GymBox

Looks good on first impressions: but there are lots of weaknesses.
Found a number of machines to be in a damaged condition when they should have been out of use. The gym is also dirty in places, with dust an inch thick in the more inaccessible places.
No guidance or coaching for people on the gym floor — they follow the budget gym ethos of you pay for everything — they don’t employ any fitness coaches and you don’t get free programs. So you have to pay mega bucks for a PT to get what most competitor gyms at the same price point include in the membership fee.
Fundamentally it doesn’t have the gloss and polish of a David Lloyd, Nuffield Health, or Virgin Active. It’s also very small and and doesn’t have the facilities, but they try and charge you the same.

I love this gym. It’s got a great vibe, friendly staff and people, great classes that have something for everything. The dance based classes are great, there are lots of yoga and pilates options, lots of boxing and strength classes… then of course you have the gym floor, plenty of equipment available for everyone. It would be good if there was more space for stretching and floor work as at the moment there is only room for 4 or 5 people at one time which isn’t ideal at busy times. The DJ at night is awesome too, plus the changing room has a sauna which is a big bonus! Of course there are downsides, like someone mentioned the gender segregation which I have noticed to an extent but I tend to just get over that and do my thing, the guys should get over it too if they have a problem, but overall it’s a great place to work out, and much more interesting, fun and motivating than other gyms i’ve been to!

The Covent Garden Gymbox has a sort of strange layout, but it works. I love the classes and the instructors. The gym itself, like other Gymbox gyms, seem to be uncomfortably gender segregated, and as a girl I don’t feel super comfortable in some of the rooms, especially free weights and boxing. They seem to somewhat support this by offering gendered classes like Broga (yoga for dudes) and Bunny Bootcamp (girly bootcamp), or Bitchboxing (you can guess). I realise this is an attempt to get more guys in yoga and girls into boxing, but I feel there are probably other ways to go about this. The academic inside of my isn’t really cool with it, but not enough to boycott.
After experiences in more family-​friendly gyms like Virgin Active or more hipster-​dancer gyms like Frame, Gymbox is certainly an adjustment… one I made because it is simply a better value than either of the others for various reasons (like at Virgin, some charged for towels and such. I get towels at all gymbox locations for free).
But as I said, great class offerings, instructors, clean enough locker rooms, and convenient locations. I’m there for now.

I was staying at the St. Martins Lane Hotel and this was offered as their gym. Kind of like a night club or a pre-​funk place before going out on the town. Boxing is a nice option. Great for a quick workout but I don’t think it would be my first choice as a daily gym membership. Great deal when it’s free with hotel stay!

One of those places I wish I could give 0 stars, but Unilocal won’t let me.
This place is probably a 3 star for gym quality, and negative star for its staff/​management.
Beware they have no qualms taking your money outside of acceptable business operations and the people who work there take no responsibility and do not follow rules. Be prepared to have your money stolen, and I don’t even mean it in the way that this place is expensive, I mean they literally try to steal by breaking all business contract rules.
1. I signed up under the premise that I can pay for the one-​day fee in cash to try it out, and if I sign up for the membership, that fee I paid upfront will go towards membership. Needless to say, the girl who took my money pocketed that cash, and was gone forever from the gym when I signed up two days later. I asked the management about it and they said they would look into it but I was never refunded that 20 quid even after following up twice.
2. When I left, I canceled my account a month prior and followed all their rules about cancellation. I signed a cancellation form with someone at the front desk and thought all was squared away. This was in August, and I paid for membership through September because I was moving end of Sept. Come October, I started getting emails from the management saying my account was in arrears because the bank account on auto-​withdrawal was no longer active. Thankgod I had canceled that bank account because I was moving out of the country. They continued to charge to that same bank account months after I had moved and canceled membership and are still chasing after me for money with threatening emails about the law. And it turns out they did not hang on to the receipt of my cancellation and are chasing after me for evidence that I terminated my membership.
Such irresponsibility and incompetence.
The gym was ok, but they are some serious money thieves over there. I’m absolutely appalled.

