Virgin Active

Negative experience: This club gets worse and worse. The latest insult is they will no longer store towels in the changing rooms! You have to request them from the front desk, which is far from the changing rooms. Now you see towels everywhere, people sitting with them in the lounge areas, etc. In order to not have to keep going out front to ask for towels, people are just getting the maximum number allowed. So where they might have only needed one, depending on the day, they now take 3. Can't blame them. You can't be changing/undressed and realise you need another towel and walk all the way to reception to get a second towel. After an expensive renovation, they raised fees and reduced comfort level. The chairs are designed so that your back starts hurting before long.

Fantastic experience: Beautiful pools, lovely staff, great gym. I have had a great experience with my personal trainer too. I have had a mixed experience with the other members. I have plans to do social tennis and social padel so my experience may improve!

Fantastic experience: Pedro is the best in cleaning cars

Positive experience: Fine pools, nice parking

Fantastic experience: Pedro car wash is amazing. Washes my car perfectly every time and to such a high standard. I won't go anywhere else. Extremely friendly and professional service. Thank you!

Fantastic experience: Friend recommended car wash at Chiswick riverside the owner of the car wash is Pedro and he wash me car after washed I couldn’t recognise my car! I’d recommend to everyone that I know. The best car wash in the area

Fantastic experience: I love this place. The facilities are top notch! And VA is investing in a huge renovation, starting with an awesome lounge with both areas to socialise and comfy cubicles to work from. The new management is making a great difference and I look forward to the years to come. And you can go to any VA club when you’re a member of Riverside, so it is great value too!

Fantastic experience: We can’t thank the team at Virgin Health and Racquet Club enough for stepping up and helping my husband and me out of a really sticky situation this evening. What makes this so extraordinary is that it had absolutely nothing to do with the club itself—it was entirely unrelated. This experience is a true testament to the calibre of the staff they employ: professional, compassionate, and genuinely willing to go above and beyond. It’s rare to encounter such kindness and resourcefulness, and we are incredibly grateful for their quick thinking and support. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who assisted us tonight—you’ve truly made a lasting impression.

Negative experience: I had high hopes for Virgin Active Riverside Club, but my experience has been nothing short of disappointing. The toxic culture here is palpable, and it feels like the focus is solely on making money rather than promoting health or customer service. Many tennis staff members come across as rude and pretentious, often failing to greet members with even a simple "hello." It’s disheartening to see such a lack of basic courtesy in a place that is supposed to foster a welcoming environment. The family changing room is in terrible condition, leading most families to opt for the unisex and disabled changing rooms instead, just to avoid it. Over the year, I have noticed a clear decline in the overall quality of the club. To make matters worse, I witnessed a staff member attempting to sell stolen goods for cash, and when we reported this unethical behavior, she was promoted to assistant manager! How is that even acceptable? Additionally, I was appalled to hear a tennis coach named Theo bragging about his brother-in-law bombing kids in Gaza. This kind of talk has no place in a club, and I refuse to pay money to listen to such disturbing nonsense. I had a watch stolen from a locker, when a staff member decided to leave a non member who came to have a look completely unattended. Something terrible could happen to a child with this kind of behaviour. Overall, I cannot recommend Virgin Active Riverside Club. If you value your health and a respectful environment, look elsewhere.

Fantastic experience: Best gym in London

Negative experience: Refurbishment makes the club look and feel like a cheap airline lounge. We've had to pay for this soulless and bland makeover with increased fees. The swimming pools are both dirty, the showers are filthy and broken, the lockers all seem to be taken despite the club being almost empty. In addition reception are too lazy to ever answer the phone and divert it to a never ending loop. We pay good money for this rubbish...time to move on.

Negative experience: I was quite happy at Twickenham Virgin until it recently closed, Virgin offered a transfer by email to Chiswick Riverside for £180 per month, it’s normally £270 I believe, I called head office and visited Chiswick and no one knew about this offer in person or on the phone. Reception let me in for the day anyway which is fantastic as I was able to observe the poor state of the club and now I’m happily signing up at Third Space in Richmond. It’s not a premium club for the money, poor facilities, terrible food options, badly trained staff and dirty, especially in the steam room.

Negative experience: I quit this place after being a member for more than 12 years. I walked into reception and was high pressured sell to take out a new 12 month contract otherwise my price would go up substantially! "It's the end of the month this week so you must re-sign or else pay a lot more" I was told. Other members were also being pressured. Instead of re-signing I never went back. As others mention the tennis courts are disappearing but as mainly a swimmer the high price wasn't worth it. Impossible to swim before 4pm at weekends due to kids lessons taking all the lanes bar one. The "spa" area is in a bad state of repair especially the steam room which is grubby and falling to bits. The lockers are difficult to operate and I hear some theft stories. Showers are also poor. None of this good enough for £4,000 a year or more. I have since found I can swim at Fulham pools for £1.50 a time with no other fees. I am very grateful for the high pressure selling, it has saved me a fortune.

Fantastic experience: Car wash Pedro and Adelaide are the best amazing service : friendly and efficient

Negative experience: It’s very disappointing how Virgin Active head office run roughshod over Riverside Chiswick members. The club’s formerly excellent tennis facilities are being eroded, with two indoor tennis courts being sacrificed for little-used padel, making it increasingly difficult to book indoor tennis when that was the reason many members joined. The padel courts were imposed with no consultation of members and there had just been what now looks like a cynical lock-in of members to a new, even more expensive 12 month contract before this change to indoor tennis court availability was made. The Riverside staff try hard but the club is being undermined by the Virgin Active head office that will not listen to its members. This club is best avoided.

