Overview
As a general public center and up until a year or so ago just a swimming pool the center here has been through quite an impressive transformation to add a full gym facility!

As gyms go this tends to fit into what I would term a "community" gym, these are perhaps not as focused on your more  "lifting" types and are setup to facilitate a more casual gym goer.

The facility itself is split across 2 floors, the ground floor with the swimming pool along with food/café and changing areas, the upper floor housing the gym area.

The gym area is not the largest even for a community center having been the main piece built on, the floor is split between cardio equipment which takes center place mainly with treadmills/bikes, stretching down one side and then free weights against the far wall.
As with most community centers there are no plate loading machines, no flat/incline/decline bench, just a smith machine and the free weights are limited to a max of 40kg. That said I was happy to find a squat rack with enough plates to load up a pretty good weight. The free weights dumbell area was a little squashed and probably not good for more than about 2 or 3 people at a time using wider ranges of motions.

This is again pushing people towards the isolation machines or dumbbell exercises, with a few free floating benches and 2 cable pulley machines which are a little close together it is a center which meets your needs. The isolation machines are a reasonable range covering the basic movements with a couple of lat pull down machines as well, it did feel like the setup though not extensive had been considered to give a maximum set of variety and his as many muscles with the space available as possible.

The stretching area is quite oddly placed just down one side of the gym, I get it needs to go somewhere but I was a bit confused and it was heavily populated with PTs instructing people and I never really got a spot on it.

The cardio equipment is set out well enough and have TVs which is fantastic compared to some locations that have gone a bit cheaper with these!

The two main challenges I had here were first off parking, it was totally rammed with the car park the same size as when this was just a community pool I had to park at a paid for carpark, I could still see the gym but this is another cost that would need to be considered.

The other challenge, the biggest one, was that to be a guest I had to sign up. Now this was free, but before I could go into the gym I had to complete about 40 minutes of online video instruction on how to use each machine!! After this I had to receive a card at the door when I arrived, pay to go in and then receive texts until the end of days offering me to sign up or do a class. This was something I fortunately had the time to do but was not a very easy gym to just get a guest pass and go, I get protecting themselves but for someone travelling this really doesn’t work. (note: this can all be done online though at any point and then collected which was a massive plus and far better than being trained on arrival)

All in for a new build in a small town its got what you need and gets the job done, the price is ok for a one off visit for me.


How busy?

I trained in an evening here and it was quite busy.
The cardio equipment wasn’t too bad but the weights and cable kit were a queueing system for most of the time there.

I can imagine given the size of the weights area that it wouldn't take a lot to make it feel busy and with a thriving PT community I would pick your times carefully


Equipment
Free weights area
Dumbbells up to 40kg
1 squat rack
1 smith machine
3 free benches
Limited plates
No plate loading machines
Cable machines  including
Chest press
Shoulder press
Lat pull down


Facilities
Café
Swimming pool
Gym
Exercise studio
Free weights area
Cable machines
Cardio area


Pricing
Complicated!
I signed up as pay as you go for free and then £6 a visit for a gym pay as you go


Aside from pay as you go the price ranges from £33 for students to £42 a month depending on what you want access to


Other bits

I cannot impart how fiddly the online sign up process was and that I also had to get a card printed on arrival, this is not being a guest you must sign up to attend the gym.

The parking was crazy

It was a little bit of a sweaty box at the time I visited quite warm

https://www.everyoneactive.com/centre/wickford-swim-and-fitness-centre/​

https://www.facebook.com/EveryoneActiveBasildon/?ref=br_rs

Overview
The first of the London David Lloyds visited, located inside a shopping center with incredibly direct links to the underground (Fulham Road station literally inside the shopping centre!) this was one of the easiest commutes to a London gym I have ever had!

Split across 2 floors this gym offers an impressive array of equipment for a central London gym though navigating your way around the facilities wasn’t the most straightforward of activities!
With the lower floor with changing rooms, café, studios, changing rooms and an indoor pool! (I was impressed I have to say) and the upper floor housing free weights, cardio, a large boxing studio by DL standards and an array of cable kit this is a well stock gym.

The free weights are in reasonable supply with a couple of cages for squat, 2 of each dumbell weights up to 50kg and though long mirrors are missing you can get one of the elusive "checking yourself out" spots to focus more. There isn't a huge range of plate loading machines but at least 1 of each of the standard affair along with a similar number of incline/flat benches.
Though again the layout here means you can end up doing a lot of farmers walk trying to locate and consolidate the plates you want which wasn't the most fun.

The one addition to this is the weird smith machine which tracks the bar forward and back (hadn't found one of these before!) which does give you the option to actually use it quite freely as another bench.
The separate cable room is incredibly well equipped with a great set of equipment though it is located quite out of the way of the free weights so super sets were a bit of a pain.

The cardio equipment though has to be mentioned for the widest and weirdest range I have found in a gym yet! Going from water rowers, to hand water rowers, to octane ellipticals! There is plenty of normal kit but I was very impressed by the random selection of equipment even if its only 2 of each I would say if you are after a more particular set for sport training it is definitely worth a look!

Again as other David Lloyds which got the refurbishment last year a synergy is present in the middle of the cardio area and the boxing room is well equipped to boot.

The changing rooms and other facilities as ever I lightly touched but were clean and in good repair.

I got the train but it would appear parking is not free here and is owned by the shopping center, though I doubt many people would be driving in if anyone could update me on this that would be fantastic!

How busy?
Training first thing on a Saturday it was pretty quiet in the weights and cable areas. I was actually very impressed and the layout means you don't often feel crowded.

Not visited at other times.

Equipment
Free weights area
3 squat racks (2 with deadlift platforms)
1 flat bench, 1 incline, 1 decline
4 free benches
Dumbells up to 50kg x2 at each weight
Set of plate machines including
Chest
Row
Shoulder press
Cable machines including
Low row
Cable cross over
Overall massive range of cables in separate room very good


Facilities
Café
Swimming pool
Steam room/sauna
Changing/showers
Studios (inc spin)
Free weights area
Weights machines
Cable machines
Cardio area
Synergy 360


Pricing
Not sure if this is a home DL if the pricing will be more premium as I believe some London ones are
Standard DL is around £81 a month for multi gym so worth negotiating

Other bits
Has solid wifi which as a member is useful in London
The parking is going to be pricey if you are mad enough to drive in London
I cannot state how easy this is for the tube!!!