Everyone Active - Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre Reviews 49

This is a good leisure centre with access to gym, fitness classes including yoga and pilates and swimming. Works well for my needs and the quiet times also work perfectly with my personal schedule.

Westminster Lodge is second to none for facilities, staff, sessions and location (with ample car parking). A friendly atmosphere whether for the casual visitor or determined athlete. There is something here all set in a beautiful park setting with views of the Abbey in St. Albans.

I've been to the spa three times in three months: Twice in August and once this month. The men's changing room did not meet the expected standards of cleanliness and aesthetic appeal.

​Regarding the accessible spa toilet downstairs, when I went twice in August, on both occasions there was no soap or hand-wash. The overall cleanliness of the toilet was 4/10.

​When I returned this month, the situation was exactly the same, except that there was soap.

normally we really enjoy Westminster lodge swimming pools but today the confidence pool was closed. Having purchased tickets at the desk, having been asked the age of the child i had with me. i would have expected the person behind the desk to inform me that the pool was closed!
Having then entered the pool a surly male attendant said, you cant go in the pool its closed and walked off leaving lots of mums and nannies without an explanation and lots of very upset children. The fact that the pool was closed should have been made clear before we paid, it was not!

My toddler absolutely loved the pool today! And honestly so did I! We usually use the one in Hemel, but decided to go here after being recommended by a friend. We were not disappointed! The water was a decent temperature, and there were lots of exciting water fountains for my little one to explore!

No safeguarding for children during swimming lesson.

I wish I could give a zero star, but it doesn’t appear to be possible. I’m the parent of a 5 year old child who has been taking lesson at Everyone Active Westminster Lodge in St Albans for over a year. Today I was asked not to sit poolside as I normally do, but to go to the viewing gallery, which is a 2 minutes walk from the pool. As I got to the gallery and looked down into the pool I realized my son wasn’t there, whilst the other kids were taking the lesson. I rushed downstairs to find him crying and distressed looking for me in the changing rooms. He had walked out of the pool without any of the teacher stopping him. When I went poolside to ask the teacher instead of an apology and despite the fact that my son was in tears, the teacher told me ‘I didn’t even know he was here’. They had 7 children, but the teacher apparently had no register and no idea which child was in the pool. If parents cannot be poolside, what safeguarding is in place for a group of children between the age of 5 and 6? How can someone who has a group of young children in their care allow one to leave the pool unnoticed?
I’m yet to receive an explanation from Everyone Active as to how this has been allowed to happen

They keep increasing prices but dont improve the quality of service.
It's never properly cleaned or maintained. Always 1 piece of equipment out of order. Tiles on the wet spa broken & don't get replaced. Permant stains in the shower from lack of proper cleaning.
At least it doesn't smell though...
Improve cleanliness by Cleaning!!!. Proper deep cleaning on the regular not just the swipe over with a feather duster the staff do.

St Alban's Westminster dodge staff are rude..they sent a rude text to say that i missed a swim booking...they should get their facts correct before they are rude to members of the public because I did not miss a swim session..I did not go there for 5 years and I will hope to not go there for another 5 years if I am still alive that is..the same shower still no hot or warm water..disgraceful..

Positives: The facilities are very good and the Spa was a lovely experience and we will be back.
Negative's: The toilets, changing rooms and showers were filthy not just because it was busy. I’ll explain they had black mould in the showers and on the shower heads, the shower panels were white with limescale and shower gel stains. The shower heads need limescale remover as they spray all over the place due to being blocked. The soap dispenser had no soap. A deep clean with bleach and limescale remover is needed weekly it looked like it hadn’t been done in months.

One of the most distressing places to take a child you are trying to keep safe and well. Pools were cold, showers were broken, changing rooms cold and beyond disgusting. Even the cafe was cold.

Great gym,every piece of equipment you could ever need.Only downside is the same people dropping weights from a great height 🙄 and those filming themselves for socials.
Always clean and the lovely cleaning lady in the changing rooms is a superstar

I really like Westminster Lodge swimming pool. It is bright and open, with its huge plate glass windows overlooking Verulamium Park. The air conditioning dries the changing room floors quickly so that we're not paddling around in pools of water all the time. And recently the lockers keys,were renewed so that swimmers' possessions are secure.

