Cannons Health & Fitness

I «just» wrote a review… so all I will say here is that Cannnon’s is now Nuffield Health and Fitness, and they have just done a fancy face lift on this location.

Think good equipment, nice pool, wide range of machines and clean changing facilities and a broad range of classes and you have the basic ingredients for a good gym. Canons is a medium sized chain whose advertising promises much but in Paddington there is plenty of work to be done to even get close to being first class.
The gym staff a friendly and the gym itself is satisfactory but there are a few areas where it’s let down.
Firstly its membership hasn’t been limited in any way, so in peak times all 40 CV machines can be taken and the numbers in some of the classes create the feeling of being a sardine — imagine having to stroke your neighbour through half of your yoga moves and you’ll get the picture. People queue to use free weights and the floor mat area can look like a triage tent from Mash. Currently the gym is undergoing an expansion adding 50% more floorspace, this is to be welcomed but it won’t do anything about the class sizes which is a shame as the variety of classes is one of the gym’s strong-​points.
Secondly the it’s disappointing that the pool has to be both short and unmanaged. The reception area is almost the same size as the current weight machine area and always empty so there would have been plenty of space for a full 25m pool, and don’t expect the swimmers in the ‘fast lane’ to be going fast, you’ll be disappointed.
Finally in the men’s changing rooms at least you may need to spend some time finding a locker. There are private lockers available for rent, but of the over 100 day-​use lockers there are never more than about 10 to be found available. Even first thing on a Sunday morning when the gym is empty over half the lockers are taken. Something really should be done about this, along with fixing the swimwear spinner!
Once the expansion is complete the gym may be worthy of another star, but until some of the ‘hygiene’ factors in the changing rooms are fixed and something done about the gym class sizes this is one gym that’s never going to be top-​class. It is a shame there is no real alternative close-​by but you pays your money and takes your choice.
Don’t sign up for 12 months until you’ve tried it out.