Positive experience: Since I wrote this grumpy old man review I’ve been followed up with a phone call from a senior person at the club. So I’ve upgraded my review to 4 stars. As the then general manager of Soho House restaurants once told me “we all make mistakes, but it’s the quality of the recovery that matters.” This phone call was a good example. The shower taps are being attended to! Have re-joined after several years. Same old issues. Stupid amounts of money being spent unnecessarily on the main entrance and lounge area. Meanwhile several of the taps in the adult male showers don’t work properly. Reported it to a senior female cleaner in the corridor. She walkie-talkied it to someone. Two days later taps still not working. The worn patch of floor by the entrance to the indoor courts is still worn. I pointed it out when I was last in membership and an enterprising member of staff fixed it! He replaced the worn area of floor covering by taking a piece from underneath the stairs. Look if you don’t believe me. Years later the patch is wearing out again. I wonder if this very high traffic and visible flooring is in the budget for replacement? With my guess passes my son/daughter-in-law have been in. He was a member with his three siblings for all the years our family came here - three of their names are on the tennis prize board. He confirmed what my wife had said which is that the family changing room is dreadful and hasn’t been refurbished for a decade or more while the adult ones have. Is this changing room in the schedule? It needs enlarging and could easily be done by taking in the largely unused kids TV area.

Negative experience: There is no management at all; it's a complete mess with so many issues that it's hard to describe. The front desk staff is also very ignorant, often changing personnel. I will never join again after my membership expires

Negative experience: LOSING TENNIS COURTS. They’ve just announced they’re removing 2 indoor tennis courts to put padel courts. They are going to have a bubble over some outdoor courts but the proper permanent indoor facility is losing 2 tennis courts to padel.

Negative experience: Unresponsive management with no discretion. Some indoor courts replaced with Padel (v noisy, reduced court availability), dirty gym floor, many thefts from lockers and car break-ins. Decent gym and pool. Expensive for what you get

Fantastic experience: Amazing

Negative experience: Finally got to see where all the people in their Teslas and enormous mum trucks end up as they speed down riverside drive. Driving to exercise always struck me as a bit weird. Would be understandable if the place was on the A40 or something. But all this traffic spoils the ambiance of dukes meadows and the riverside. Anyway, It's a sports club with lots of tennis courts, a pool, jacuzzi, gym and probably other stuff as well. Staff were all very friendly and helpful. Not much more you can say really. Unexciting. Rode home on our bikes. Which was nice.

Fantastic experience: Love this gym!! Best gym in London! So beautiful, so clean, great classes, great gym floor, so many tennis courts, great food and amazing, friendly, helpful staff.

Fantastic experience: Great gym with excellent facilities, including a clean swimming pool and a lot of tennis courts. Friendly staff and a great atmosphere ♥️

Fantastic experience: Ive been to a fair share of health clubs in London and this Virgin Active exceeds my expectations. Well maintained fitness facilities, indoor and outdoor tennis courts and a beautiful outdoor pool and seating area. The place is always clean, all staff members I come in contact with are welcoming and friendly and even the wraps and salads at the Kauai cafe are tasty. My wife and I thoroughly enjoy this Health club.

Negative experience: Over priced, poorly maintained, distinctly average customer experience despite charging premium fees. Only still a member because of need for tennis courts, considering leaving unless the issues below are addressed and promptly. Tennis: decent number of courts, but surface bubbling up on at least 2-3 of the 12 indoor total indoor (courts 12 and 8) and cracks appearing over the years, both ball machines have been broken and out of action for over half a year with numerous complaints made to no effect with eternal promises of incoming replacements. Not good enough Common areas, "lounge": Frankly embarrassing, cheap plastic school canteen style chairs, old sofas that you wouldn't take for free if offered, a food offering that i would expect from a local council leisure centre, coffee is expensive. Not an inviting pleasant place to "lounge" or host guests for a coffee after exercise. Jacuzzi, steam room and sauna area feel once again like a local council budget leisure centre, not on the same level as 3rd space and other gyms that charge similar or even less. Guest pass policy that is a joke, 3 per year which you have to use within 3 months, compare that with David Lloyd which gives members one or two a month. Despite the above, their fees are increasing. I am only still reluctantly a member because of need for access to tennis courts. If the above are not addressed with new ball machines, i will look elsewhere for sure. Staff are not the problem, whoever runs the club have clearly decided to do so on the cheap and see the place deteriorate assuming members will not look elsewhere, self defeating in the end.

Fantastic experience: Very safe place and amazing and very helpful staff you do not need to worry if you leave your sunglasses etc. You feel there like on Holliday . This is the place to be!

Fantastic experience: I’ve been a member here for a few years and I finally feel like leaving a good review. I’m glad to hear the news of the refurbishment. I was happy to see they introduced a recovery area, but this is even better. For a premium price, it is nice to see that they took the decision to give something back to their members. I hope it will turn out great and hopefully will not cause the membership prices to skyrocket. The staff also deserve 5 stars for being friendly and helpful every time you visit the gym.

Fantastic experience: Great Car wash service from Jose - always leaves the car perfect and great value.

Positive experience: Really nice Lovely jacuzzi inside. Fab tennis courts. Basketball too. Amazing and outside pools as well for the few hot days that we get. Good parking.

