Virgin Active UK Reviews 

disgusting practice, upon renewal, despite me signing the £99 renewal, they've silently placed me on a £162 / month plan hoping I wouldn't notice. Am now fighting this in tribunal.

Virgin Active was created as an inclusive gym where everyone was welcome. Now, after a legal threat from GB News presenter Michelle Dewberry, they’ve turned their back on trans people and enacted a changing room and bathroom ban.

Virgin says it’s because they’re following the law. But they’re not following the law, they’re just following transphobes. They’re falling into line behind Michelle Dewberry and Sex Matters

Following this I will now also be moving away from Virgin media as I will not support a bigot company

It's a great gym, but they make is absolutely impossible to contact them if you have any queries at all. At the club, they have no authority to do anything. It's almost like they are purposefully making it difficult to contact them (imagine that...) . You are fobbed off to their useless webchat at any opportunity and you need strong phone menu-fu to get to the option that allows you to speak to someone, then you need to wait for a ridiculous amount of time. Really, really poor.

My son was a member but needed to leave as he is going to university. His contract had finished so I went in person to the club and arranged 2 more monthly payments (increasing in price each month, as no option to extend by 2 months). The person said it was all done. What do Virgin do, charge for 4 months (circa £200 additional) and what an absolute nightmare getting in touch to find help…. Massive wait times on phone, pushed to hopeless chatbot, visit club again- they have to email head office…. Terrible service.

Virgin Active has been the worst customer experience I’ve ever had. After I complained about a rude staff member (at Strand), he retaliated by getting my brand new membership at Chiswick Riverside cancelled behind my back. I was never told — I only found out when I was blocked at the door. They kept my £125 joining fee, left me without access for a week, and have dragged me through over a month of back-and-forth lies and contradictions. They’re now even emailing me from Mill Hill saying I “haven’t cancelled” when I clearly have.

As a disabled person, I find this not only retaliatory but also discriminatory. For a company charging nearly £300/month, to treat members this way — silencing complaints, cancelling memberships without notice, keeping money, and refusing accountability — is beyond disgraceful. Avoid at all costs.

Virgina Repton Park is amazing. And Bobby my PT is even more amazing!

It was all good until i paid,no induction,struggling to find places and now that i'm unable to attend gym and swimming due to work and the baby,they dont want to cancel my membership despite promising me that i can cancel any time.what a dissapointment

I had high expectations joining Virgin Active, but my experience has been frustrating. Firstly, cancellation is extremely inconvenient — I requested to cancel on 1st September, but I was informed I would still have to pay for the entire month of September plus October 1st. This feels unnecessarily strict and inflexible.

Additionally, the facilities fall short of basic convenience. Members are provided with only one towel, which is impractical. If you work out and sweat, you have to wipe yourself before the shower and then wipe again after, which is uncomfortable and unhygienic

I asked for my families accounts to be cancelled (confirmed by their account support). Everyone’s except mine was cancelled for some reason and I was charged for another two months. I contact support and they explain it with me and read through the email thread. He states that he’s cancelled it now but there’s a 30 day cancellation policy so I’ll be charged another month on top (even though he can see that I requested it to be cancelled). I didn’t have the energy to argue, but surely if you know you’re at fault, you would refund?

I have known & taken Kissu’s Zumba, Barre & Pilates classes at Virgin Active Chiswick Park for over 2 yrs & Zissu is a big part of why I have lost almost a third of my body weight. You can tell that Zissu loves movement, she makes it fun to work out. She will always give you special attention if you need it & she is one of the most kind and giving people I have ever met. She works you hard in her classes but you leave feeling invigorated & smiling

It’s not very clean for paying £90 a month some members seem to pay less or more it’s just a random price game at this gym & the hygiene levels are disturbing men are just not showering before the pool area ! & people be shaving in the changing rooms ! This is not your house I don’t want see your nasty hairs blocking the sinks people put signs up saying not to do this or your membership will be revoked as this is not acceptable

I am very frustrated with how Virgin Active are handling my Vitality membership transfer.

Despite providing all the required documentation and paying the transfer fee, my transfer keeps being rejected. I’ve submitted everything at my club (Bromley) as well as via online chat, yet nothing is being resolved.

Instead, I keep receiving payment reminders and now Virgin are threatening me with a £50 fee – even though they are trying to charge me the wrong amount. I only joined to benefit from my Vitality offer, but this process has been impossible to complete.

At my club, the team keep saying it’s “head office’s fault,” but there is no way to actually contact head office directly. The phone numbers provided are all automated, so you cannot get through to a real person to sort it out.

