JAGS Sports Club

Thanks to all for leaving your comments. We always try and respond to member requests and feedback so please keep them coming. For us we want to really build relationships with members as you guys are at the heart of our community. I am more than happy for anyone to drop me a line with a complaint or an idea. That way we can either fix it or try a different approach.
With regards to Anna S...thanks for your comments. We do monitor classes that have larger numbers and move them when they hit a limit. Let me know which class you are concerned about and we will see what we can do about moving it over. My email address is clubmanager@jagssportsclub.co.uk .

I have been a member for nearly 5 years and I think Jags is a fantastic facility. The staff and trainers are always friendly and helpful and I'm impressed by the work Andy is doing to improve the club. The fitness classes do vary in quality and they should put the more popular ones in a bigger space but otherwise I always find the club pleasant and good value for money.

My family moved here a year ago from central London and I think Jags Gym is one of the best benefits of living in Dulwich. As working parents I find that the classes are at unusually very convenient times (most other gym classes start at 7 rather than 8, which is a bit early to get back to from work). Most importantly, the children's classes offered are fantastic both in terms of quality and the variety offered, as well as very convenient weekend times. Hats off to Danny the soccer coach who knows the name of every child by heart and is 200% enthusiastic. I also had my son's birthday party at Jags last summer which was really reasonably priced and the staff were a brilliant help. Keep up the good work Andy and team!

JAGS is my local gym and it fits perfectly as my fitness bookends to the working day and week. As a climber, I was blown away by the quality of the climbing wall they have just put in. Converting squash courts to climbing walls is an art upon itself (and most get it very very wrong) and they have somehow turned it into some Tardis inspired place with great bouldering problems (from easy to burly to technical challenges) and 8 roped lines on a 9m wall. Kevin, the climbing manager and course leader, is solid and inspiring. No macho stuff, just encouragement and guidance to quickly and safely get you into climbing. I have seen courses run for 7 year olds to 60 year olds (no joke) and everyone has a blast. Check it out. You just may discover a new hobby and find yourself in the Peak District climbing a boulder before you know it.

I have been a member of JAGS for nearly a year and I am very happy with the facilities and staff - I think it is a great local health club. My only complaint would be to echo the complaints above about the cost of inviting a guest for a game of squash, which at £8 I think is too expensive and unfortunately is actually making me re-consider my membership for cheaper alternatives. Although I am a member I feel obliged to pay my partners £8 guest fee on alternate games as this is more than the cost of us both playing as guests (£7.50 and no membership required) at his local club - The Bridge Leisure Centre.

I have been a member of Jags for several years. The facilities are great, but when phoning up in the evening to book courses etc, it is made more difficult than ot soild be and often we have been told to ring back in the daytime. This is not good or fair and also very difficult when we are at work! Most of the staff in person are friendly, but on the phone the service is very poor. This needs to improve.

I've read the complaints from the disgruntled and thought I should write a review about it.
I honestly can say that some people are never satified. I strongly suspect that these people are of the type that are quick to complain about the level of service for the £4.99 three course Sunday meal in the local or possibly the ones who hide when the carol singers come calling.

Stop moaning, keep training........ and get a life !!

I have only just come across this site and the comments posted here. I am amazed! I have been a member since the pool opened and absolutely love it- it is a superb facility, so nice that I look forward to my daily swim with enthusiasm. Yes, there have been one or two ups and downs particularly in the early years but it would be remarkable if there were never problems. In the last 2/3 years the service has really improved and our issues have been addressed. The staff on the swimming side are helpful and attentive. ( I don't use the gym so don't know about this). I have noticed on the other hand that some of the members are not always courteous, don't say good morning and don;'t greet the staff even though they are always there before 6.30 very day- a very early rise! Some members are inconsiderate to other pool users and do not observe lane discipline and resent lifeguards asking them to desist. Given that some of the issues from 3 years ago have been largely resolved why not remove the old comments, start this year with a fresh set of comments and see how people feel now.
Thanks to all the staff for their work especially the early mornings.

I'm both a member and a regular customer of the astro pitches (I organise a 5 a side game every week, and have done for the last 7 years). I also live and have grown up in the local area.

I appreciate what has been said above. In my view, Andy is doing a good job with improving the club. I've dealt with a lot of people over the years at JAGS, and I feel like it is a more pleasant to deal with, and better run, organisation than it has been in the past. Andy is always good to deal with in person.

In my time living elsewhere I've been a member of a number of gyms, and I think that JAGS is good value for the facilities (compared especially to Fitness First et al).

There's my 2 cents... Onwards and upwards JAGS ;)

I've been there with my daughter and I can't say I recognise the place that some of the people complaining are talking about. It seemed fine to me and at least on a par with the local fusion centres. Albeit they are all very nice now due to the investment particularly in Dulwich and Camberwell. Anyway I do feel we are very lucky to have so many health and fitness options in the local area and if this one isn't to your liking then there are many other options. For myself, I think the place is run well and has a good range of facilities and activities available for a reasonable price.

We love using jags sports facility. The pool is lovely and although it can get crowded people are well behaved, which is more than I can say at our local pool. I have only ever found the staff very polite.the children's holiday courses are very well priced.we love it. Not sure why everyone else so miserable!

