Fitness First UK Reviews 

I’m sharing this to warn other Fitness First members about my experience with “Nas Fitness” a PT trainer operating at the Liverpool Street branch. (real name Nahome Atakilti Gebru).

I paid Nas £300 upfront in June 2025 for personal training sessions. No sessions were delivered. There was no contract, no invoice, and no mention of a non-refundable policy before payment.

When I decided not to proceed and asked for a refund, Nas refused. When I calmly approached him at the gym to discuss it, he got defensive and walked away instead of speaking to me.

After two months of chasing, we went to formal mediation. Nas admitted he would only return my money if I issued a public apology — because I had “embarrassed him” in front of a client by asking about my refund.

In other words: he is holding my £300 hostage to protect his pride.

I raised this with two Fitness First managers. Nothing was done. I emailed head office twice. No response. Fitness First has completely failed to step in, despite one of their trainers taking money for services never provided.

I’ve now escalated the case to the Small Claims Court. My only proof of payment is my bank statement, because Nas never issued an invoice — which raises serious questions about how these payments are handled.

I want other members to protect themselves. If you choose to work with Nas Fitness, get everything in writing, demand an invoice, and know your rights.

This has been a stressful, exhausting process — and Fitness First’s silence makes it worse.

About the London Bridge branch: smiling customer agents, but poor when it comes to actually addressing issues.

Also, the gym is refurbishing showers in the changing rooms and the management decided to swap changing rooms between men/women so that women can access showers. So men have no possibility to shower when the refurbishment is taking place in the women’s changing room. This is after ongoing disturbances where men had only access to 5 showers while the rest was being refurbished. Shame and poor judgement.

Gemma was super helpful without being pushy. And very patient. It was also very easy to renew my membership.

Gym Group Review: A Decade of Membership, Ruined by a Terrible Playlist

After over 10 years as a loyal member of The Gym Group, I’ve reached my breaking point—not because of the facilities or the staff, who are consistently superb, but because of the mind-numbing, soul-destroying playlist that plays on an endless, depressing loop across every branch.

Every single session is now accompanied by the same five tracks, repeated ad nauseam, sucking the motivation out of my workouts. What should be an energising environment feels more like a musical torture chamber, and it’s clear this is a cost-cutting decision from head office with no regard for member experience.

The staff do their best to keep this sinking ship afloat, but their hands are tied by poor management decisions. If you’re thinking of joining, look elsewhere—unless you enjoy having your will to live slowly drained by the same awful songs, day after day, with no escape.

Zero stars for head office. Five stars for the frontline staff who deserve better.

I had a very disappointing experience with Fitness First London Bridge. The management and customer service are extremely poor, particularly when it comes to dealing with members who face medical issues. Rather than showing understanding or flexibility, the focus seems to be solely on money – especially if you have already paid upfront.

Once payment is taken, the willingness to support or accommodate customers drastically declines. The complaints procedure is also ineffective and feels more like a way of deflecting responsibility rather than resolving genuine concerns.

For anyone considering joining, I strongly advise against paying for membership upfront. The lack of care for customer wellbeing, combined with poor management practices, makes this gym one I would not recommend.

Over two weeks ago, I reported an incident of intimidation in the weights section of the gym floor at the Streatham branch, to three different members of staff, on two separate occasions & as a consequence, I requested a call from the manager, Natalia.

However, despite discovering that the aggressor is known to the staff, I have received no response, nor any acknowledgement that the message has been received by Natalia (despite the fact that I was told that she went on holiday 2 days after I left my message!).

This lack of response is unacceptable and unsafe. The aggressor’s exact words to me when I told him, that it's because of men like him that some women are intimated to work out in the weights section of the gym were, “I don’t give a fck*!”.

The complete absence of staff on the gym floor means this type of conduct goes unchecked.

In addition, the toilets are often dirty & the soap dispensers empty (post-COVID, this is inexcusable!) & some cubicles without toilet paper. From past experience, I choose to go home & shower, so I have idea whether things have approved there.

The spin room's air-conditioning is non-existent. On my last visit (1 day ago), we were sweating before the class had even begun - It was excruciatingly hot!

On asking friends & other members, most have no idea what the manager looks like, as apparently she's gone by 6pm, which means that those of us who work, have never seen her.

I returned to Fitness First Streatham eight weeks ago, after a four-year absence due to illness and have found that standards have declined further.

Member safety, hygiene, and staff presence need to be urgently addressed & made a priority!

Janni and Amani personal trainers in Fitness First London stole the Manhattan
innocent woman BILYANA STOEVA’s identity and sold it to the whole company they took loans and credit cards on her name in US, UK, Spain, Bulgaria and the whole World with Sandra Radav and whole Serbia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Zoran and Goran Tot, the Lithuanian gypsies that have killed people from Utah, US and stole their identities and use the names now Steven Cook, Jacob Hutton, Roberta and Frank Cook, Martyn Ford, Miroslava Doycheva from village Irechekovo, Bulgaria, her crazy husband Dimitar Stoyanov Stoev! STOP THEM ONCE AND FOR ALL COMPENSATE BILYANA at least few billions!
This is her international bank account: IBAN
ES54 1465 0100 91 1766046048
BIC
INGDESMMXXX

It was a good gym before never had a problem with them regarding membership I was able to cancel any time and join anytime but now be careful before join they started extortionate the customers its a very expensive gym for students like me. I have joined it with half price promotion but now they are asking me cancellation fee. There is no gym who is asking cancellation fee anymore. Never recommend fitness first to anyone. It's not worth £65 a month with such a horrible customer service plus they have such a small area.

