positive experience: A good facility with outdoor and indoor courts for football hockey netball tennis basketball badminton

Positive experience: Good gym but staff sometimes is a bit off.

Positive experience: It’s okay.

Positive experience: Good for badminton

Positive experience: Good gym: plenty of natural light, new and varied equipments, reasonable working hours, good instructors. I used to be more satisfied with the infra though - the brand new studio leaves so many boxes unchecked! Not cool for trying yoga classes in such a noisy, dark box, with no place for leaving your shoes or collecting your yoga props from.

Positive experience: A very good place to get fit. I will recommended

Fantastic experience: Excellent customer service

Positive experience: Clean gym,good variety of machines and attentive staff

Positive experience: Standard gym, offers what's on the tin. Peak time is busy but off peak is quiet and offers space for weight training and cardio.

Positive experience: Decent gym for what you pay for it. Big free weight area with a surprising amount of equipment. Definitely one of the better Better gyms.

Fantastic experience: Tower Hamlets council made it really bad.

Fantastic experience: Good courts

Fantastic experience: I would highly recommend, Although I would like to see the Trainer Cecil back with a class on a Monday evening he just gives you the best workout, the class on a Monday is not the same, please bring him back for a Monday evening class! I would also like circuit training on a Sunday moved forward to 10.30am i find 12pm a little late

Fantastic experience: It is a great place!

Positive experience: Big and spacious neighborhood gym in a loft style with high ceilings. Great outdoors space with nice views of the city of London. The changing spaces have recently been refurbished and are quite clean. The equipment is nothing special but you can find most things needed for a good workout. The main problem of this gym is the overall cleanness as nobody is using a towel when using the machines or benches.

Fantastic experience: pretty good for weights and cardio. spacious too. and nice, friendly staff

Negative experience: Weights area very untidy and equipment becoming a little shabby

Fantastic experience: Very nice

Fantastic experience: Good size gym, newly refurbished so the shower area is nice and clean most of the time

Positive experience: Pokey changing rooms for hockey.

Positive experience: Nice place to get fit

Fantastic experience: Gym, swim, outdoor activities. It has the lot

Positive experience: Actually this is quite a nice venue and good sports facilities find the managements locally brilliant but run by the entirely ridiculous better organisation