Nuffield Health Manchester (Printworks) Fitness & Wellbeing Gym

Negative experience: Decided to try this gym out after reviewing manager feedback on negative posts on here akin to “come try us out again, we’ve changed”. This is the 4th Nuffield I’ve been a member of and unfortunately the worst. While the quality has gone down across the board likely due to head office cutbacks, this gym just fails on points that others don’t: -The men’s locker room is outdated with broken lockers, tight locks the need oiling and an outdated look. The shorts dryer is broken. -The machinery and weights feel outdated. -The key card entrance is poorly functioning. You have to swipe and then wait for the light to flash red (because red is the colour for go apparently). I failed this twice and the staff were condescending both times. Didn’t really appreciate that. It’s not like they attempted to show me on my first visit either. -The steam room should be renamed to minor condensation room. There’s no steam. The biggest plus this gym has is the sauna. Right now I’m staying for that until I can find another gym with a sauna at a similar price point. Happy to change my review in the future when things improve (if I’m still a member by then).

Negative experience: Overpriced for what it is and some really rude staff. As you can see from their response to reviews, they say they value positive and negative feedback yet most of the time only respond to those who give 5/5! They don't value their customers or treat them with any respect.

Fantastic experience: Nice club, plenty of member perks and great location.

Fantastic experience: the lady at the front desk with blond hair was very helpful and friendly

Fantastic experience: Im 68,Joined in August. ..Great Atmosphere Friendly Members..Staff that are Welcoming...Reccommend a Visit

Negative experience: This gym could be the best in Central Manchester. The space itself is clean and modern, however a lot the equipment is old and tired. I was a member of this gym in 2003 when it was Holmes Place, and the then new equipment is the same that is being used nearly 23 years later. The steam room and pool side are great for a city centre gym, and while the showers have been renovated recently, the rest of the changing room is looking a little tired after 23 years. There are now very few health clubs Manchester offering all of the facilities that Nuffield offer, and they could really stand out if they were to invest a little more in this great space.

Fantastic experience: Becky and Colin were great, I am a member down south but was traveling for work so popped in for a session and was very pleased by the staff and facilities.

Fantastic experience: Overall I think the gym is well equipped and will cover all the basic needs and should be more than suitable for most. Some of the equipment is aged but it pretty much always in working condition and repairs seem to happen quickly. The best thing about the gym for me is the sauna, it’s an always set at respectable 80C and never seems to be overfull I’ve seen a lot mixed reviews for the gym and I pay for the gym at a reduced rate through a perk at work so I maybe I would have a differ perspective if I paid the full price.

Fantastic experience: Spotlessly clean, friendly staff and great personal trainers

Positive experience: Large gym inside a mall. Equipments are fine but need a bit updates. Bring your own towel and they have a pool and some co-Ed sauna

Fantastic experience: I used to be a member at David Lloyd and switched to Nuffield Health when the fees became way too expensive. I would say you get what you pay for in terms of the gym equipment, pool and general customer service (they don’t have towels available here, not even to rent?) but the classes at Nuffield Health are a thousand times better!! In the five years I’ve done gym classes I’ve never found a more engaging, positive and encouraging instructor as Matty Vasquez that I just had to write a review. He pushes everyone in the class to work harder but within their own limits and with no pressure! Thanks again, will definitely be back!

Negative experience: A horrible support and membership team. Avoid by all means.

Negative experience: Very disappointed after booked to give a try and the staffs were really disrespectful.

Positive experience: Great experience today. Thank you to Marian and the rest of the friendly staff for being accommodating today. The gym like most of the Nuffield gyms do need an upgrade/ update in terms of infrastructure. However the friendly manner and welcoming aspect of this gym in Manchester up for it today.

Negative experience: Do not join this gym unless you want to be locked into a long contract you can't get out of! Also they will increase the fees and it's not worth it at all. Use Bannatyne's if you want pool access or anywhere else for weights.

