Forest Hill Pools - London

Zayath I. B. T.

Ah! What can I say! Forrest Hill Pools, is definitely my A1 in the Better Gym branches. A breathe of fresh air! Not only are the staff lovely, but the gym itself is alway spotless! Cleaners regularly cleaning and keeping the place hygienic, customers respecting the facilities by also keeping it clean and putting equipment away. Classes are always great! Darren is a fantastic trainer, always attentive of everyone in the group and always encourages you. Caroline who is on reception always has a wonderful smile on her face when you enter and greets you warmly, just a great start to your day especially if you’re like me who will wake up at 5am get washed and dressed and drive 30-40 mins to get here, you’re drained as it is, then you step in and are welcomed by lovely staff! It’s worth your travels! I haven’t been to this branch in a while, not fault of there own just circumstantial, but I will be returning shortly as they are thus far my favourite!!! Other than going to the gym and classes I haven’t used the pool, so I can’t comment on it, but will soon. They do junior gym which is great too, my son gets to come along with me at times before our home school hours which he enjoys. I also enjoy the virtual spin class. My only wish is that there was parking facilities but unfortunately there isn’t any but one disabled parking bay. Other than this there is nothing I can say against this Better branch. Well done to all the staff in this branch for keeping up good standards that is expect from your customers. Thank you because it makes the experience a good one.

Yap Y.

After going to this gym for 9 months I felt i should give a review, this is an extremely well managed gym/pool, the staff have been excellent, professional, friendly and clearly know their roles, the place has a lovely atmosphere, I see smiles and hear laughter regularly, clearly its a place people enjoying being in and that has to be down to the management. Well done Better gym for giving such a wonderful place to spend a few hours trying to be healthier.

Nicola O.

Lovely pool, water fine for temperature although if I was in charge it would be at least 1 degree cooler, it would save so much money as well as making me happy.
Truly lovely pool. I book for lane swimming and obviously I would prefer it if the whole pool was in lanes and those lanes wider.
This is however the nearest pool to me so I shouldnt be so whiney.
The changing room is very strange as it's all ages all genders individual cubicles which is very victorian, they liked a poolside changing cubicle. I have no problem with it. Its quite a novelty watching the dads struggling with the kids.
I do like the no outdoor shoes rule, again no problem I have some smart new pool slippers.
The front desk staff have been lovely everytime I've been.
I would say this is a great pool. I only hope the management don't ruin it by increasing the pool water temperature to bath like as Southwark did to Peckham Pool. I have emailed them now 3 times to ask why they did this. If they ever answer I will post on my review of that pool. Ruined it is now totally ruined.

James N.

Absolutely shocking handling of swimming. Swim for all is an absolute joke. They have reduced the size of the swim for all pool to the size of a postage stamp. And then they decided midway through the session to reduce the size of it even further.

Staff are rude and I would trust them to save me if I was drowning in a puddle.

Peter L.

The membership payments are structured in blocks; 20 days notice is required to cancel the following month's membership, which runs in a four weekly cycle.

This means that to cancel payment a child's swimming lesson the 17th August, I needed to have given notice before the first lesson, by the 1st July, which is insane.

Better didn't send proper account information on sign up, making it difficult to manage your account online. The central phone lines simply hangs up.

This gym may seem superficially good value, but you pay for it in other ways!

Chris I.

Really good local leisure centre, the staff are always helpful and friendly.

J K.

A frustrating gym! Been a member for a year or so.
The people who take the classes are lovely, but many of the classes get booked up very quickly. Then, if you can't attend the class, but cancel within 3 hours of it starting (e.g. you wake up on the morning unwell), they charge you £3 and lock your account until it's paid. Most classes are always busy so I don't see why they need to do that - maybe one or two hours, but three seems harsh.
Amenities aren't great, especially pool changing/showers. Seems like a high monthly cost for what it is, especially if they charge you extra for cancelling classes 3 hours before.

Jan A.

What an amazing facility! It's a really lovely gym space and a beautiful swimming pool. It's very well maintained and lovely staff.