Watford Leisure Centre - Central

Positive experience: Great service and friendly visitors. Lots of families, but cold showers, steam room and sauna work well. You need to put fittings under the door of the sauna as it is leaking heat. Thamks

Negative experience: Some of the staff at the Reception have an incredibly bad attitude. They treat people differently depending on how they look. We had a swimming booking for our 18month old daughter and we're not let in based on a whim - the older blonde lady with very short hair had let some other people in before us despite the pool being full and when we arrived, made up an excuse about no space. Incredibly rude. Management on the day was also not willing to listen, saying 'oh we don't check everyone that comes in' and that 'there was no more space now' despite a booking being done.

Negative experience: Staff are not helpful, and service is very disappointing. They need to train more staff for office work. I have to wait for 30 minutes For office staff to come because the other 10 people who are working around don't know anything.

Negative experience: Possibly the most filthy changing rooms I have ever seen

Negative experience: Horrible attitude from front desk staff. One in particular (a bearded fellow) is always moody and tends to complain and huff and puff about serving customers to other customers! He is generally exasperated with any request he receives. (bearded fellow, slim with dark hair) Myself and my dad went for a pickleball session. I am not a member but my father is a regular attendee and had signed us up and paid for the session. The man at the desk was huffing and puffing about other customers to us, and was very patronizing and rude when asked for rackets/balls. I'm appalled to see my father being treated this way at his home gym for which he has a membership to attend, by the staff whom are meant to make him feel welcome and at ease. I will not be returning, and will encourage my father to find an alternative leisure centre where he will feel welcome and cared for - for fear of myself and/or him being spoken poorly of by staff to other customers. (*Not William, who is lovely, friendly, and polite)

Negative experience: I went to gym there for month but didn't like because it's very small gym area can't do any exercise you want no much equipment there they need to make bigger place for the gym and the time has to be a longer I work 5 minutes away from the gym and lots of people comes to us they say about this gym they want to come but they say the gym is very small and the timing not good close very early that's the reason a lot of people try to go to another gym I hope they do something about it they need to bring some change

Negative experience: This Watford Central and Woodside gyms both have absolutely no equipment for training your lower back - such as the very inexpensive roman chair back hyper extension apparatus. When ever I ask if they will get this for the lower back - I get excuses that it will come in a refurb or to make use of some odd make do alternatives. Many members I spoke to have said the same as me on this topic.

Fantastic experience: I have been attending the gym for just on 2years and I’m always met with smiles and helpfulness by front of desk staff and all other staff. Makes the “exercise torture” a pleasant time

Fantastic experience: Good leisure centre with friendly staff. Has all the equipment i need at a decent price.

Negative experience: Considering I've been training for over 30 years, ex-military to boot I've never seen such an incredibly unfriendly group of personal trainers who seem to be bordering on aggressive. It's a small gym so for a number of PI's to constantly commandeer several machines at a time with no empathy for us minions that just want a quick workout! Hopefully the management will read this and implement some sort of mindfulness and customer service training to the PI staff who have clearly embedded themselves into a quasi-dictatorship inadvertently alienating the very people paying their wages... Please change.

Positive experience: Hi, I joined this gym with my wife. The initial setup and joining of the gym was not pleasant and we could have received a discount which was missed. To get a look round the gym and try it out was not easy as they want you to sign up then cancel and the only reason we are there is my daughter spoke to one of the personal trainers and we had a discussion with that person. Once we had joined it was easy to get access and use the gym. I then contacted the membership to change to an individual account for each of us so we could both use the app and this was very well managed and seamless. We are visiting regularly and it is good. From a business point of view looking at our initial contact there is alot they could do to enhance that presentation and therefore get more members.

Fantastic experience: Great pool and changing facilities. The senior sessions make that all important swim affordable.

Fantastic experience: I always have a great time, at the leisure centre, its clean with great facilities, and I am going to sign up for a swimming membership.

Negative experience: there is plenty of sand/mustard algea? on the bottom of the big pool ( in corners) scarry. Its there for 3 weeks now

Negative experience: Didn't even want to put a star but as Google won't let me put 0 stars I had no choice What a sham !! Life gaurd Staff seem more interested in chatting to each other on their radios and looking at each other from the learner pool to the main pool and not keeping their full attention on the pool they are meant to be minding. Another girl was more interested in straightening her hair out again not looking at the learner pool which she was supposed to be gaurding. Even though when we booked we looked at the Terms and conditions to see if floats were provided and it clearly says say they are, Yet multiple people including ourselves were told we can't use them as they were there instructers noodles and floats ?? The booking on the website for the learner pool is very unclear and we ended up buying tickets for 5 as we did not know one adult is paid for in the kids price. I could go on and on but I am not going to waste any more of my time on this discrace of a swimming pool and will let all that I know to go elsewhere.