Fantastic experience: Amazing club

Negative experience: Only very unhealthy food (like bacon on old processed white bread) available at this health club. Edit: response from the club "I am sorry to hear about your experience at our club, we introduced Kauai back in August 2023 as a health and well being centre we aim to provide more nutritional value meals. Kauai is a big hit within our UK and South Africa clubs with more been built into rest of our clubs now." Guys, you write this as if "Kauai" is a cafe that makes fresh, healthy food. The cafe is always abandoned and shut with no staff, if there is staff, it has some generic unbranded hot chocolates and other unhealthy coffees. Your cafe has ready-made sandwiches that are NOT fresh, and the fresh food is some old bread and sausages or fried egg. The *new additions* to your menu are NOT NUTRITIONAL WHATSOEVER. Ladies and gents, the food mentioned in the club's response are some oat yoghurt pots (Sugar and processed galore, with additives since they are not made fresh there) and the other was some wraps, again, chocka bloc with preservatives and additives and salts and sugars. I felt nauseous eating any of the food there, especially after a workout! considering older people and kids go to this club a lot, this is unexpected and saddening. How are you quantifying that "Kauai is a big hit" when none of us members had even heard of it before this review?

Fantastic experience: Very encouraged by recent conversations with Mo at the club - some great (albeit long overdue) improvements to the main areas are on the way, and they finally have fibre optic so the connection issues should get resolved at last. It's already clear that some other changes are having an impact (eg on staff presence & gym cleanliness). Looking forward to a Riverside Renaissance.

Negative experience: Standard deteriorated tremendously over the years that I decided to terminate my membership after a whole decade. The facilities are still good (hence the 2 stars), but everything else is really below par in my view. Someone in the ivory tower decided to cut costs by taking away licensed music & classes & replace them with poor VA classes played to elevator music. Instructors are treated (& paid) appallingly & really no reason to pay a bit short of £300/month for such low quality of service & poor offerings. Should no longer be classed as a luxury gym.

Fantastic experience: Fantastic club for tennis, swimming, and the gym. Staff have been great and never feels too busy. Great for kids on a Saturday as well.

Negative experience: Have been member of the Riverside for 10yrs and can sincerely say this is one of the worst managed health and racket clubs in London. Great for tennis and great outdoor space but with 10yrs of no investments the club is looking extremely dated. Changing rooms, spa, pools and gym area all in need of an uplift. Towels often unavailable, dirty floors. The cafe closes very early and only serves average and overpriced ‘healthy’ food; coffee is undrinkable and over priced. I am a racket fanatic and have stayed on as the club promised eight courts of Padel and a full Padel program by early 2024 which is no longer happening. Not worth the fees.

Fantastic experience: This is the best gym I have ever been to. The receptionist William gave me a lot of help.

Negative experience: My son and I joined the club 4 months ago. Truly one of the worst (supposed flagship) clubs I have ever been a member of. We were previously members of The Lanesborough which is part of the 5 star hotel with exceptional facilities and service at only £50 per month more than Chiswick Riverside. We were told that this club is the very best of what Virgin has to offer . Gym equipment is old and out dated. The local council gym in Acton has more up-to date Technogym equipment than here. None of the equipment is even connected to WiFi. Outside areas are shabby and outdated. This is meant to be a club where you can bring social guests to sit outside in the summer. No events, family BBQ’s, etc. Even though I do not like David Lloyd, they do this kind of thing very well. Chiswick is a fairly affluent neighbourhood and this is what the club (many years ago) used to excel at. The changing rooms and disabled toilets are not regularly cleaned. The club is meant to symbolise luxury for the brand, it can’t even get the basics right. Showers including the water pressure are what I would expect from a PureGym group. One single head with floors that are not regularly wiped/cleaned. Impossible to ever get a court booking. I’ve managed once in 17 weeks with success. As per the Virgin Active website and app, they state that the club closes at 10pm and facilities close at 9.45pm. This is a complete lie, at 9.30pm, staff start turning off equipment and lights in the gym and literally tell you to come out of the pool whilst turning off spa facilities. The complimentary towels are worn and terrible quality. Staff are unhelpful and somewhat rude the majority of the time. The only benefit is that the club are reasonable and fair with bringing guests into the club in my opinion. I will often bring my husband and younger child for lunch on a Saturday in the lounge. I ask at reception would it be possible for him to use the pool and they say don’t worry about a guest pass. This is the type of service and treatment you would expect at a club at this level (nearly £300 per month). Only thing the club do get right in my opinion, is in the last 2 months the reception team have come in leaps and bounds. Because it’s a small member base, most of the entrance team remember names, always opening the barrier if you have forgotten your card (I always do) with a super warm greeting on arrival and departure. I would strongly urge management take these concerns and the string of negative reviews on Google, demonstrating a true improvement rather than generic responses about feedback being taken on board. I had to give 2 stars rather than 1 because I truly believe if this club had a significant investment (probably circa £1m+), it has the potential to be one of the best tennis, racquet, gym and social clubs in the UK. It needs to use Queens or Central London gyms as the benchmark.

Fantastic experience: Amazing gym with great amenities . Lovely car wash , Pedro is a top guy ! Highly recommend

Negative experience: I have been a member at the Virgin Active Chiswick Riverside for many years over two stints and facilities have been deteriorating significantly, with low standards of cleanliness. The major problem of their "flagship" club is an inability to bring guests (you are only given 3 guest passes p.a. which expire within 3 months or asked to pay £60 per guest pass - totally unreasonable when only to play 1 hour of tennis). This policy makes sense for other Virgin Active clubs but definitely not for their "top of the line" club, and the monthly fee charged to members - which seems to indicate that they would like to compete with other clubs such as Queen's etc. who consistently allow for guests - is overpriced for the quality of the facilities. I have also raised this issue consistently with staff and have been treated very poorly with no desire to make a gesture or show some desire to solve this issue. This is in addition to all the poor reviews around security and food quality. In short - STAY AWAY. I will be cancelling my membership (but ofc no one from management will care).