There is a lovely cafe, also with views, for a hot drink and a snack afterwards too.

Plus the staff are friendly and helpful and the 2 cleaners, Sofia and Carolyn, do a great job, considering that it's just them cleaning the whole centre ( they could do with another person really).

Also the showers are always hot, and I understand that the oldest ones will be renewed later this year, so Everyone Active clearly continues to invest in the centre.

My moan at the moment is the relative dearth of daytime opportunities for slow Lane swimmers like me. I get that the pool has to be for everyone - learners and schools parties, aquafit sessions, learning disabled youngsters, sessions for women only and public areas for casual swimmers. Also, I guess that there may well be more medium speed than slow swimmers.

But many of us in the slow Lane are elderly and/or have mobility problems and disabilities. We swim not just for fitness but for our health, because other weightbearing forms of exercise are not possible, and are most alert and able in the middle part of the day, not at sunrise with the pre-work crowd. And many of us are tired and achy by the evening, so those late sessions we leave to the fitness enthusiasts .

We need our morning or early afternoon swims. So please, Westminster Lodge, you are doing a great job and we love you, but a few more morning sessions for us slow lane folk would be greatly appreciated.

Been a member at Westminster lodge leisure centre for a good year and a half achieved goals that I never thought I would genuinely has changed my health and wellbeing in such short time definitely recommend to anyone looking to improve health or even for a fun high spirited experience staff are very welcoming wouldn’t consider going anywhere else 5 stars from me

The gym itself is pretty good and well equipped and the classes and staff are great. The badminton court is also good although pricey to book on top of membership fee.

The spa and changing room cleanliness is a huge issue and significantly ruins the overall experience (although the gym itself is relatively clean). I rarely see the cleaner and when I have she is pushing a dirty mop around and moving all the hair and dirt from one part of the changing room to the other. The showers and inside the lockers are also disgusting.

The spa is dirty. The sauna and steam rooms are good sizes but aren’t clean. The shower in the spa itself is often freezing cold and the temperature of the jacuzzi is always luke warm. The spa changing room is also tiny and a number of the locker doors are broken.

The variety of gym equipment is fantastic.

The gym is big and can accommodate a lot of people. There is a lot of equipment choice, so everyone should be able to find something that works for them

My son loved rock climbing with the instructor Adam over the October 2024 half term while also at Fizzbugs.

Pool is nice though booking one hour slots silly and unnecessary, like being back at school! Changing rooms not cleaned enough. Matted hair in shower drains, mud on floors, bins not emptied regularly. Showers need repairing.

Upstairs, great gym equipment but rather too many machines and so little floor space for mat work. Very grubby in places. Cleaners could do a better job. Rather unfriendly place.

Good value for money , clean and Tidy , good use of space , all Ages catered for in the swimming pool and the gym and many classes

Everyone Active St Albans
Facilities good, but the way the centre is run is a joke. No one can help with issues, especially the APP which you MUST use to book or cancel sessions. The APP simply does not work. It takes hours to book or cancel sessions. If you fail to cancel a session,you get an additional charge.
The swimming pool is a joke. Every hour you are told to get out. WHY!!!??? This breaks the flow of my session, and standing around getting cold is no fun. Yet no one can give me a sound reason for this.
Update 08/04/24 - Thank you for your reply. Its a shame it takes a one star review to get your attention, as I have complained about my issues on site. I would really by happy if the App worked and made booking sessions easier, but MOST of all, not having to get out of the pool mid session.

Corporately EA have decided in the past 18 months that to make more money, they no longer offer classes for standard memberhip clients (booking 1 week ahead) - only to Platinum members who pay have to pay an extra £120/annum to book 2 weeks ahead. On standard membership you simply cannot get into classes.
Platinum members are also just booking indescriminately 2 weeks ahead - on the majority of classes there are between 10-18 people on the waiting list - then they cancel max 4 hours before the class. This brings chaos to:
1 EA planners - they simply do not know whether additional classes are needed
2 Instructors - on the day they never know how many people will be attending their classes nor the standard of members
3 Standard members who can't get into classes
EA are renting premises paid for by the Council's residents. Under the Council's edict - sport is for all including pensioners, and other financially less fortunate residents. Now this is not the case. This is plainly discriminative and unfair to residents who have been supporting Westminster Lodge since it's opening and right through Covid.