Fantastic experience: Great gym. Maybe a little more dated than other places but the pool/ sauna / steam make up for it. Nice mixture of friendly members (not clicky) and the staff are amazing !

Negative experience: I had a physio booked with Nuffield for my sciatica pain, it was 1st session and I was not examined even when I said I have pain in my leg, the session was booked for 45 mins and in 20 mins I was asked to leave. It was very weird and I did not like the experience, would never recommend it to anyone.

Negative experience: The gym is large but like a maze, with lots of small areas separated off and not well signed so it's hard to find your way around. Despite telling the receptionist it was my first time visiting and asking where to go, there was no offer of a quick tour or explanation of where everything was. There is a variety of equipment in the gym including free weights, weight machines, and cardio machines, of which the majority look very old - this would not normally bother me except that they were all very crusty and dirty, with splash marks on the screens, dirt built up on the buttons, and all quite dusty. Half of the cardio machines were cordoned off to save energy. The pool was in better shape and seemed cleaner and well maintained. The sauna and steam room were clean-ish but also quite old and worn. The changing rooms were fairly clean but again a bit of a maze, with the entrance to the pool not signposted at all, and lots of small areas that were confusing to navigate. Facilities are all very tired and old, many lockers are out of order and generally just isn’t well maintained at all. A shame as the venue is an accessible location in the city but l didn't feel welcomed or particularly relaxed during my visit, so won't be returning.

Fantastic experience: Excellent and friendly customer service from Oliviera and great to see Colin again after 10 years. Nice gym facilities, decent size swimming pool and decent range of power showers. Highly recommend. Happy New Year! Cheers

Negative experience: What the hells happened to this place?? I remember when virgin owned it. State of the art it was. Everything was working. Actually felt decent coming to the gym. Baffles me now most machines have been turned off “to conserve energy” or machines not working. It actually feels like you’re at a construction site. Best part is they still charge you full price.

Negative experience: Terrible value for money. The facilities are okay, nothing to justify the £50+ in membership fees… Really cannot fathom why people pay the price here, most lockers are either damaged or missing components, there’s a reasonable amount of equipment but not a massive variety available, it’s rather a small gym given the price. Majority of treadmills are turned off during the day to conserve energy and the spa has been shut completely. These are both understandable given the expense, but surely the membership fees should reflect this also? Again, I don’t think actually think this gym is bad per-say, but the amount of money they charge is outrageous, it’s a £30 gym at absolute best. Honestly, look elsewhere, it’s a rip-off. (I moved here from my home gym in Hull which was £36)

Negative experience: Im a nuffield member of didsbury, but came here today, and was so disappointed. 1. Old cardio machines 2. Lot’s of padlocked lockers with hardly anyone at the gym (weird). 3, lack of vibe, it seemed so downbeat, no music etc seemed very dark & dingy like a gym from the 70s or 80s. I think this place seriously needs a massive refurb & quick!

Positive experience: Overall its a really well stocked gym. Staff are friendly and the place seems relatively clean. I was surprised to see the state of the machines, they need maintenance if not replacing.

Positive experience: I’m serious need of refurbishing

Fantastic experience: Rhona was amazing at assisting and providing all the info. Great service and very kind

Negative experience: I signed up in Feb and won’t be renewing my membership unless things change. The facilities are shocking - dirty, patched together with tape, toilets / pools / changing areas closed for prolonged periods. What’s happening Nuffield? Why can’t you change this?

Negative experience: Not worth the money !! Always has issues. Every week there is issues with hot water and the jacuzzi has been not in service for over 6 months.

Negative experience: I paid for a monthly pass via Classpass but when I got there, the swimming pool was closed for emergency maintenance. It's been closed ever since. Classpass have said they do not give refunds.