Fantastic experience: Today I had the best customer service at the car wash, Pedro offered excellent care and attention to my car, and I will definitely come again.

Negative experience: Have been a member for over two years now. The gym is badly managed it is old and in desperate need of an upgrade. Reception staff is grumpy and they are generally clueless about any last minute class cancellation which happens all the time. Icing on the cake: they recently removed all licensed music from all classes so we are now listening to second class music but asked to pay a premium membership fee. Third space is cheaper than this gym. We don’t need a reply about taking this feedback very seriously. We need actions and results. Truly truly appalling

Fantastic experience: I'm not a member but I took my car here to get it washed today. Pedro was really polite and professional and did an amazing job. Top class. I'll be telling all my family and friends to come here! Thanks so much Pedro!

Fantastic experience: Very friendly & helpful staff overall & fantastic service from Pedro within the club amenities and the Car Wash service - great stuff!

Negative experience: I am a member. The place is a disaster, courts are bad and old, and they are constantly breaking cars and stealing from changing rooms. The steam room is not well kept. Fortunately, the head of tennis and most of the other coaches are great. This is not enough to justify the premium fee. There is nothing premium here at the moment. Looking for alternatives.

Negative experience: This is a club with amazing facilities, lovely people and staff. However, other recent posts about the difficulty of booking tennis etc.. are sadly true. The last straw which caused me to cancel my membership is the new Virgin policy not to pay for PRS music licence. This means spin and other gym classes are to awful royalty free lift music and not remotely motivating. Their excuse is that some teachers had upset guests with explicit music. If so, surely the new policy is the equivalent of cracking an egg with a sledgehammer?

Negative experience: I love the Reformer studio and it is my only reason for staying at Virgin. Classes are often cancelled however with little or no warning and from time to time there are no towels or the pool is closed. There is absolutely no compensation for this. The 3 guest passes per year is ridiculous and as they have a short expiry, if your birthday is in the winter (this is when they are given), you are far less likely to want a friend to come to use the outside space and pool. I had a meeting with the manager called Keisha, and then the following week she left and everything she promised me fell by the wayside. I was then seen by Luke, the family activities manager who told me that as Keisha had not written anything down, everything she had promised was irrelevant. He was actually pretty rude towards me and as a member of 20 years standing, I was horrified. I asked that he forward my complaints to head office, and although he emailed me to say he had done so (something I requested as obviously what they say is only applicable in the moment they say it to you), I have had no further feedback. For the monthly membership amount, the service from management / head office is appalling. I would recommend that if there is a club nearer to you that offers you most of what you want, then go there instead. Since I wrote this 7 months ago it is now even worse. I was given 2 "no shows" for classes I attended on a day when their card entry system was not working. The teacher of the first class took the register and yet the management are adamant I wasnt there. It took at least 3 phone calls and an email to even get this response from them and now members can't even phone the club directly. It is deeply frustrating and to basically be told I wasnt there when I was marked into the calls is appalling. To make matters even worse, today I invited a guest along to the club telling them the guest pass would be £60 (as it has been for a while). It was hugely embarrasing to be informed, on arrival, that the pass would cost £100. Apparently it went up (almost double) without any communication to members. I think it is appalling to have done this without any warning. I was told it is because members complain that too many guests come in. As a regular member for 20 years, I have no idea who is a guest....but was told that members do know who is a guest and who isn't! How? I don't believe Virgin value their clients at all. They never give compensation for the constant cancelling of classes or lack of hot water or towels. We were given 2 guest passes for the inconvenience of the ground floor being closed for months, but they had to be used within 4 weeks. I'm sure a response here will be "we are sorry you feel this way and we value you". Perhaps written by a bot or from a selection of management chosen answers.

Fantastic experience: I'm not a member, but I went to wash my car on Saturday and Pedro is an amazing person, very kind and hardworking. I will advise my friends to go there!

Negative experience: I've been a member of VA Riverside for just over a year and currently the only thing keeping me there is my amazing PT, Des. It feels like Virgin have chosen to keep this club on life-support, rather than invest in order to attract the new members required to make this club profitable. What you get for £265/month (+£300/month PT) is frankly very poor value for money. 1) Gym: Often quiet, which is certainly a plus, however a lot of the equipment is worn and outdated. Been told will be getting re-furbed since last summer, but starting to get the feeling this will never actually happen. 2) Tennis: As other reviews have outlined, it's impossible to book courts even if you try at 7.30am on the dot. Luckily for me, I can play at 8,30pm (final slot - where there are often courts available), unluckily for me I don't have anyone to play with as they don't allow guests (and I can't get into classes to meet other tennis players!). There are a handful of 'social' and 'coaching' classes a week on offer, but these are snapped up within seconds by the same group of members who somehow must have gamed the booking system. I have managed to sneak into a couple of sessions through joining the waiting list and hoping, but tbh the level of tennis is very low in these sessions so it's not worth it for anyone intermediate+ 3) Steam Room: There's never any steam in the 'steam room'. I've complained about this at least 10 times, but the only time there's been steam in the steam room in the 20+ times I've been in there is when a member of staff was in there with me. There is a way to turn it up, evidently, just not when members ask... 4) Wifi: Forget trying to do any work; the wifi is awful. If work/communcation is a priority for you, like it is for me, you'll find yourself getting showered and changed in super-quick time as the wifi doesn't even reach the changing rooms. 5) Security: Other reviews have outlined security concerns at this club. Thankfully, I haven't had anything stolen/vandilised (yet). 6) Customer Service: If you think that for £265/month you'll get top notch customer service, you couldn't be more wrong. Last week I tried to take my 2-yr old daughter for a swim, which she was incredibly excited about given you only get 3 guest passes a year (and otherwise your 2-yr old daughter has to also be a member in order to swim). Luckily, I had been given x2 extra guest passes from the membership manager when I attempted to cancel my membership prematurely a few weeks prior. The girl at reception treated me with utter distain as she tried to argue that my guest pass wasn't valid as it was an "old one" - despite having been given it 3/4 weeks prior and it having no expiry date on it. We managed to get in and have our swim, but the distain was palpable. I have attempted to pass this feedback on to Virgin and the management team numerous times (through their official app and by email), but haven't heard anything back. The Manager position is a revolving door and no-one seems to care. Third Space Richmond opening this summer cannot come quickly enough, although I will miss Des :(