Negative experience: Changing rooms need to be fixed because there's like a space in the cubicle this one student was looking for his friends who was in the cubicle next to him instead of waiting for his friend to come out he peeked over the cubicle and saw girl nearby changing and shamelessly stared at her

Negative experience: Stated they couldn't refund my direct debit for two months as my daughter could not attend for medical reasons. Avoid.

Negative experience: Just wanted to use the gym. Even though I'd had an induction at another site which they could see on their system they kept me waiting back and forth for 25 minutes saying they couldn't let me. Not good I went to NRG gym instead, staff were much better there!

Fantastic experience: Great gym and staff

Negative experience: Front desk staff never know anything about membership or my account. Turned up for pay as you go with job seekers discount. But was told I could not access the gym because my membership was old and they could process the payment. Then told the next 4× I had membership which I was not paying for so could access for free. Then turned up on Sunday to try and access gym membership was not on my account and neither was the job seekers discount and I needed to come back some time during the week to fix it. What a mess.

Negative experience: Baby pool freezing, showers luke warm, changing rooms grimey.

Negative experience: Useless gym where their newbie trainers hijack the equipments and busy gossiping with their clients. Their never ending super sets block the machines for upto half an hour only for other person to get frustrated. On top of that everyone active keeps rising the price every year by 5 quid for their swimming lessons which doesnt align with the rpi model. I might cancel the whole subscription soon.

Fantastic experience: Greeted by a lovely young woman called mae at the front desk, who was more than happy to help me book on a swim and informed me about multiple classes. Will be returning, the centre was very clean and had a friendly atmosphere. Thankyou!

Fantastic experience: They've really improved cleanliness. Highly appreciated. The staff is very friendly and not imposive. I really enjoy my time there.

Fantastic experience: Makes me and my family spend time together on either swimming badminton or rock climbing also extremely cheap ( :

Negative experience: Awful experience. Terrible parking, incompetent staff, really not work the hassle.

Negative experience: Everyone Active as a company in general is a joke, they are making it impossible to cancel your contract. They give you a link to follow to fill out a form however, once you click on the link it takes you back to the main support page. Watford branch Gym is too small and needs more equipment... The staff is nice but besides that not so great.

Fantastic experience: Swimming lessons are great. Laura is a fab instructor, very supportive and gives great advice on techniques.

Fantastic experience: I have just called up and spoken to a lovely lady called Sam. Very helpful and I'm now thinking of joining. Please pass on my thank you. From indie

Negative experience: They are cashless. I DO NOT SUPPORT businesses where my hard earned money from my wallet is not accepted! On top of all, the water is freezing anyway

Fantastic experience: Great fitness centre and nice clean swimming pool.

Negative experience: Giving one star only because of a particular receptionist. I have to mention his ethnicity here as I dont know his name and would be better for others to recognise him as well. No offence or being racist here. He looks Chinese. Extremely rude and unapproachable. God alone knows who gave him customer service job. Totally unfit for that job. People are at the gym for some mental peace as well not just physical fitness. This is the second time they sent me a “no show” fee because their entrance scanner was broken (Sunday 10th sept 2023) and for a class that I already attended. When I went to this guy and told the matter he was extremely rude and told me there is no way he can take that off as they have taken it off for me in the past(let me clear, in the past it was a similar case where they had a problem with the system). I told him he can check the CCTV if he wants but this boy wants to show some superiority power whenever u approach him. Today he even went on and told me to change the gym if I am not happy with their service. I told him I am very happy with the rest of the service. It’s just him that I am not happy dealing with. It’s been more than a year that I have been going to this gym. Everything else is very good the people the place I love it. But this guy is just terrible and unfit for the job he does. Have heard from other gym friends who have serious health issues as well regarding bad behaviour from this guy. This is not the first time that he did this to me. Last time I spoke to manager Adrianne. She was really sweet and told me she would handle the matter and advice this guy. But clearly he doesn’t seem to change. Some serious upbringing issue.Pathetic!!

Fantastic experience: Good facilities and good hygiene standards. Well kept. Sauna + steam room facilities. Gym is also good with both free weight and weight/cardio machines and spaces to stretch, etc. Various other sports facilities.