Good facilities at Fitness First at the Cottons, pleasant and friendly staff too. Not too expensive by London standards either. However, I’m a member mainly for the pool and the four lane pool is now spoilt by always being at reduced capacity to accommodate self-employed swimming instructors who are permitted to pay to block off a lane for swimming lessons at the expense of members at all times including peak lunchtimes, mornings, evenings, weekends, bank holidays no escape from them and it badly contributes to overcrowding. My only other gripe is poor aircon in the cardio area - which is always clammy.

I recently renewed my contract, Gemma was lovely and an amazing help, thank you very much!

I've been training at Fitness First Bedford for one week and overall, it's been a good experience. The facilities are excellent—everything is well maintained, clean, and the equipment is modern and in great condition. One of the highlights for me is the swimming pool, sauna, and changing rooms, which are all very well kept and add a nice touch of comfort to the experience.

The space is generous, and even during peak hours, it never feels overcrowded, which makes workouts much more enjoyable. I also appreciated the physical assessment included with the membership—it’s thorough and really helps you plan your fitness journey effectively from the start.

However, there are a couple of areas that could be improved. Communication via email is not very efficient—despite being listed as a contact method, responses are slow or sometimes absent. That said, calling the gym directly works much better, and the staff are friendly and helpful when you speak to them.

Another issue was with the towel policy. The website states that members are entitled to one towel per visit, but I was told on my first day that this doesn't apply to the Bedford location. This discrepancy wasn’t mentioned online, which was disappointing.

Overall, Fitness First Bedford is a great gym with top-notch facilities and a welcoming atmosphere. Just be aware of the minor communication hiccups and towel policy if this is important to you as it was for me.

BASINGSTOKE Good gym but the turnover of staff speaks volumes about the company. I was a member here for 9 years at £37 a month. They lapsed my membership in December 2024. Not allowed to use the gym until they got back to me which they did in January 2025 and they said as your membership has been lapsed for so long we cant honour your £37 a month as all your details have gone. When i went to rejoin all my details was on the system and my key fob with membership number still worked. I decided i cant do business with a desperate company that lies to you. So i did a temporary membership and have now joined the new gym Jetts in the Chineham center for £31 a month open 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Fitness first was so desperate for an extra £13 a month they have now lost my membership all together. Seems to me they are desperate liars.

I can't cancel my membership. I signed up to the club at Thomas Moore sq in the beginning of the year, but before that I explained to them that I would move out of the neighbourhood in a few months to a place without a Fitness First club. They answered that it would not be a problem, I would be able to cancel in the app with no cancellation fee just by providing a proof of the new address.

Now I have moved, the app does not have an option to cancel without a fee, even if you choose "Relocation". I went back to the club to complain, and they just told me there was nothing they could to and gave me an email of membership services to complain. I've sent the email but there is no answer. There is no number to call and the club insists there is nothing they can do for me.

Appreciate help and support from Gemma. Looking forward to more workouts with Fitness First

Great gym, the whole process of joining is really easy and detailed. Get a good understanding of all facilities with all staff being really friendly. Would highly recommend.

Great experience at the actual gym until cancellation. Customer support was just horrendous. It's really unfortunate how a poor experience on the way out the door can ruin an entire experience with a company. They refused to respond to enquiries (including ones sent to my home gym), and then said I had cancelled too late even though they were the ones that took ages to respond. Really sad that it ended on such a negative note.

Friendly staff great facilities only 1 concern regarding steam room feel there should be at least 2 alarm call buttons inside as if alone and a medical emergency occurs there is no way to alert staff

Head Office procedures and process, particularly complaints need a major overhaul as they have zero interest in engaging with their clients. They have effectively called me and my mum liars and repeatedly state the same thing over and over again. The only reason this review has 2 stars is because the staff member at Basingstoke did everything he could but for some reason Head Office does not empower their gym managers. Given that there are 3 new gyms imminently opening in Basingstoke, you would think they want to engage but the 'Membership Services person ( who apparently is also the complaints person) was was rude, patronising and clearly had no training in this field

Great gym, extensive amount of equipment and excellent facilities (showers, sauna, spin room). The space is huge and it never feels busy. Whatever equipment you want to use, it's always available. Also great customer service, always helpful and quick to respond.

I signed up for a 12-month contract with Fitness First and was initially hopeful about using the gym regularly. Unfortunately, I had a very uncomfortable experience: as I was leaving one day, a staff member said goodbye, and then another person (possibly also staff) made a comment I couldn’t fully hear, but it ended with a remark about gay guys, followed by laughter by a group of people including the FF employees.

Whether or not the comment was aimed at me, the tone made me feel extremely unwelcome and unsafe in a space that should be inclusive and respectful. I contacted Fitness First to explain the situation and asked to cancel my contract, as I no longer felt safe returning to the gym.

To be clear — I fully understand I was under contract, and I’m not someone who simply wanted to cancel for no reason. I was willing to commit to the full term, but what happened made that impossible. This was not about convenience or motivation; it was about no longer feeling safe in the environment due to what I experienced as a homophobic remark.

The company’s handling of my complaint was deeply disappointing. I received repeated, templated responses, no personal follow-up from the club manager they said would contact me, and absolutely no real engagement with the seriousness of the issue. They refused to refund the £74 early cancellation fee, or the monthly membership payment taken just before I cancelled — meaning I paid nearly £120 to leave a space I could no longer safely use.

This kind of situation requires empathy, accountability, and a serious response. Sadly, I experienced none of that. I hope Fitness First reflects on how it handles complaints of this nature and takes action to create a safer, more respectful environment for all members.