Overview

Down an oddly long and tree lined  single lane road on the edge of London lies David Lloyd Sudbury Hill, set next to a golf course this David Lloyd the last time I visited was feeling a bit tired, a little rusty and all together not like a David Lloyd, but I knew that back in 2016 when I finished my last set that they were due a re-furb and now I have been back.

The gym itself is split over 2 floors in an impressive and large unit, with the changing rooms, swimming pools and normal downstairs amenities we are seeing such as café and then the main gym area upstairs. This is another of the David Lloyd's where we find that swimming pool is the centre point of the gym with everything else in a large ring around it. One minor difference here is that the area with everything else on is open over the pool, this gives a nice open feel but the obvious downside is the humidity and the resulting impact on the equipment, I will come back to this.

The gym area circling the pool has a new layout, retaining the free weights section at one end of the rectangle/oval (shorter side) with cardio equipment down one side and  a synergy/functional area down the other long side and the cable setup at the other short end this looks really attractive. But sadly once again any change between using a bench press and a press machine results in a minor quest to Narnia to be achieved.  There is a small selection of cable equipment down by the free weights/plate machines but not the full selection as it used to be or I have found in other David Lloyds.

The weights section is reasonably supplied with one of everything you would expect, along with this there are 2 squat racks with cages/platforms and one without along with a couple of slightly different lat pulldown/row machines than I have found else where. To one side you also have the full free weights/dumbells with about 4 benches and the dumbells go up to 50kg but are in this gym unlike any other I have yet trained at incremented in2.5kg not 2kg… This is a minor bug bear but threw me right off!

The plate loading machines are what we see in a lot of David Lloyd this one with a decline chest press and a normal selection of pull down, row which are all the newer refurb setup.
The cable machines at the other end of the gym have an ample selection with peck deck, leg extension, row and a few others to boot.

The main challenge this gym has with all of this kit which isn't nearly as bad now as it was is damp and chlorine, with the pool being open the last time I came here I could see the rust puffing out of the bars I used as I re-racked them, the open top to the pool while attractive had left everything covered in rust. This is vastly improved now and everything felt a lot cleaner but I do worry a little for the future…

The cardio equipment is ample here with a normal selection of steppers, cross trainers, treadmills and a few TVs in front of those who don't have screens which has been missing in the last couple of places.

The synergy section here has gone all out with sled, steps, punch bags and looks really fun and was one of the busiest areas with the gym clearly making the most of this.

As ever with David Lloyd the rest of the facilities are ample with a  café, wifi which is very good, plenty of rooms for classes here, the pool along with outdoor tennis and indoor squash courts. The changing rooms had been picked up a bit in the refurb and were nice to start so felt really good to get in and I felt clean coming out which didn’t always quite feel the case.
The refurb here was possibly one of the most needed of any David Lloyd I have been to and they have really hit the nail on the head with what needed doing to make this place feel fantastic again.

All up this is a good, solid selection of equipment with only minor annoyance in layout. The main challenge you may find here in summer is the humidity and over time I do worry about the impact this will have on the machines but if the club is committed as I know the staff are to maintaining a great experience I know this will be looked after.



How busy?

For a David Lloyd at 6am pretty busy! I was impressed at the number of people who were in/out, the large space doesn't make it feel crowded but potentially expect to wait for bits of kit

Could be worth checking in an evening ahead of time given this as if the morning is anything to go by it could be a slow evening.



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
Set of plate machines including
Chest
Row
Shoulder press
Cable machines including
Low row
Cable cross over



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


Pricing
As ever David Lloyd can vary by location on where your base is, recently talking to a friend they got a starting rate of
£90 for standard
£70 per person for couples
I have as other reviews had between £60-90 as the range and worth a haggle


Other bits
Plenty of parking and feels amazingly peaceful for where you are in London here which I always found odd, very out of the way which is nice
Not a bad place to stop off on a journey into London to break it as I often did given that you can drop off the M4 to get here


https://www.davidlloyd.co.uk/clubs/sudbury-hill
https://www.facebook.com/DavidLloydSudburyHill/?ref=br_rs

Overview
Set just south of London between busy roads and housing areas I found a building which from the outside I wasn't sure if I had accidentally found DLs office or a gym. It's red brick exterior almost putting me off I decided instead to go and have a bit of a session in Kidbrooke Village.