My membership number is: 34p169896. I just want this resolved, but at the moment there seems to be no accountability or support in place.

Ive been a member 10 years and getting more and more disappointed. Turns out this brand was bought by some italian company and its honestly got so bad ever since. My main reason for only now choosing to write a review is that when i signed up i was told i could go to any club... now tho after finally needing to take them up on this service Im told they changed clubs to tiered clubs and my club is too low to visit ANY club in london apart from one 2 hrs away. this is so shocking, they dont care what was sold to me in the first place or how long ive been a member! so now im finally taking the time to write a review I can vent about everything else thats been getting worse and worse!

Firstly despite selling themselves as premium they wont pay music license for spin classes meaning instructors have to play unlicensed (think lift music) - no bangers like there used to be and as a result all the decent spin instructors quit! Its painfully bad now. music is a major part of spin and they wont pay to allow any decent tunes and the instructors have been threatened with being fined if they do play off spotify or suchlike. FYI bodypump and lift club etc all have licensed tunes so this is a cost cutting money grab. classes are mostly 50%+ empty now as a result so its obvious no one likes it

Next issue is just 8 towel hooks outside the sauna / steam despite there being 16 places AND people using the hooks for the showers. I flagged this to management months ago and they said they'd sort it but still nothing done

Next issue is they NEVER clean under the sauna benches, as such theres months of FILTH build up and it just STINKS. Recently Nottingham club had new sauna benches installed which slide out, i thought finally! they're going to sort it, but still no, its fully disgusting.

But after 10yrs of being a member they couldnt give 2 sh*ts about me and my loyalty, they wont even give me an option to pay a little extra while im in london so to access .

AVOID AT ALL COSTS - DAVID LLOYD SEEMS MUCH BETTER VALUE

They will never improve. Chiswick location is the worst of all I have been to. Dirty and disgusting. They need to school some of the rug rags that come and in and teach them how to take care of the gym by putting their weights away and not teach them more entitlement. Management walk around and do nothing. Trainers there are the worse and making more of a mess around with weights since they more concerned about their clients. Trainer taking shirt off iñ the middle of the gym specifically the free weight area to show his ripped muscles that suddenly appeared after steroids. Ridiculous all around. Many people, and I mean large number of us, are disgusted.

Staff are very nice but Management give the impression that members are an annoyance to be put up with begrudgingly. Don’t be fooled by the virgin brand far from that very corporate and nasty. Mobile app is very bad can’t even see the actual times of the classes.

STAY AWAY FROM ANY MEMBERSHIP FROM VIRGIN.

Be prepared to be stuck in a contract even when you’ve tried to leave. They are a terrible company with awful values, do not trust what they say. They will try take as much money out of you as possible even if you have already tried to cancel.
I will never go near anything related to virgin brand again.

Scammer, horrible service to cancel monthly membership, they charge 1 more month.

Racism in the Worple Road gym is too obvious
I was suspended from Virgin Active (Worple Road branch) after raising a perfectly reasonable concern about excessively loud music during a class. One of the trainers responded by shouting at me on the gym floor. Another staff member then verbally insulted me in front of others. Despite this, I was the one suspended without even being asked for my version of events.

The staff involved remained in place with no consequences, while I was denied access to the gym I pay for. The suspension was issued based solely on internal staff statements, with no due process or fair investigation.

I raised the matter formally with club management and Virgin Active corporate, and have now escalated it to the Equality Advisory Support Service and legal channels. The silence and inaction so far is deeply disappointing.

If you’re considering joining Virgin Active, know this: if you speak up about something even respectfully, and it involves staff, you may be treated as the problem. That’s not how any gym should operate.

I called the general V.Active number on 23/07/25 at 15:22 to rejoin my previous gym in Crouch End. I spoke with a staff member named Michael, who informed me that before I could sign up again, I needed to clear an outstanding charge of £3.50. This was despite having given over a month’s notice before ending my membership last year, and receiving no further contact from the gym.
As a matter of principle, I refused to pay the charge. I had intended to commit to a new 12-month membership—valued at approximately £1,440—but due to the inflexible and unempathetic approach of the staff member, I’ve decided not to return.

It’s extremely disappointing to be met with such robotic, rules-based reasoning from someone representing a community-focused organisation. Sometimes, a little discretion and human judgment can go a long way—both in customer retention and brand reputation.

One of the worst gyms going. The changing rooms stink. Very unhygienic. Staff very arrogant and treat customers like children