Fitness 1st Reviews

Loved this gym for a long time. After changing management it's got even better.

Nothing ever works, machines constantly out of order, steam room is hardly ever working, I've never seen both jacuzzi's working, staff are enthusiastic but young, naive and lacking in common sense / organisation skills. The place has been like this ever since it opened and desperately needs sorting out.

I give this gym a four star. A five star would give me a clean towel when you go in.

Been going here for a year now, lovely big gym and good classes, great thats it s opened up again, however, cleaning needs to be improved, especially during this pandemic! Antibac wipes are sometimes available to clean machines but often running out and not replaced. A lot of members still not cleaning the machines after themselves and I am yet to see any staff members clean any machines, they re mostly standing around chatting. Would be good if they could regularly go round and wipe machines down.
They are taking everyone s temperature before entering however method is not the most accurate.

The receptionists most of the time are more interested in chatting between them than do costumer service, I was simply ignored and I had a 7 year old with me desperate to go to the toilet

Great gym which I used when I am away with work, They have had a change in management since I started and the improvements in cleanliness and standards are clear to see.

They have everything you need cardio, free weights and provide a really good group exercise timetable which I sometime's use to help me get in and out after a long day. The spa area is a nice touch to help you relax.

Great gym which I would 100% recommend.

Could be a bit cheaper but still good value with access to swimming pool as well. Loads of equipment, gets busy in peak hours but there is never a long wait for anything so happy with that :)

Great facilities, friendly staff and always super clean!!

I am very disappointed with this gym. Comunication is very poor. I wanted cancel my membership as is not the point if is oftentimes closed or limited. I did go there to gym personaly, but it was close. I tryed to call them, but number is invalid. Before when i tryed to discuss something i was waiting on the phone for 40 minits and finally no answer. I wanted to do it online but i am not able to log in.
As they are close now because is lockdown and they took money for november, and i have no differend opinion, to speak with someone, i am going to cancel my direct debit.
This is not good way how to treat customers because after this experience i will never come back to this gym

DW gym is basically my second home!! I love it. Newly refurbished gym has everything I need including a freestyle area with monkey bars, tyres, sledge and TRX equipment. Multiples of popular machines and friendly members and management, made some good mates here and would defo recommend to others. Great classes and instructors too!! Worth the money

I've been a member for 5 years and during that time i've had a good experience, however, since the DW business dissolved, so has the customer service and online support. I asked the staff at front desk how to cancel my membership to which they were clueless and were about as much help as a wet lettuce, not to mention 'stuck up' giving off the "why are you asking us?" impression. Anyway, got home created a membership login via the website with the intent of clicking a simple 'cancel my subscription' button but to no avail, I call the gym, on hold for 30 minutes with no answer, there is no cancellation email listed anywhere on website and nothing can be found on google, I even direct messaged their instagram...nothing. So at this point i'm cancelling my direct debit as i have no other option. RIP DW, it was good while it lasted.

I'll be using this as collateral for when they chase their membership fee's and i'll explain I had no other option.

Almost 10 minutes on the phone now and no one pick up the phone.

Love the gym and poole, the staff are friendly and the pt that I have is ver knowledgeable. I highly recommend

So I understand times are different due to covid ... But I rang the gym to ask a question about opening times. Believe that was best I normally workout at 8pm but the gym has changed so it's not open then I now struggling to get time to go to the gym as my life is gone back to normal. I waited 50 minutes on hold you are in a que the phone kept saying so I went to the gym still on hold to see 3 team members just stood talking I asked why I have been on hold for so long... They said we're not answering the phone for covid .... Didn't make sense to me. Then asked my original question to the answer of may review in a month. U asked to cancel my membership she said do it online..... Not a care in the world

Website rubbish can never get hold of anyone on the phone, very few classes always over booked showers dirty steam room if its working smells what's not to love!

If you like to watch clueless 20 somethings train biceps with no awareness of form or respective candour then this is the place for you.

Decent wooden lifting platform and plenty of parking.

Listen to the bad reviews saying they are scammers because they are true. Cancelled my membership thinking everything was fine only to realise 2 months later they were still taking payments. Cancelled my direct debit and continued phone calls saying I hadn't actually canceled my membership. Went in there for myself where they told me I had actually cancelled my membership and they were in the wrong. I was refunded however it is appalling service. Gym and shop are okay but avoid DW as a company

Been using gym for over a year and been really enjoying a variety of the classes they run. Zumba bodycombat and legs bums and tums. Great routines with keen and enthusiastic staff to give encouragement to members regardless of where there fitness level is. They have a swimming pool, jacuzzi and steam room which is lovely to unwind after a class.