Negative experience: This gym and every other Nuffield health gym has constantly got things wrong with it. Most recently I got stuck in the lift here for 3 hours and received not even a sorry message afterwards (they had all our details) - tried to discuss this with my home gym at parrs wood but they seem incapable of responding to emails and fob you off at every opportunity. On top of this, the gym is small and equipment is old, could be much cleaner and a few weeks ago the water machine near the pool was feeding out white water for drinking, which is worrying. Don’t bother, plenty of other better gyms in the area

Negative experience: Unfortunately I have seen this gym deteriorate quite fast over the past year. Especially over the past couple of months. The pool has been closed regularly for extended periods and the spa pool is not reopening despite the initial closure being advertised as ‘temporary’. The gym equipment is old and needs upgrading. There are leaks coming from the ceiling in the changing room and shower areas. Despite all this membership fees have been increased further.

Negative experience: Closure of sauna, steam room and pool increasingly common. No compensation ever offered for loss of facilities. Seems only a matter of time until they close them permanently as a cost cutting exercise as they did with the spa pool. Ridiculously they then tried to claim it would help them reach carbon neutral.

Negative experience: How can this gym remain open....for months members are still charged full price for worsening issues with facilities and equipment that is out of use due to the increase in energy costs. I just need to state that this has nothing to do with the staff that work in this gym. This has to be an issue with the head office. But the current state of the gym this morning is a health hazard. The pictures don't do the situation justice, with water pouring out of the ceiling and the showers (still open for use!) with building repairs taking place. Think about your members that use the gym and the staff working on this site! It's an absolute mess.

Fantastic experience: Good facilities and friendly staff

Negative experience: The membership is very expensive for what you get. From the time I joined until my last month, the facilities went from being acceptable to completely unusable. Personally, I joined because the pool and hot tub facilities seemed like an amazing way to relax after a long work week. In addition to the usual gym equipment for general fitness, £51.00 didn't seem too expensive at the time. Unfortunately, the reality is that gym equipment usually stays broken for several months. They have permanently closed the hot tub, and occasionally close the pool for energy-saving purposes. Due to the lack of general gym equipment, it can be hard to work out on certain busy days. I advise you to look elsewhere for a cheaper membership. You can find nearby gyms with pools and hot tubs for 40% cheaper. If you're only interested in working out, the cheapest nearby gyms are around £15.00. Don't waste your money on this gym; you'll be locked into a one-year contract as the quality deteriorates.

Negative experience: The worst gym I’ve ever been to. The equipment is outdated, always broken. The changing rooms are full of junk, no locking component, dirty floors. The staff are rude and uncaring. Nothing is ever fixed or improved. The gym charge full price for not all facilities to be accessed, the latest being that they’ll charge full price for a membership without access to a jacuzzi. They save the energy costs but still charge us full price. They also put out of order signs to stop people using cardio equipment to save themselves energy costs. There’s no working air conditioning, the equipment is ancient, the classes are few and far between and they regularly get cancelled with no notice 5 minutes before the class is due to start. All the walls are filthy, dented, broken. I raised issues of broken lightbulbs flashing giving people headaches and posing a danger to epileptics but the manager clearly didn’t think it was important enough to fix. The cable machines have weight stickers that are not readable. I’d avoid at all costs I’ve had cheapo gyms better than this

Negative experience: Theres a foul smell coming from the men's toilets that gets worse day by day Cracked tiles everywhere, mould, a large amount of lockers broken, shower doors give little to no privacy, the walk from the men's showers to the pool is always water logged, The spa pool has been closed for months now with no adjustment in fees. The pool was closed for a month and we were offered a free coffee, I would rather have had that month refunded but was told that's not possible. When they did finally get the pool fixed it was broke again and was like swimming in the bath it was that hot. There's 2 girls that work on reception that are very pleasant and 2 maintenance lads that are pleasant. Can't say much about the rest. There is better gyms in manchester for the same money

Fantastic experience: I love this gym, it’s in an excellent location and has an energetic atmosphere. The staff are always friendly and there is a wide range of facilities to use. I especially enjoy the group dance classes and the steam room. Definitely recommend getting a gym pass! 10/10

Fantastic experience: Health service discount makes this gym very good value for money. The staff at this gym are what make it. Always a friendly welcome at reception and great trainers with a particular shout out for Dan & Jarrod. Pool also great - shame about the jacuzzi closure but fully justified to keep costs (and membership) prices down.