Negative experience: My family of 5 have been members for over 10 years and things are getting worse and worse. Hours have been reduced, the front desk reps, who used to be so lovely, are now down to one grumpy person. I can't remember the last time they gave me a guest pass. The spa area is frequently closed for repair, and it is impossible to book a tennis court. The latest decline in service is they have made it harder and harder to suspend for holidays. Now you can only suspend it from the 1st of the month, and only for 2 months. It used to be for 3 months. And in the beginning, they didn't charge for this service. Then they charged £10 a month. Now it's gone up to £35 a month! I have already cancelled two of our family memberships. Mine will be next.

Negative experience: 1. You can’t give all the courts to tennis coaches is just unfair or give them the outside one. 2. Instead of announcing every 5 minutes that you are closing at 10 o clock,go better clean some disgusting dirty toilets. Suppose to be a premium level services which even pure gym and the gym group have better hygiene. Such a shame and disrespectful to all the people paying premium for this service. Very disappointed.

Negative experience: I have been a member for 5+ years now; the club has everything it needs to be truly amazing but somehow the recent approach seems to be more toward short term profit maximisation than long term success; an approach one sees just before a business being sold… 1- court bookings are a disaster; Sundays there are only 4 courts available to book given all the kids courses; last week I was 1 second too late to get a court 07:30:01 Sunday morning!) The bubble outside is half shot to pieces; on my last 2 bookings I got a message the day before saying it’s out of service. Really poor for a tennis centric club not to have the willingness to invest in more bubbles for the winter months. Truly disappointing 2- security is shameful; cars being broken into; watches stolen from lockers On occasions they put a guard up but for a club of this size, with the membership and income the right approach is one of investment; secure the car park properly; have it guarded and show your members the duty of care they deserve 3- spa area needs better upkeep; steam room is falling to bits… On a positive note - all the people who work there are great and caring; it’s somewhat obvious that higher powers somehow don’t wish to create long term success

Negative experience: If the safety and security of your members is of "paramount importance" then why did you decide to save a few quid by axing the security guard in the car park? Since then it has become a lottery whether cars are in one piece when leaving the club, let alone issues of personal safety. Plenty is a wider societal issue but please bring the security guard back. Also agree with other comments re the food, especially the decision to scrap sandwiches. Some of the gym equipment looking very tired too.

Negative experience: I joined over a year ago. Nobody told me how difficult it would be to book courts to play. There are 12 indoor courts yet unless you wake up at 7.30 on the dot you cannot book anything for the week after. Dont let me fool you into thinking that by getting up at 7.30 you automatically get a court....NO by 3 seconds after 7.30 all indoor courts are gone. Apparently the majority of courts are given to coaches (somehow the same people still seem to get courts at the same time every week on the other courts though). Even during weekday working hours there are no courts. My car has been broken into twice whilst i was in the club. My Guest passes were taken away also. The food at the club is very poor : small portions at a inflated price. I am seriously considering leaving this club as i cant see value for money. I would happily pay and continue membership if I could actually play tennis.

Negative experience: Been a memeber for three years. Constant breakins into cars at car park. Lockers broken into and valubles stolen. Very difficult to book indoor courts in winter.

Negative experience: Unfortunately for the second time in the last 3 years, my car rear window was smashed and belongings (hidden from view) taken from my boot. There is a sense of unease at this club where theft from cars or lockers inside is becoming the norm. chiswick Riverside club is probably one of the most high profile in the virgin group and yet it makes no difference to membership security. Four theft incidents at this club in the last 6-7 years. No one is bothered. Managers pass it on to the police and police blame management for not protecting its members assets.

Negative experience: Security is a major issue . It seems to go in waves with the seasons but in recent weeks has been rife . Numerous cars have been broken into or windows smashed in both the car park advertised for members and the street right out front . Each tannoy announcement is a fear of dread of whose car has been broken into today . On top of that in recent weeks there has been some high value thefts from individuals lockers where you assume you’re possessions are safe . My concern as I have highlighted to the club previously is that if you say you are locked out of your locker to a member of staff they simply unlock it for you and walk off . On the odd occasion they may ask what’s inside but are satisfied with ‘a bag’ or ‘a coat’ and walk off . The criminals likely also know the contents of the locker having sought out which one to break into. Pros: Numerous courts , not always avaliable but a good selection and probably unbeaten within London at 12 indoor courts when taking cost and accessibility into account. Clean A good membership base and environment Cons Security Food options Gym now outdated with simple machines for stretching, stair master , lying down hamstring curl etc missing .

Negative experience: The big problem: Theft at the club is out of control. I personally had a bicycle stolen that was locked at the main entrance. Other members have had cars broken into, watches and phones etc stolen. Security and basic duty of care of the members does not seem to be a priority for the leadership at the Club. They need to sort this out asap or be held responsible for the situation. Pros: The facilities of the club are good. Members are friendly and have good tennis sessions. Tennis coaches are very good. Cons: Tennis court booking system is a nightmare to use and get courts for box league games. Food at the club is not great in quality or options.