Not the best ever but great value for 15 quid a month! Happy days

DW gym is not very recommended for foreign students only studying for a few months. It is quite expensive and it seems like the price depends on the trainer you talk to. Also not all of the equipment is well maintained...However, there was an offer for a free trial and they have a nice pool and Jacuzzi.

The changing rooms are big, spacious and always clean. The swimming pool is small but is always warm and clean. Two jacuzzis and a sauna are good too. The let down? The gym itself.

Before they had a large floor space and and equipment, plenty for all. Since a recent refurb, equipment has been squashed into smaller spaces to make room for more specialist equipment and the floor space dissolved into a sixth of the size it used to be. Considering that myself and about 10 other people at least use this space at one time, it's now a problem finding space unless you're on the carpet by the equipment. Secondly, they used to have a large amount of free weights between the 1.5kg - 5kg range and kettle bells enough for everyone. Those have now been moved into the classrooms and replaced with ONE SET of each weight. This now means that only one person can train with these weights at a time and I can't train with my gym buddy anymore because it takes twice as long as we have to do it one person at a time!

Great gym. Sad that the sauna and steam room isn't open, understandably. But confused why the pool is. Not much has changed for Covid and most members don't clean after they use equipment. More signs and sanitiser needed as its always running out.

The equipment is looking pretty old and tired. Machines are frequently broken. Expensive compared with for instance bh live. Will not be renewing my membership.

I have used the gym for over 6 months and it's a great gym. The gym is clean and has friendly staff. The biggest problem is the high price.

I can't quite understand the negative reviews that this gym has received in the past, which has motivated me to give my opinion.

I previously attended a very cheap gym in the area and I found that it was WAY oversubscribed, making peak times (5pm to 9pm) a nightmare. But I suppose you get what you pay for.

DW, on the other hand, is amazing. The gym has just been refurbished, offering brand new modern equipment (the cycle machines even have Youtube, so if your phone runs out of battery, you can use that instead).

The staff are really friendly and it's nice to have a reception area in comparison to my previous gym where you weren't even greeted. I also like the fact that it's slightly darker in the gym rather than a florescent lit room, which is great for my self-conscious side. Furthermore, I have found it to be very clean and used by serious gym-goers, rather than people just trying to flirt with the opposite sex.



Overall, I am very happy with this place and would recommend.

Spa bath always not working asked the staff and sent email to managements but got answered with just stupid excuses and not fixed for months. the swimming pool is taken many times by lessons so if you not part of some kids or elderly groups not a chance to properly use swimming pool. Not recommended for that.
If you need to use just gym part it is fine but you find much cheaper solutions around.

Writing this review on a friend's account because otherwise my name pops up. Absolute shambles of a gym. Push button showers, which give you about 15 seconds of water. The shower area ALWAYS stinks of sewage, despite not being attached to the toilets. Shower areas are clearly not cleaned properly - there was the same used plaster and toothpaste up the wall for over a week!! The insides of the lockers are filthy and never cleaned. The gym area itself is incredibly dark, with ridiculous, very bright spotlights in random locations which are blinding when you stand in certain positions. They have just removed all but 2 of the barbell benches, meaning that training during peak times it utterly pointless now. There are nowhere near enough weight clips for the end of Olympic bars, there are only 2 5kg weight plates as far as I can tell. There is no chalk for your hands, nor a box for box jumps. I asked one of their staff to spot me for ONE rep and he looked like I'd just asked him to do the most strenuous, annoying job in the world. He also clearly had no idea how to spot someone either - he literally grabbed the bar as soon as it started to slow and lifted it right off me. The pool is FAR too warm to do any serious swimming in. In a year of visits, I can count on one hand the number of times that both jacuzzis have been working. The steam room, as with the shower areas, often smells of sewage (although this is partly disguised with a weak eucalyptus scent). All in all, it is utterly TERRIBLE value for money. At the prices you pay for this gym, you would expect much more, both in terms of maintenance and facilities. I will not be renewing my membership.

I love it !! Got everything , space , cleam , amazing .