Positive experience: Excellent gym in the city centre. Has sauna, steam room, and swimming pool. Friendly staff and membership is not that bad. £46 corporate and £51 normal membership price. It can get a bit busy at times. Is a techno gym.

Negative experience: Pool a chilly 25 degrees today, it's been this temperature for a while now. No explanation from the management or information as to whether it is going to improve.

Negative experience: Membership is very expensive for what you get. Mine is the Printworks in Manchester. Only access is via 2 lifts, and for 6 out of my 9 months of membership one has always been broken. Entrance way looks clean and modern, and that's where it stops. As soon as you get into the changing rooms, a lot of the lockers just don't close properly. And in general it looks like it belongs in a museum for depressing 80's changing rooms. In my time there, which includes during phased lifting of covid restrictions, there has not been a single working sink in the mens room by the pool to wash your hands. A couple of visits ago I discovered the one toilet in there also does not flush any more. The water fountain has so little pressure it doesn't crest over the spout. Which is both disgusting and means it takes 5 solid minutes to fill a water bottle if you're desperate enough. For about a month a little while ago the pool heater was broken down entirely. The wall in the mens changing room has recently started crumbling in on itself, a bunch of the tiles have broken and fallen off, and now there is duct tape holding the remaining ones in place. Most of the shower doors do not close properly and some are hanging poorly off their hinges. A few weeks ago there was no hot water at all for 2 days. And now they've shut down the spa pool for 6 months with no notice. No adjustment of membership for this, or for any of the currently or previously unusable facilities. Oh but they'll let you freeze your membership for 6 months as compensation. Yea great thanks, so I'm out of the facilities I joined for, and yet I'm still locked into a contract. No clear way to complain or talk to anyone about it any of it, you just get given "we're sorry for any inconvenience" by someone with no responsibility. Which would be fine, but stopped being acceptable several months ago. Because it's amazing how in just 9 months of membership, it's gone from rough around the edges, to a complete hole specialising in daylight robbery. I didn't mind parts of it being rough around the edges when I first joined, it had the main things I was looking for. But they have either outright removed those facilities since, or neglected them into an unusable state. The place is run on a shoe string, but the membership fees are very high. Zero effort is made to maintain anything, it just gets worse over time. As soon as I have the option I will be leaving and going elsewhere in the city centre. Where the facilities are clean, modern, functional, and it costs 40% less. I've already chosen where I'll be going. I suggest you do the same.

Negative experience: Sneaky company who will sign you up on a membership plan promising personal trainers or through gym pass and will then hike the price up.

Negative experience: DO NOT JOIN CLOSING JACUZZI AREA AFTER PUTTING UP FEES .OLD EQUIPMENT. SHAME AS STAFF ARE GOOD. A CHARITY MY A#S

Fantastic experience: Facilities are great, and always clean. Staff are lovely. Sign-up was super easy and friendly - thanks, Harry :)

Positive experience: I love this gym. Conveniently located at the Printworks in the city centre. Across the road from Manchester Victoria Train station and close to my office. Great facilities and staff.

Positive experience: Best thing about this gym is the staff, friendly and welcoming. Gym facilities are good and clean but not as good as Bolton, Didsbury or Preston, nor is it better then total fitness in Wimslow. 1 week in to my membership, a member accused me of stealing towels :/, which led to accusations of also stealing phones and wallets at a time I wasn’t even a member. Situation was resolved once management was involved. However it is a nasty accusation. The members at this gym are the reason to avoid it, I’m signed up at Printworks but spend more time at the Bolton Nuffield gym since it has a dedicated car park for the gym.

Fantastic experience: Doesn't get very full, which I like. Staff are decent.

Fantastic experience: Attended last week for a Royal Marine fitness test. Dan was top and all staff made an effort to say hello. Really welcoming. Enough to write my first review ever.