This is gym is unique in it’s layout. It has multiple levels, staggered like stairs and all levels are directed towards one side, the boxing ring, big screen, and multipurpose studio. If you’re in the boxing ring or studio, it’s inevitable that you will be watched.
Even though the machines are up to date something about this location feels a bit dated. The classes are ok, this Gymbox does have Krav Maga. They do have an intimate Reformer Pilates studio which is terrific. The reformer workouts really pushes the boundary of your flexibility and was a nice interlude to my normal workout routine. It points out what areas of your practice needs works. There’s an extra charge for the Reformer classes, a little pricey but worth it.
The Ladies Locker Rooms are meh and bleh. The steam room is dark and too claustrophobic for me. Plenty of shower space but really. I’m in and I’m out.

I came here while staying at the St Martins Lane Hotel. For hotel guests, this is a great deal, to get access to a real gym for free, vs the typical lousy hotel gym. As a gym to join, I am a little on the fence.
The gym has a boxing theme, but saw no one as much as hit a heavy bag. It also has a sort of nightclub theme as well, with lots of dark colored black and gray surfaces. It also spreads the equipment out across several levels and mezzanines in one open room. This creates a bit of an airy feel to the room, which is good, but machines are not really grouped together. This forces you to be constantly going up and down stairs to complete a workout. Oddly, you almost get a work out by all the jogging up and down stairs to complete the actual workout you came to do.
Enough about the weird layout. The equipment they have is quite good and all of it is modern. There is nothing worse in my opinion than paying a membership fee and having to use junky equipment and rusty free-​weights. Also, they have classes, and there were a couple going on while I was there… on a Saturday morning, so I would imagine they have a decent offering during the week.
The locker rooms felt like a nightclub — again with the weird nightclub theme. That said, the locker rooms were very nice and clean — plenty of towels too.
Personally, I had a good workout there and they had new equipment and clean locker rooms — the most important things to me, even with the annoying layout.

What a load of rubbish Melissa. GymBox is an amazing, unconventional gym experience. I’ve waited so long for a gym that makes it loads of fun to work out… none of the big ones do that… it used to be so hard to motivate myself to get to the gym. GymBox on the other hand provides amazing equipment and facilities and classes that not only will get you fit but provide you with many laughs.
The cost of the gym is cheaper than others such as Virgin Active and Fitness First. The split level equipment actually works to your advantage as an additional work out.
Honestly love this gym and would recommend to anyone wanting something that is out of the ordinary, mundane gym experience.

A great gym that reminded me of Crunch in NYC. Lots of punch bags and good array of equipment.
I was a member here for over 2 years until I was bullied by a staff trainer because I didn’t have his permission to use the studio which is open for customers when no classes are scheduled. I mentioned this to management who agreed and tried to be helpful but got shoved aside by trainer as well and no apology from anyone. Steroids?
Apart from this its a good brand and a place that motivates you to work out with a rockin’ interior. The other instructors are very friendly and the place has a good edge to it.
They just need help in the customer service department.

You will not believe how big this gym is when you get inside. Set on 4 mezzanines (would be wrong to call them floors) with great equipment, a big studio, and a boxing ring the crowd is nice, the atmosphere is really buzzing, and the interior design is great. I have been going here for a long time and use it as my base gym whenever in london, well worth checking out.

GymBox was THE GYM to join last year and yours truly gave into to the pressure. It is designed like a club so that all of the equipment is on many levels and from 6:30ish on there is a live DJ. But like all new clubs once the novelty wears off, people move on to bigger and better things and I am afraid this is the fate for GymBox as well. There is a large projector screen hung above the main room but they never bother to play movies on it. My personal favorite class and the reason I joined the gym was for the Bitch Boxing classes, which are a great way to release some stress from the work day, get a great work out, and talk to some cool people. The instructor is a professional boxer herself. After the novelty wears off, you realize how irritating it is to have all of the equipment on different levels especially if you want to do a circuit work out. I just lost my motivation going back and forth, back and forth, it is relatively expensive compared to other gyms, and after a while I just stopped going and got a treadmill, punching bag, and a set of weights at home. The ladies room is not great, very basic but at least if you bring your own lock the locker is free, but there is no where to relax and have a powerbar after your workout, it feels like a sterile environment designed to get you in and out as quick as possible. Save your cash and go for a more traditional gym, if your goal is getting in shape.