The gym is good and the swimming pool too. Unfortunately it is fairly expensive and I do find the staff quite rude.

This review is of DW as a compamy and not just this specific gym.
If you are thinking of signing up with them be warned! They are scammers, they are rude, they have to morals, no customer service to speak off, no ethics and they completely disregard consumer rights.
Their contracts are illegal and in breach of consumer rights act. Yet they try to enforce them by harassing people and instructing debt collectors. My review is not the only one to say this, so this is a wide spread practice for them.
If you think of signing up with them - don't! You will live to regret it when they won't let you cancel and harras you 3 years down the line.
If you already signed up and want to cancel, report them to Citizen Advice Bureu. They will report then to trading standards. The more reports they get, the sooner they will act.

Great gym, good facilities including a pool, and a sports clothing store upstairs. Good prices for the chain and subscriptions and helpful staff. Cafe just inside also.

Would not recommend joining this club. Gym equipment old and screens/audio faulty, gym and pool area dirty, staff turnover high and generally unfriendly and lack of choice of class, however despite trying to cancel subscription in person, by phone and finally by email since Christmas am still receiving harassing emails from DW asking for payment inc. today email to say they were handing this to an agency incurring further costs. Only route to contact is by phone which is always busy - told was 35th in queue at one stage. Not a good experience all round.

I have been coming here for just under a year. This is a great club with loads to offer and is a relaxing club to come to, especally in the early evening's when it is quiet, just what you need after a hard day at work.
Yes there's been a few repair issues since I joined here, with the repair of the gym and Jacuzzi as stated from previous member's reviews, however it seems this gym is finally on the up! Thanks to the new manager Iain, he really is turning it around. I have noticed the changes and he continues to work hard to ensure this club is on the up!
Not only approachable but he is friendly too and really has the time to listen to you.
Staff are lovely and very approachable and have always guided and helped me if I had a concern.
This is a great fitness center with a great Swimming Pool, Jacuzzi, Steam room, Classes, Pt sessions, Coffee shop, Sunbeds, Lockers, Hairdryers, Free parking. Friday you can bring a friend for free and they offer other promotions too.
If you are looking for a nice private club that has a variety of choices available then try DW fitness. Good place to get in shape plus I have met some lovely people here and a few have become good friends!
Thanks Iain and your team for working hard at bringing this club alive again! Keep up the good work!

I have been using this gym for five years but today the girl which was in cutomer service her Name is Dona she was very rude with unprofessional behavior. when i enter the gym and scanned my card she called me and said come here i want to More

I asked reception staff for a tutorial session as there was some equipment I was not fully confident in using. Reception said that a personal trainer would be in touch.

A PT called James then reached out to me. When I enquired about a tutorial, he did not reply: just simply ghosted me. It has been over a month now since writing this.

James's behaviour was rude and unprofessional. I sincerely hope that this is not representive of staff culture at this gym.

DW Branksome as follows
Reception staff are mainly rude and dismissive.
The cleanliness is appalling-gents changing room toilets are filthy and in desperate need of refit. The steam room ceiling is home to black mould-serious health issue. The jacuzzis take it in turn to break down and repairs are very slow. The swimming pool is virtually inaccessible due to back to back classes. The shower area in gents area is very grubby with ground in dirt on most floor and wall tiles.
My experience of this gym was not good and am so happy that I m no longer a member of this overpriced non customer focused gym. Not recommended.

A great place to tone up that body for the spring with discount 37.50 month so go every day.

Cancelled membership but kept on taking payments...ridiculous...refuse to give money back...not happy!!!

Excellent gym, great facilities, clean, helpful staff, lovely cafe, variety of classes, although they get booked up fast, fab personal trainers on hand to help you with all your health & fitness needs. Thumbs Up!

This place is a shambles!!! I, steam room never works 2, takes weeks to fix the equipment!!

I have been trying to cancel my member for 2 days and have been waiting up to 30 minutes each time. Is this because everyone is trying to leave because it's a disgrace of a gym?

Do not join!!! WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well equipped club with excellent classes for a good price

I phoned to book an appointment for a tour around the gym. I arrived the following day one minute after the appointment time, for which I apologised and the staff member at the front desk said it was fine.

I did not expect to wait until 10:57 before a member of staff came over and said "You alright, mate?"
When I politely said I was not very happy having to wait almost half-an-half for a simple tour, his reply was "I don't officially start work for another 3 minutes."