Fantastic experience: Great pool and love the fact needs to be booked in advance through the app

Negative experience: Physiotherapist was friendly and informative but didn't really get much for £65.

Fantastic experience: Great place. Friendly staff always a welcoming smile. They acknowledge all of their customers, when they enter and exit. Covid safe, markings very clear. Big Studio, great for class with limited numbers of people.

Fantastic experience: Superb city-centre gym with a variety of classes every day, 20m pool (the only one I know of in the city centre) with spa pool, sauna & steam rooms. Lovely staff and personal trainers! On-site physiotherapy too! I wouldn't want to be a member anywhere else.

Fantastic experience: Great gym with plenty of facilities and classes, friendly supportive staff. And the Pilates Class on Wed/Thu, by the very approachable and knowledgeable, Beatriz, is a really fabulous way to keep your body supple and maintained! I have been going to the gym since 2008 :-)

Negative experience: Excellent inside, and the staff are great and friendly. The company Nuffield Health though gets the 1 star. I wanted to cancel my membership for a few months while I'm traveling, but found out you need to give a full months notice, so if you cancel on the 2nd day of a month, you are stuck in the contract until the end of the following month. Only reason for that policy is greed. So I won't be rejoining, shame because it's a good gym. We need more privately run gyms so these big companies don't take over everywhere with their corporate greed like this one, or with their basic boring budget gyms like The Gym and Pure

Fantastic experience: Clean, spacious, friendly staff and experienced trainers. Really good value considering it's right in the city centre.

Positive experience: A good gym but wildly overpriced for what it is. During evenings and weekends you frequently have to wait to use equipment, which considering the rates you are paying is not good.

Negative experience: PLEASE AVOIDE AT ALL COSTS. Went here for on guest pass to try out the gym. Was provided a lock my member of staff, Had my wallet, headphones and phone stollen. been told that they will not compensate. A member of the gym said he had his shoes stolen last week. very poor customer service

Positive experience: Visited the gym many times with hussle pass alone and with beautiful lady company. The staff is super nice. The gym is well equipped and clean. The spa is so enjoyable after a hard training. Areas of improvement: changing room. Highly recommended. For me also addictive

Positive experience: As gyms go, I have limited experience but what I can tell you is this gym is one of the better ones I've used in Manchester. Despite being in the Manchester Printworks, the environment inside Nuffield is pleasant, the equipment isn't rammed together and the staff are friendly and seem to genuinely care about what they do. I do wish they had more than one piece of particular equipment as some are particularly popular but it's a small gripe as there are other pieces of equipment you can use while you wait. The 20 metre pool is excellent and I have never seen it saturated with people. The hot tub is nice and spacious and the changing rooms and showers are excellent. I have only used the steam room once and there's lots of space, at least in the men's room. Yes, the price is among the highest but you get a lot more for your money if you use it. Make sure to check if you can get discounts before you sign up. They have many corporate discounts and NHS staff get 10% off too. Also if you're signing up with your partner you might be eligible for a couples discount. Try a trial and see how you feel!

Positive experience: Nice and professional staff. Great wellness area, especially the steam room. Would be even better if there's a major overhaul to the equipment and lockers.

Negative experience: Outdated and dirty gym and staff clearly doesnt care about repairing anything. The only good thing is the wellness area and the steam room. For gym equipments its way too busy at peak times however the wellness area is fine.

Positive experience: I went to Nuffield on a guest day pass. The pass is valid for a week which is good. Only used the jacuzzi, sauna and steam which were fine. Pool is not very big - not sure how good value the facilities are if you are a member...the place seemed a bit dated.

Negative experience: Over priced for the facilities, was charged when I was supposed to get the first month free and was promised a refund on the 30th of November its now the 16th of December and still not a word, called to ask and been in to ask about it and no one had logged it as a refund or even the issues I was having. Will see out the month and will then be leaving due to s**t service. AVOID

Positive experience: Really like the gym and pool. The only thing was quite high price.