Positive experience: Well designed spacious club in a peaceful riverside location ideal for relaxation as well as fitness activities.

Positive experience: Great location, great staff, lots of amenities Impossible to book an indoor court, pool closes because of staff shortages, can’t watch Grand Slam tennis because they don’t pay for cable?

Fantastic experience: Very nice Gym!

Fantastic experience: Marvellous

Negative experience: Gone down hill.

Negative experience: As a member I find it very strange that very little care is given to the safety of your members possessions. You have had a crime spree for over a year which involves cars in the car park being broken into regularity. Something then happened as members like me complained and you hired a security guard, yet today I counted 3 cars broken into at 645pm when I went to drive home and no security guard. Was the effort to save costs worth it ? The car park is being targeted and you don’t seem to care one bit, why ? Is this worth £690 per month ?

Negative experience: I was a member and they just took money for PT when I had cancelled it and I fought 3 months for a refund. Gym is ok nothing special, parking is a challenge.

Negative experience: I was about to join. No chance after reading the reviews. With membership and PT sessions, lost a lot of money from me. Seems like they would not care .

Fantastic experience: راقي

Fantastic experience: My second week is over and I am very satisfied. I would recommend it to anyone who is considering it. If you play tennis, I think this is one of the best places in the city (By the way, I'm not playing yet but I'll take lessons). The gym area is very large, spacious and generally not busy. The sauna and steam room, pools and jacuzzi are also very spacious and clean. The employees are very friendly and good people. I can say that I found it better than I expected. I would also like to thank Ms. Inas. (Ali K. OZ)

Negative experience: This place is so far from what you'd expect when paying their membership prices. You want a good example? Go to dukes meadows tennis & golf literally around the corner. They just invested over 200k in 5 fantastic indoor courts. Their outdoor piraglex courts are unreal, it's like playing on a cloud. Even king's tennis centre about 100m away has great out door courts with no cracks or bumps. Virgin Active is happy to take your money and sell you a beautiful picture but make 0 investment into the club or at least their tennis courts which is the main part of the club. Very disappointed in how I was treated after being a member for over 7 years. Now a happy member of David Lloyd's Acton, different level 100%. I could go on & on about this place but it's not even worth my time.

Positive experience: good but expensive

Negative experience: This club has great swimming pools - if only you could use them. They frequently close the outdoor pool on Saturday and Sunday mornings due to lack of lifeguards, and then you can't swim indoors as it is too crowded. What is odd is that none of the local council pools suffer this problem (yes, I checked with Pools on the Park, Chiswick New Pool and Brentford Fountains Leisure Centre and none of them has ever had to close a pool for even one session due to lack of lifeguards) which means that it is a management problem that Virgin Active is either oblivious to, or refusing to solve. With membership fees of near £3000 a year, it really is a problem that you feel the management could solve if they wanted to.

Negative experience: This is their flagship gym but we have just cancelled our family membership after 10+ years. Fees are £250+ per adult so you would expect something pretty high end. The location and site are amazing, but it feels like they are in a death spiral, where revenues are down, service is deteriorating, people are leaving as they are unhappy, so even less revenues, causing them to cut services more. Reasons for us cancelling include: - Classes are regularly cancelled last minute - They closed the kitchen for two weeks to change provider. New menus are expensive and pretentious and kids couldn't find anything they liked. Anything deemed unhealthy is now off limits. No diet coke for you - just raw juice shots. No potatoes in any form allowed, even for kids. Healthy options are great, but people should be able to choose - They changed the freeze policy to make it much more inflexible. We were on (paid) freeze a lot but that meant they were getting money each month for nothing, and we would regularly rejoin. Now they get nothing from us each month and we aren't going to pay rejoining fees. - The WiFi has been terrible for weeks with them constantly saying 'someone came last week but couldn't fix it'. At this level and expense that's simply not good enough. I don't get a mobile signal inside so I can't work from there severely reducing the number of visits I make - Teenage life guards are more interested in flirting than guarding lives - Constant billing problems (taking too much money, forgetting to put kids on freeze when adults on freeze etc) and their billing system and invoices are completely incomprehensible. I'm sure we have paid hundreds more than we should despite have many separate calls with the billing department - I was promised guest passes for recent billing mistakes by a manger but they haven't appeared despite repeated chasing - Some electronic readouts on machines in the gym have been broken for weeks - When we cancelled after 10+ years nobody seemed interested at all in understanding why If you are paying this amount of money you expect exceptional service, and what you actually get is over-priced pretentious food, rubbish WiFi, constant billing problems, limited flexibility on memberships and disinterested staff.

Positive experience: Great gym but needs serious updating. Looking run down now

Negative experience: 5 reasons why this club is in steep… 5 reasons why this club is in steep decline. (Member of the Virgin Riverside Club in Chiswick). 1) Broadband is incredibly slow and despite numerous complaints, not improved 2) They cancel classes in summer despite it being their premium club in network. I pay almost £400 a month for my wife and I and would expect them to find replacement instructors 3) Turn up for a class and there is no instructor present. 4) The food has degraded over the last few years. There are no healthy foods despite it being a gym. 5) when you make a complaint they either don't reply or palm you off with guest passes For their premium club, their head office needs to invest and not take customers for granted. I know for a fact that many other customers feel the same!