I took one look at him, said thank but no thank you. Not the best of first impressions. Avoid, avoid, avoid.

Staff were friendly and helpful when looking for a pair of football boots. Sadly didn't have my size but brought some shin pads instead. After purchasing got a free complimentary pass to use they're gym, which is a bonus!

Love it here, the classes are very good and the facilities are perfect. Felt very welcomed and I am pleased with the service I got :)

completely oversubscribed with members. good luck trying to find a time to swim!! not a lot of room in the pool in the first place and always some sort of class going on. Have belonged to a lot of gyms over
the years, this is by far the worse.

Great gym when everything is working, I've met and know some great people in the couple years that I have trained here.

Such a shame the place has really gone downhill this last year, was a member a couple of years ago and it was fantastic, rejoined 6 month ago and it's nothing like it was, the shower and changing rooms are dirty, jacuzzi and steam room not working. Please get your self together and sort out the mess.

My Daughter is disabled , we were shopping at the Poole Retail Centre when My Daughter due to a Medical condition Desperately needed to Use the Toilet. Due to Covid restrictions Public Toilets are closed. We entered the Poole outlet to ask politely if any Daughter could possibly use the Toilet , the stuffy insensitive Young Girl on the desk asked if We were Members upon saying No she told us my Daughter could not use the toilet. My Daughter unfortunately wet Herself , causing much distress. Thankyou Very much for Your Compassion. You ruined a day out and caused a lot of distress to my Daughter and us.

I have been a founder member of DW Sports in Poole and I was disappointed to read some of the negative comments written on google. I went into the shower rooms today and they have completely been refurbished and they are spotless! Like all venues the showers do need looking at after several years but they are now perfect, they have lots of hot showers so you are never kept waiting. I also attended the 1.30pm yoga class on a Friday which was fantastic and finished off with a long swim in the pool. The pool is the best in the area for private clubs and I know as I am a keen swimmer and swam in them all. They have a extensive range of classes every day so there is always something for everyone. If you want a great coffee and healthy food options talk to the new owners of the cafe there, the owner is a food nutritionist and great to speak with if you want to know about healthy eating. Do give it a try

I love the range of equipment and facilities. I would give it a really good rating but maintenance is poor and there is usually something out of service I.e. Jacuzzi, steam room, showers etc. and often toilet roll or plastic bags for wet swimming costume have run out. Great potential but poorly managed.

Great equipment, jacuzzis always have one out of order which has kind of become a trend with them but other than that it s a great place.

Everyone keeps to them selves which is good and bad I guess.

Good facilities but could do with easy access other than having to give your card to someone every time.

Men's changing area needs attention as looking very tired. New gym equipment is very good though.

Waste of time nobady answered the phone repeatedly called and managed to talk with the flies on the wall or the ghost of sporty past nobady else picked the phone.
I guess all of them evolved and now days the communication is conducted telepathically. Or by twisting your ears and saying "nano" "nano"...gosh tis is old....
Open the gyms said the claun...open them wide but hide the staff.....and play "pica boo" on the bloody phones....Open them but, bar the guys to join them do everything possible to deter them to rejoin, so all can become ginger and fat ....

the swimming pool is overcrowded. Spas are not working most of the times.

It is no longer DW or Fitness First it is called everlast fitness

ridiculously terrible customer service when trying to cancel

Love this place....it's always clean,the staff are lovely ,great facilitilies

Pretty good gym, suffers for its own success at busy times. Issues with posers hogging the machines. Also need to do with the snogging weirdos in the hot tub every Friday!

NIce to be back. At the moment it's very quiet and hence safe. Suits me.

Friendly skilled staff, clean gym with a variety of equipment, temperature regulated environment, plush changing rooms, lots of classes. Well used but not over busy. Suits me perfectly.

Fantastic staff working at the facility, always helpful and supportive. Plenty of machine to use as it's good size gym. Swimming pool and jacuzzi absolutely fantastic again good size. So overall doesn't feel crowded and unpleasant.

Fantastic staff made me feel very welcome and the facilities where brilliant, wide variety of equipment in good condition. would definitely recommend.

Toilets and shower area really filthy since November. Showers smell of urine and tiles are black. Also booked a class which stated wrong time on website. Complain but nothing changes