I recently got a mailshot offering a day's free membership of Esporta. Getting the voucher for it was simplicity itself, visit the website, select the day and time you wanted, and print out the voucher. Dead easy.
When I arrived I was left kicking my heels at the reception desk for about ... Read review
Advantages: well appointed, nice clean facilities Disadvantages: lack of free weights, price
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In summary Esporta is very nice and well equipped, however at around £50 plus joining fee it is also expensive. What it offers over my existing gym, is cleaner, flasher surroundings, with sauna, steam room and spa, however the free weights facilities are not as good, and since it is about 3x more expensive, I don't think I'll be joining.
I recently got a mailshot offering a day's free membership of Esporta. Getting the voucher for it was simplicity itself, visit the website, select the day and time you wanted, and print out the voucher. Dead easy.
When I arrived I was left kicking my heels at the reception desk for about 5-8 minutes. Luckily I was with a mate, but not being the most patient of people, if I'd have been on my own it would not have been a good start. Having said that the girl that eventually served us was very pleasant, and after we had filled out a few forms signing our lives away we were in.
The fitness suite is very impressive, every conceivable weight machine, and method or torture available was there and in very good condition. It was well appointed with extensive use carpet, and effecient air conditioning. Similarly there is a vast range of CV machines with lots of hi tech video screens. Ample space is available for warm ups and stretching.
The only criticism I would have is that there was not much space allocated to free weights, or very many weights available. At about 8pm on a Tuesday the gym was not very busy, but I could see this being a problem at busy times.
The best thing about these types of gyms as against most local authority establishments is the Sauna, Steam Room and jacuzzi, so I was determined to make the most of these facilities.
Although the sauna is quite small, it was never too full. I like the ones where you can pour water on the heater yourself, but unfortunately this wasn't one of that type. suitably hot though.
A nice feature was that there are 2 jacuzzis. Since they run on a 5 minute cycle, this means that invariably there was one in operation, while the other one had stopped.
The swimming pool is quite large, and a nice temparature, although the water was a bit too heavily chlorinated for my liking.
The changing rooms are well appointed, with wooden lockers, and plenty of them. There were only however about 15 showers, and this was the only time that I thought the facilities were inadequate, as there were people waiting for a shower even at this not particularly busy time. The showers work with a sensor which automatically switches on when you enter. Not a helpful feature, as it seemed to have broken in a couple of cases, adding to the overcrowding problem, and it also means that you can't put soap or shampoo on without stepping out of the shower.
In summary Esporta is very nice and well equipped, however at around £50 plus joining fee it is also expensive. What it offers over my existing gym, is cleaner, flasher surroundings, with sauna, steam room and spa, however the free weights facilities are not as good, and since it is about 3x more expensive, I don't think I'll be joining.