Negative experience: This club is, on the face of it, lovely and rich with facilities. However, lift the bonnet and it’s a decaying sprawl of land with skeletal staffing. £300 a month plus joining fee for a health club that’s dirty in the changing rooms, shuts early, has awful food and essentially 0 drink options. Awfully run. No care for its members. - who are a lovely set of people. Welcome to the 80’s should be this clubs strap line as that’s the era it represents. The staff that are present are wonderful, pleasant and attentive but are young and mainly short term which just adds to the clubs MO of 'maintain' and not 'improve'. Ball machines out of action for 2 years and the same set of balls in them for the last 3 - such a high priced club should offer more. Oh and the brilliant working lounge which has great views over the courts lacks Wifi....... the work lounge... does not have wifi... £300 a month.. Join the harbour club or Foxhills if you want value and a club trying to impress its members.

Negative experience: Very poor place go in fat come out fat like king Kong

Negative experience: The gym facilities, equipment and building are lovely but the organisation and communication can be really poor. I had my joining fee taken 4 times (an over payment of over £800) which took weeks (and many phonecalls and emails) to get returned. The gym manager doesn't answer any emails and seems to hide from phone calls. The staff say all the right things - but don't seem to take action. It isn't the type of customer service you would expect from such an expensive gym which is incredibly frustrating.

Positive experience: Great staff, grounds and tennis courts. A bit dated and expensive for what you get

Fantastic experience: Super

Fantastic experience: To our surprise the price for guests went up drastically but it was a great day over all there

Negative experience: The website states “pristine pool and spa facilities” - didn’t realise that unclean windows, limescale covered recliners, disgusting rotting grouting, rusted cornicing, filth on doors and shower floors all falls under the category of “pristine” it’s also 31 degree heat today and there is not a single parasol in the entire building (literally not one) let alone pool area. Reason is “being replaced”. Cool, are they replacing the cleaners too becuase that’s serious wanting too. It’s Understaffed everywhere so expect to wait in queues for anything that involves food/drink. And for a family you get to pay over £600 a month for these pleasures. It’s appalling value save your money and go to a better place.

Fantastic experience: Best gym ever

Fantastic experience: I practically live here!

Negative experience: I’ve had a membership here for quite a while and my previous rating was actually higher because I really enjoyed the club and the facilities offered. However this has quickly changed over the last two weeks. Whilst parking my vehicle in their car park, it was broken into. This is a recurring issue for their private car park and it has happened to other members aswell. Virgin active have done pretty much nothing to help this situation informing us on that night that neither us or the police would be able to access the footage for a minimum of 40 days so it could be sent off to their third party companies. We went there the day after being told the manager would be in however he wasn’t. We spoke with a duty manager who said they are doing everything they can ( I very much disagree ) and that it’s the owners risk to park their car their. I gave the suggestion that with the price members pay they could hire a security guard but was given the answer of “we’re not required to do that , we have cctv” they have cctv which will be looked at after something has occurred. There are no measures in place to actually prevent this happening considering it’s private land. I as well as others would expect there to be higher security when parking our cars there just like other places have high security. Since this incident they have not gotten in touch with us regarding the break in and we haven’t heard anything from them. It’s very obvious that they really just do not care. I cancelled my payment until this is sorted and they were quick to call me when they didn’t get their money. It’s a joke to be honest!

Negative experience: I’ve been a member for about two years now, recently, they have been having issues with vehicle break ins in their member car park however they are in denial to admit it. 2 weeks ago, my car along with 2 other vehicles were broken into on their property under their care. I and my partner was obviously upset and distressed as a sentimental bag was stolen. Virgin Active couldn’t care less about what happened and were not cooperating with me and the police with the handover of CCTV footage. They also weren’t going to broadcast the number plate of the other vehicle broken into for the owner to come down as their personal belongings were scattered across the road to avoid having a bad look. They made a very stressful and upsetting time even worse by telling me about all of their rubbish policies about why they can’t just handover the footage to the police, even the police said they were being difficult. Virgin Active and their management team do not care or value you and your belongings. They only care about how they look and that’s it. They told me to come back tomorrow as their manager would be in for me to speak to, I came in the next day and surprise surprise, the manager had already left and wasn’t at the club, even though they said he’d be in 7-7 am/pm. I spoke to their duty manager who said Virgin Active aren’t required to provide any form of security to their members, which I am aware of, but when members are paying £200+ a month per person, you’d expect them to at least value and protect their members. I think Virgin Active and this club in particular have forgotten that without their paying customers, they would be absolutely nothing and would cease to exist. They are forgetting that their customers are the backbone of their company. They do not care for us, hence I do not care about their ridiculous policies, procedures and definitely their worsening reputation. Don’t forget that there were locker break ins broadcasted on the news last year at Virgin Active Chiswick Park and Chiswick Riverside, and now there’s non stop vehicle break ins. Don’t make the mistake I did, don’t join! It’s not worth it! It’s a run down overrated club anyway. PS. One of the people who had their car broken into on the same day as me, had their car broken into twice in the same month at Virgin Active Chiswick Riverside.

Negative experience: Chiswick Riverside is a mess. It is extremely expensive for what it delivers and constantly makes bad decisions in its management. • All of the nets between the court are riddled with holes. • None of the outside courts are EVER cleaned properly. • The clay courts are the only ones that dry in time for outside usage after rain, because nobody sees fit to send out the cleaning machine to quickly suck up the wet. • The clay courts are now being taken away and replaced with Padel when there is a huge elephants graveyard area within the club that would have meant no loss of courts and surfaces. • The club has been weak and slow in leveraging the removal of the planters stopping cars accessing the club. It adds up to 30 minutes extra journey time. The council has just launched a huge bridge around the area which removes any need for traffic calming but the club seem not to care. It is so frustrating to see the flagship £300+ per month club rinse members for no services or attention to detail, when proper clubs like Queens, charge you less and maintain the club in a proper manner. Shame. Employ a fisherman for a few days and start repairing the nets. Ask members whether THEY want the club ruined by mis-management and take some action towards the council and at the very least.....keep it clean.