Negative experience: Staff are kids who don’t care and whole place needs renovation, looking tired

Fantastic experience: Simply good

Positive experience: Good swimming lessons, but do not park your bike their even with cctv they couldn't identify who stole my bike, and there have been up to 12 bike thefts in a month over there

Fantastic experience: Great atmosphere to work out in gym. Good equipment ,well maintained. Professional coaches available. Spacious swimmimg pool and learner pools. Badminton courts. Nice safe place for kids .

Fantastic experience: Great lifestyle centre options at affordable prices

Fantastic experience: Excellent service provided by Matthew At reception who rectified a mistake I made with a booking and was most helpful in rebooking for a later time the same day. Keep up the good service

Fantastic experience: Great gym .lovely staff

Positive experience: It's a stop shop for swimming, gym, personal training, badminton courts and pitches.

Negative experience: Very rude staff when you try to ask for advice or information , they are not helpful at all, and when you are a foreigner and English is your second language the staff will start to ignore you or talk in vey bad way

Positive experience: A decent, well staffed and well run operation.

Negative experience: Tired of turning up and not being able to use any equipment as it’s so busy - they shouldn’t sell more memberships than they can accommodate

Positive experience: In need of modernisation / renovations. The pool change rooms were updated during lockdown but the showers are already broken and grotty. Only 3 baby change rooms in pool area but can have 5+ babies in the lessons so changing is a nightmare. Alison the baby swim teacher is amazing, 5 stars for her. Staff don't come across as very approachable. Comments / suggestions on the customer survey sent out every few months feel ignored / unanswered.

Fantastic experience: Platinum membership doesn’t worth it price. But in general everything is good. Saunas were busy all the time, but I guess it was bad timing

Negative experience: Not happy with their accounting principles. In short: you pay cancellation fee in advance. They state in person that it's for the last month. When I ask what if I decide to cancel the day after my monthly payment, will I get a refund for last month? Their answer is no. Cancelled two memberships just now, never again. Other gyms never do that. Numbers doesn't lie: Paid early March for two persons 69.98 Paid early April 2x59.57 So in essence as I cancelled today I paid 170GBP total for two months, which is 85GBP per person for a std membership for two months (42, 25GBP)vs advertised cost of 29.50 ish. Hard not to explain how is it not a ripoff...

Negative experience: Appalling customer services from the reception desk to lifeguards right down to the Manager Rob - first time here misinformation about pool times, rules, no signs, no swimming costumes my size (was going to buy last minute as they cancelled my girls lesson) astronomical prices £40 !!! Not right especially in the half term - no info about exiting car park - staff don’t tell you and Manager says code not given but fat sign on desk lol - unapologetic when confronted and defensive - no one smiles- no one is polite - no energy at all - don’t rely on any information they give you !!! One star is too much - Woodside is MUCH better don’t waste your time at WATFORD !!!! Have to complain at ‘enquires on their website’ like that’ll be dealt with - NOT!!! what a joke for customer service!!! Unhygienic, small and awful !!!

Positive experience: Swimming pool is good. Temperature of water is also perfect. However other facilities such as changing rooms, shower etc. are not great. Sauna and steam rooms are quite small and will be hence, crowded.

Fantastic experience: Good one. Price is on the higher side compared to other centres.

Fantastic experience: You can find all the necessary equipment in the gym, it is tidy and clean. I haven't tried the pool yet but I am really curious to do that. I strongly recommend Everyone Active, the company also has a great mobile application.

Fantastic experience: Good

Negative experience: There is only one (!) Pilates class in the evening for the whole week - meaning 20 people on average on the waiting list. Similar with the yoga clasaes. When I've asked about adding classes, they said it's an additional cost for them so nope. Just don't try to be late for any class, as of course - this is the most important thing you might have in your day-to-day life. They forget that this is a leisure activity, and excuses that you disturb the class- when entering silently and with due care, look to me exaggerated. Additionally, the lack of integrity regarding the strick need of warming up - if you miss it at the beginning of a yoga class (consisting of stretching and breathing), it's a huge risk for you, but when they allow you to train on your own in the gym, that is ok. You're not at risk of injuring yourself anymore. The easy excuse that this is a policy is ridiculous. The policies are there to be adjusted if needed.

Positive experience: In terms of facilities this place is ok - generally clean and well staffed. We had our children attend swimming lessons here for over a year, and as always the quality of the lessons is very dependent on the teacher. Unfortunately the teacher we had was not nice - she describes herself as strict but is actually just very negative and really doesn't seem to want to be there. It is very rare for any praise or encouragement to be given - the only way children can tell if they are doing ok is the lack of being corrected consantly. Some weeks the only instruction she gives is the next stroke to do - she really doesn't seem to enjoy teaching at all and just barks at the children. We perservered in the hopes that our children would be moved up to another lesson with a different teaacher, but all that has happened is that our children now dread swimming lessons. We have now moved them to a different centre so they know they won't have that teacher again - I don't want them put off swimming any more than they have already been and they had made next to no progress in over a year.