Negative experience: Facilities decent enough although not had much investment in new machines for a long while. Pool is superb and was a happy member there for 9 months until Nuffield start offering free 1 week trials and cheap day passes via the PayAsUGym website resulting in the pool being full of day visitors and fraternising couples, annoying when you paid £46 a month for a previously members only club and now effectively a public leisure centre open to all for a ridiculously low day pass price. Simply not worth the money anymore!!! Complained but management just will not listen. Ended my membership and going elsewhere.

Fantastic experience: I've only try for one day because I was in journey at Manchester. But the gym was perfect !! A really good personal with smile, who explain to us how work the gym because it's very big ! The equipments are good quality. I recommended it !! Ps : I saw many reviews concerning the price. I check it on his website and I don't find it expensive for all the equipments, there is a swimming pool !

Negative experience: Rude and unprofessional stuff, I am not subscribing because of that, you just don't want the gym to be nice, you also want professional stuff. They also gave me as change the old 10£! unacceptable behavior!

Negative experience: Unfortunately, this once excellent gym is falling apart bit by bit. It is currently the hottest few days of the year so far and the air conditioning, which has not worked for the best part of the last three years, is still broken. Either that, or Nuffield refuse to turn it on. The gym staff have placed a small number of electric fans in each room, which makes no difference whatsoever to the stifling heat when you are not near one of them. I would estimate the temperature to be close to 30 degrees centigrade, if not more. It is dangerous, uncomfortable and displays a serious lack of care and attention by the staff and of Nuffield to its members. Judging by the other recent reviews, I’m not the only one considering cancelling my membership there, which is a shame because I’ve been a member for more than ten years under a number of gym companies that have operated there.

Negative experience: Not terrible but not worth the high membership price. The pool is a good size, clean, and in the evenings you usually get your own lane. Average selection of machines but it's a relatively small gym so space for them is limited. Had three Health MOTs which were half as long as advertised on their website, and two of them I didn't get all the results because their equipment didn't work. One of the three rowing machines didn't work properly for months. Some staff were helpful and friendly, some seemed completely uninterested. I was put off from using the pool because twenty minutes (sometimes more) before it closed, the staff would start closing it, putting pressure on you to get out. I told a manager but evidently nothing was done about it as it happened several more times before I stopped going altogether. There's more I could say but overall I wouldn't recommend this gym.

Negative experience: absolutely horrendous people there. some staff very rude and other issues of cleaning as well.

Positive experience: Very Expensive for students

Positive experience: Good gym

Positive experience: I am giving this an average rating because I find the gym over priced for the facilities they have, compared to other gyms in centre which are a third of the monthly price. Fair enough there is a swimming pool, but in terms of resistance machines and free weights there is not quite a full selection. A lot of the equipment is old and tatty. Positives are the friendly staff (mostly but not always) and there being a large number of larger lockers which are good for office workers in suits, as many of the other budget gyms in the centre are low on large lockers.

Fantastic experience: Great location, great gym

Negative experience: Unprofessional staff, ignorance behavior

Fantastic experience: Nuffield health print works is one of the best gym ever,all the employees are friendly and hard working.nice people beautiful place I love it.

Fantastic experience: Lots of new equipment recently. Very good for a city centre gym.

Positive experience: Nice place, good location, great staff

Fantastic experience: This place has been great for me. The little Nuffield Health gym at my place of work was a springboard for me from never having been inside a gym before to my current regime of 4 times a week at the gym in the Printworks (4 st lighter too!). The staff are great, always make sure I see the same coach when I reassess my workout regime, and know me by name now. It's handy, ideally located, and has everything I need and more. It's also a hub of social activity. I've made friends here, and we now go for meals and drinks together, which is something that never thought would happen when I started off trying to lose a bit of weight. The prices have continued as they were before the transfer (which I wonder about, as the old price included reciprocal use of other Virgin Active gyms, which is no longer in place). Otherwise, I'm very happy here and would certainly recommend this gym to anyone in that part of the city centre.