Virgin Active

Pool or pulpit… that is the question!
Here at the Virgin Active in Repton Park, they placed a swimming pool right inside a church… how cool is that? When I first entered the pool I was really taken aback and quite mesmerized — it felt a little sacrilegious, but at the same time I very much enjoyed swimming in this beautiful environment.
The gym area itself is also quite neat, as you sweat underneath a prettily-​decorated vaulted ceiling. There’s plenty of exercise equipment, although the weight-​lifting area is a little small.
This Virgin Active gym is in Repton Park, which was the site of the fomrer Claybury Hospital — a psychiatric hospital. Apparently there’s still the ghosts of the past haunting these premises…

I joined this Virgin as it is my local club about a month ago. This Virgin club is nestled within the closed community (Repton Park), the best way to get here would be by car, although there is a bus stop just outside Repton Park it is still quite a walk when you are inside.
This gym has a Costa Coffee inside next to the reception that also includes food (this can get slightly irritating when working out and smelling food) o_​O
The gym has quite a few treadmills, bikes, rowing machines, free weights, TRX etc, each machine has a tv screen with the ability to plug in your IPhone/​IPod which allows you to listen to your music but also you can store your workout data to your phone too.
The most amazing area in this gym is the swimming pool, it is absolutely stunning, the whole gym used to be a chapel for the mental institution, so the décor inside is beautiful. Within the pool area, you also have the sauna and steam room, along with some sun loungers and some juice to drink.
The only gripe I have is that there is no air-​conditioning (but I don’t think there is anything they can do about that due to the building structure).