Fantastic experience: Regular there, smooth, on time. Staff could b more approaching, but when approached very helpfull amd friendly.

Positive experience: Great gym and reasonably priced. Really like their pool and not overly crowded. The steam room and sauna are not particularly warm and that’s why it is a 4 star. I did ask the staff and was told that they break when they get hot so they need to be kept at the medium hot temp. Still completely usable though and worth the trip

Negative experience: Ever time we go to play badminton even today 21.01.22 it's whole court very dirty and slippery like a mud dried and turn in to sand no health and safety concerns at whole. l have been few Time told the member of staff it's seems like no body care. Very very dangerous.

Fantastic experience: Well organised and clean! Friendly and responsive staff…

Positive experience: Good location being on the edge of town center and has its own carpark. Reasonable price on weekends and Bank Holidays, staffing levels are ok. The cost for a badminton court has gone up by over 50%. Good luck if you are poor on junk food and trying to keep fit!

Negative experience: Parking is a joke at this place. Being members of everyone active and parking is free, you still have to use the parking machine to print the ticket. Council makes money off of anyone who missed displaying it. Wish everyone active has a better way to record it's users at entry/ reception.

Fantastic experience: Really nice place if you want to go to the gym at any time of the day. They have a very high quality of different equipment that you can use. The staff here are also very friendly and welcoming. The gym classes are also really helpful and great for everyone who wants to achieve their goals. The personal trainers are also very friendly and motivating when it comes to their classes. 5 stars all around!

Fantastic experience: My dog has a good experience at the groomers, they listen to what I want and they do a brilliant job. He always comes out looking gorgeous. I highly recommend.

Fantastic experience: Very safe place

Fantastic experience: A great place for sports with clean facilities friendly and helpful staff a very well maintained and managed booking system. Good pricing and well equipped for families as well as adults. So many sports to choose from and also a gym upstairs. Disability access provided with a lift and a ramped entrance to the building.

Positive experience: Really liked the building, friendly staff who had great knowledge. The sessions are really well run/organized. However there are no lifeguard chairs.

Fantastic experience: Love it

Negative experience: Was unable to swim at the time we went because there was no lanes available and we didn't realise that we had to book. Their website was out of date and they didn't cater for over 50s

Positive experience: Gym is perfectly fine and I use it regularly, however when bringing in a friend who didn’t have a membership and wanted to pay for the day, the lady at reception was extremely rude. She was grinning and was being extremely patronising, which is not welcoming to someone new to the gym. Horrible experience with her, can’t believe someone in customer service could be so rude.

Fantastic experience: Friday front of house staff / lady with grey hair (didn’t catch her name)! Was superb! Excellent customer service skills, really polite and friendly and just so welcoming unlike other staff when I have visited. She is really hard working and really knows her job! Highly recommended place just all staff need to be friendly and welcoming like her.

Fantastic experience: Lovely staff, easy access and enjoyable.

Fantastic experience: Nice place with very helpful staff. Best for family and kinds.

Fantastic experience: I like the new way of doing things now. The swimming pool is not over crowded. It is easy to book online as well. The only thing I don't like is having to use the swimming pool toilets.

Negative experience: I have been trying to join the gym for the past 2 weeks. Went in twice and been on the phone many times. Either their system is down or the membership team is unavailable or something else. Very disappointing.

Negative experience: Receptionist (girl) was so RUDE. Went in to ask a question on activities and was laughed at. Simple task was clearly too much for her let alone a little customer service or kindness. A lot of people may find it hard/difficult to begin a new fitness journey and would look to be welcomed… not belittled because you asked a question to the front line support! Will certainly not give money to this place after that experience. 0 stars AVOID

Fantastic experience: Facilities are Clean, Friendly staff

Fantastic experience: Front of house staff are very professional nothing is too much Trouble for them. The membership team work so hard to get the best deal for you too. The guys in the gym are friendly and full of advice and all the children who come to the swimming lessons all have a big smile on their faces and seem to have a lot if fun with their teachers - this is one of the best facilities in the area.

Fantastic experience: Fantastic facilities, clean and tidy, friendly staff who are always welcoming and a great help with any problems you may have. Always leave with a smile on my face!