As with a lot of David Lloyd's this facility is set out over 2 floors, with the downstairs containing the bulk of studios, the indoor pool, café and changing rooms. With a section of the upstairs housing the main gym area, this gym suffers from the same challenge I am finding with a few David Lloyds which is a minor complaint, navigation. I had a good wander around the café and had to guess that the gym was upstairs, it’s a small ask but for the simple minds out there could we please have some more signs…

Once my poor addled 5am start brain had navigated me upstairs I found a rather odd layout but one I am seeing more, with a synergy to one side surrounded by cardio equipment, a main cardio area with a stretching section and then the weights area up some stairs including the free weights and cable machines.
That said this DL does mix this up a bit,  there is a second free weights area which houses a couple of benches (also seen at DL Reading and Oxford so far), but the other minor oddity here was that the benches (flat, incline, decline) were all down a set of steps where the rest of the free weights were up the stairs. This isn't the end of the world but in a plat hogging situation this could be a bit of a pain.

The rest of the free weights area was set out with a good set of dumbbells up to 50kg set out in front of a large and well-lit mirror (great lighting!), with the plate lifting equipment to one side. I was a little disappointed to only see 1 cage and 1 squat rack in here where other David Lloyds have had a bit more.
This appears to have missed some of the weight kit refurb that other places have seen, though the synergy is new the plate lift kit is the older hammer strength and the cable kit is a bit older.

The cable equipment is functional and there is a good range but with nothing new or random, a good solid set is present and a surprising number and variety of different handles and grips for the cable machines! I found about 5 variants to use for my lat pull down, I was not complaining.

The cardio equipment was a good selection of quiet new kit with a few unique pieces of ski trainers which I haven't seen in many places and a huge number of rowing machines. The stretching area was quite large for a David Lloyd, in fact probably the largest I have seen which I think could be why the weights area felt a bit smaller. All this kit was clean and fresh and the wifi for cardio was strong as ever, being new these almost all had screens built in so there aren't many TVs about which I prefer.

All in this gym was a small David Lloyd as they go for a weights area, it felt like some of the space could have been recycled from the stretching into cable kit to free up room for more free weights of plate kit. That said the gym wasn't too busy, I got my work done and there are a huge number of mirrors in every direction which always makes me a happy Ben. 

In summary you can get your work done here, but if this places gets busy you might feel the pinch with a smaller weights area if that’s your poison. The other facilities at the David Lloyd may make up the difference for you as ever depending on what you are after !


How busy?
Training from around 6-8 it was pretty quiet, there were a few other people training in pairs but not anything to interrupt what I was doing.
​
Equipment
Free weights area
2 squat racks (1  with deadlift platforms)
1 flat bench, 1 incline, 1 decline
4 free benches
Dumbells up to 50kg
Set of plate machines including
Chest
Row
Shoulder press
Cable machines including
Low row
Cable cross over


Facilities
Outdoor Tennis courts
Indoor Pool
Heated Outdoor Pool
Café
Steam room/sauna
Changing/showers
Studios (inc spin)
Free weights area
Weights machines
Cable machines
Cardio area
Synergy 360

Pricing
As ever David Lloyd can vary by location on where your base is, recently talking to a friend they got a starting rate of
£90 for standard
£70 per person for couples
I have as other reviews had between £60-90 as the range and worth a haggle
Remember there is a premium over this for tennis/squash etc

Other bits
Parking was ample and not busy at all
I got lost in reception again and scared people looking like a weirdo
It’s a small DL as they go compared to something like Oxford


https://www.davidlloyd.co.uk/clubs/kidbrooke-village
https://www.facebook.com/DavidLloydKidbrooke/