Positive experience: Nice and spacy place but!!! It’s too cold inside, especially in changing rooms. I feel very uncomfortable in my sports clothes when I don’t workout hard. The worse is that managers are not helping. If I need to book classes for myself or for my children I have to send a mail. This is too slow. I hope the management pay attention to this moments.

Negative experience: I recently visited the Virgin sports club, and I must say I'm quite disappointed with my experience there. Despite positioning themselves as a 5-star facility, they failed to provide decent internet access for their clients. Many customers, including myself, had to step outside to catch our mobile data while in the relaxation area, which is far from ideal. It's baffling that the owner, Branson, runs a technology company, Virgin Media, which is an internet service provider, yet their own sports club cannot offer adequate Wi-Fi coverage. The situation is even worse in the spa area, where there is no Wi-Fi at all, making it impossible for clients to read the news or browse the web during their leisure time. In this day and age, it's quite surprising that such a club fails to provide a basic necessity like a proper Wi-Fi connection. I hope they address this issue soon, as it significantly detracts from the overall experience at the facility.

Negative experience: I have been a member for more than 20 years. It used to be a very good club. Now it is really deteriorating. There are very few indoor courts available for members. The club is giving so many courts for coaches and classes to make more money. The quality of the indoor courts is deteriorating rapidly. Between cracks and bumps is very hard to play. I am afraid Virgin needs to invest more and soon. It is also becoming more and more difficult to book a tennis court if you want to play with your friends. The club always gives precedence to coaches since it is more profitable. At certain times all courts are taken and there is no availability for members to play with each other.

Fantastic experience: Beautifully clean, excellent customer service. I enjoyed a quiet swim in the morning. Delicious coffee in the large lounge area. Highly recommend!

Negative experience: Waste of money. Pay 250 a month for the tennis which you can never book and the club v which is always full. Club is often dirty and it's overall tatty. Staff generally v nice.

Negative experience: I’m a believer of praising in public and criticising in private . In this case, I’m reluctantly going public as there have been repeated failures ( a mess up that’s repeated) over the past couple of months. Club management have said sorry on all occasions but the failures have continued. I hope this will get attention of those at VA that can solve the issues! Recent issues; - a class full of members and no show of yoga teacher on Fridays two rows in a week. Reception / mgmt wasn’t aware that people had been waiting - being booked into tennis class only to be told after 5 mins on the court that I wasn’t on the instructors list! The instructors have different lists to the club? - previous ones ( last year) have included lifeguards shouting at children and inconsistent communication about club policies and repeated instructor no shows at yoga All instructors at the club are lovely and diligent so if I was to guess it’s an operational/ scheduling and management issue. Disappointedly, they don’t seem to care. So why am I still here? Actively looking for an alternative.

Fantastic experience: Great gym

Fantastic experience: Friendly staff and very nice facilities.

Fantastic experience: Great indoor and outdoor tennis courts, lovely tennis coaches and good mix of players at all levels. Lovely indoor and outdoor pools, well equipped gym and very helpful staff!

Positive experience: Has great potential to be a really great facility but it’s looking a little tired now - gym equipment needs a bit of an update given the premium prices here!

Fantastic experience: Love it

Negative experience: Totally agree with previous reviews of dire communications, cancelled /late classes, mediocre facilities, and management staff who are polite but really don’t seem to care. Only thing that has kept me there in the past is the great instructors.

Fantastic experience: The club is great in many ways, but there are some issue at odds with the premium price it charges. The club has 4 great swimming pools, 2 outdoors and 2 indoors. Unfortunately during the weekend only two are available at any given time because of “staffing issues”. Unbelievably the indoors kids pool is mostly closed on Sunday morning, one of the few opportunities for kids to enjoy the pool. This has been going on since covid and it’s not improving despite people clearly being unhappy about it. If you are considering joining make sure to ask about the actual availability of the pools. Update Nov 22: the resource issues seem now to be resolved and the club is back to fully functioning.

Negative experience: Sadly this place has gone downhill. The reception staff are lovely but the facilities are poorly maintained. The team there is understaffed with pools often closed due to staffing shortages. Not to mention the spa are completely closed off for the last 2 weeks and looking like the next 2 weeks with no communication to members. And yo boot they have decided to increase prices its a bit of a joke really. I can no longer recommend this place and am taking some time to check out other places due to lack of communication. Edit 16/10/2022 : apparently is fixed. Wasn't notified but went in. Was lied to by the reception saying it was only down for 2 weeks and was open after 1 day from the leak. Complete bs. Was told they planned the closure to replace it and no compensation would be considered. Disgusting. Lies and lies. Don't waste your money here

Negative experience: If you are thinking of joining, please read these reviews and save yourself a hell of lot of time and money. I will most likely get a reply on here (to save face), but when you're a member you can't get anyone to help or listen to anything you say or suggest. The mangement here are abysmal. You have to repeatedly send emails just to (eventually) get a half baked response. This place could be amazing, but the staff don't care. A shabby run down venue, no pre 9 am fitness classes apart from refrom pilates, expensive (£250.00 per month), pushy personal trainers, dated scruffy changing rooms, dated showers, litter left all around the pool in the summer, basic food facilities. They even have the aircon on higher than it should be to save money it seems. This sums the place up really; they are obviously struggling to make money, so everything is budget driven. Not what you want from a "luxury" gym and club.