Positive experience: The gym is pretty good but closing at 4:00 on a Saturday is mad. Weekends are when many of us can go but this has made it a waste of money for me.

Fantastic experience: For the price, it got the best facilities! Plus free parking. Recently they decorated gym area, pleasing during work outs.

Negative experience: Attracta is a nasty, old swimming teacher. Descriptions: mid 40s, brown hair that’s turning grey. She bullies the kids rather than teaches them. The first rule of being a swimming teacher is so to be friendly especially if you are teaching young kids but she is alien to that concept. She sadistically gains pleasure from yelling at children and it seems like she needs a therapist to release all that anger and frustration from her personal life as opposed to take it out on the children. Very disappointing how it’s the 21stC and children still have to face abuse of power from adult figures particularly teachers. Would highly suggest parents confront her when they see her yelling at their kids because she needs to know it’s unacceptable.

Positive experience: I have been their once for playing Table Tennis. The staffs are very professional. Good place but a bit expensive.

Fantastic experience: Lovely place with great facilities

Negative experience: Swimming lessons are overpriced. They usually have 8 in a class and 1 teacher. The kids only get to swim maybe twice in the whole 30 minutes and no real techniques are being taught. Only good for gaining confidence in water but I’ll be looking for more 1-2-1 lessons that actually teach techniques, as we’re going away soon and I’d like them to be confident swimming.

Positive experience: Always Pleasant Visiting this Leisure Centre. For Swimming, Sauna and Steam Room.

Negative experience: Very poor. Everyone Active should be replaced. They don't answer the phone. Badly organised. Pool very cold. Unhelpful surly staff.

Negative experience: Bad service - increased membership fee within the first three months and did not return my call when I tried to get the issue corrected. Pool area routinely dirty, locker keys all broken, pool sometimes booked out and unavailable to members for whole days.

Positive experience: Great facilities and friendly staff

Negative experience: Lack of hygiene in the pool and in this place in general, people and lifeguards can wear shoes in the swimming pool this is just a joke. Staff members are just kids and they are there just to have fun and watching their phones. Lots of mixed information and misunderstandings, if a day you talk with a kid at the reception, the day after you ask to someone else and the information are different. STAFF is a JOKE. HYGIENE is a SHAME. ORGANISATION is RIDICULOUS. 1 star is more too too much.

Fantastic experience: The door host was so lovely! I think she said her name was tatiana. Super sweet, the food was excellent. Will definatley be coming back here again :) Bon voyage!

Fantastic experience: Clean and well managed pool. Swim lanes are more generous than most pools so rarely feels too crowded.

Fantastic experience: Great place, clean, well-equipped and value for money. They have a clean pool that is great for swimming. The booking system introduced after Covid is quite useful in enabling better planning to visit the pool. The place also has a fully equipped gym and spaces for other activities including a large hall for basketball and badminton.

Negative experience: Good enough. I use the gym which is fine. Though the dirt piled on the plug sockets hasn’t been cleaned for at least a year, which is worrying. The family swimming session seems to be open to everyone which defeats the purpose. If you attend one with of the sessions with the kids then there will plenty of single people huffing past you as they try to do lengths. Plus there are a number of lone older men at the family swims staring at the kids. Make up your own mind about that!

Negative experience: Requested for refund online, received email to contact Sales Manager to process refund, after contacting Sales Manager I was asked to request for refund online. Got refund after almost a month. I had to chase them few times. Minimum gym equipment. No place to stretch, has to be done between machines, if there are people.

Fantastic experience: Great gym, friendly staff and not as busy as other everyone active gyms despite its relatively small size

Fantastic experience: Good to be back just wish they had more variety of swimming times.

Negative experience: In busy periods, the pool facilities are extremely dirty. Pool staff allows everyone wearing their outdoor shoes on. No enforcement of any basic hygiene guidelines.

Positive experience: Decent range of gym equipment, climbing wall and swimming pool. Offers good value for money. Generally not too crowded off peak.

Fantastic experience: With everything that has happened this year, I’ve been very impressed with how the pool has been run at this centre. The swimming has been a great distraction. Lessons have helped me improve technique and stamina. Because of the second lockdown, the centre has rolled over my direct debt for my lessons for November into December (so I am not paying for the lessons whilst the centre is closed). This is more than what so many other organisations are doing. Really sad the govt has chosen to close pools and outdoor sports facilities. Hopefully not for too long!

Fantastic experience: Always friendly staff, life guards and swimming instructors. Good setup for Covid handling.

Positive experience: Plenty of hand sanitiser and strict Covid rules