Dear Jags Manager

I think the facilities are superb, and the service has improved slightly as I just re-joined recently. There are just to two things, I would like to point out
1- please assign someone to supervise the gym and provide general guidance to your members;

2- you should look into lowering the fees for guests.£8.00 is far too much as a member for example can book a squash court for one hour, why his guest has to pay since the member will be occupying the court regarless whether he/she on their own or not, this surely applies to tennis, table tennis, but does not apply to swimming, gym, dancing, trampoline etc.

Thanks for your comments. I know I am biased here as I am the Club Manager but if I take my current position out of the equation, as a former competitive swimmer who has swam in many of the pools in the area I am convinced that we have the nicest pool in South London.

We have an Ultra Violet pool sanitation system that ensures the pool doesn’t reek of chlorine, we have constant warm showers, we have nice under floor heating in the changing area, all our lockers work, we have fantastic surroundings...I could go on. As a resident of Lewisham and after working in Lambeth and Southwark I know a great many of the facilities and if you are looking to swim in a recently renovated Victorian pool or a pool that was built in the 70’s or 80’s that looks like a barn then that’s fine. But a great many of the local Authority pools are not that great in service or quality.

Rosemary’s comments were generated from experiences that happened over six years ago. That’s a long time past. Since then we have an entirely new management team and new operational staff. As the Club Manager I take what I do very seriously. Like most service providers we sometimes get it wrong, but I am very committed to making this club a facility that is as accessible and as user friendly as possible. Should any one of the members of the club have an issue with the service then am I always contactable and ready to listen to comments or criticisms.

If anyone reading this is unsure and wants to find out for themselves, then please check out the Club’s virtual tour www.pan3sixty.co.uk/virtual_tours/jags/ and if that doesn’t convince you then I am more than willing to offer readers a free family swim so you can see firsthand the quality and value for money the membership and facilities offer. To claim your free family swim please contact me on clubmanager@jagssportsclub.co.uk . Naturally this offer is limited to one free family swim per family and will be available for a few months only.

me and my wife have been at jags for more than four years and we think it is very good value for money. we mainly use the swimming pool and we find the time slots quite suitable, I don't agree with the comments above.

Staff has been generally helpful so i don't agree with the above too.

On one thing I agree: price for members to bring one friend in for a game of tennis or squash should be lowered ( it is £8).

I was amazed to read the complaints that people have made about the club. I absolutely love it and think myself very lucky to have such sports facility near to where I live and where I can park easily. I love the pool especially and have only ever encountered pleasant and helpful staff. I wonder if some of the people who are unhappy have ever used other facilities in our area which are underfunded, overused and poorly staffed.

We were members of the club for a few years around 6 years ago and mainly used the pool which unfortunately we found to be off limits for much of the period when it was meant to be in use. When we could use it the changing rooms and much of the pool area itself stank of urine which we understood to be a problem with the drains. Despite many complaints nothing changed. Bear in mind these were facilities at a top private girls school!
There was also a spate of robberies from lockers; we never lost things ourselves but apparently it was a big problem. It always beggared belief how this went on for so long given that everyones details were on file and it wouldn't have been difficult to do some background checks. My partner was keen on booking the squash courts but after a few months he turned up with his friend to find the pricing structure suddenly changed and the hire much too expensive. There seemed to be row after row about something and we left totally dissatisfied with our time spent there as well as a lot of money. Seemingly nothing has been learnt and nothing has changed. This experience really made me appreciate public pools and facilities and reminded me not to automatically think that private was always best. I have since rediscovered some excellent public pools in Lewisham and Southwark, and I know if something goes wrong every effort will be made to get it fixed. To me JAGS just wanted to reap the rewards without doing any work.

I googled the club in order to check out sports facilities for my pre schooler but having read through the comments I;m not sure if I want to risk any more dissatisfaction.

Thanks Fred. In reply to your comments, yes we do have private swim lessons at programmed times and it’s in a sixth of the pool (one lane) not a quarter. Bather loading guidelines states we cannot go over 100 people in total using the pool at any one time and the busiest records we have are 70 swimmers on a Sunday family session. So 200 is a slight misrepresentation.
The street lighting issue along the driveway is controlled by Southwark council and although we do lodge corrective action notices it’s left with their timetable team to then correct the issue.
The Spinner Dryer was looked into but felt more thought as to its location was needed.
I can also reassure anyone reading this blog that if a comment card is popped into our Suggestion / Comment card box or an email sent through to me or even if a phone call is made to me then we are certainly very interested to hear from you.

The club makes 5 pounds an hour renting out lanes to swimming coaches.
You often have 2 children having a lesson in a quarter of the pool while 200 people are jammed in the rest of the pool.

You make suggestions and nothing changes.
It took them two years to fix a broken street light at a quite dangerous junction. Still no swimming costume spinner.

I understand Andy is making significant improvements thought these are not yet making as much of an impact as we'd hope. Simon & Charlotte's comments still hold true... there is rarely a staff member in the gym (let alone one who appears engaged in sport) & the TV's are still tuned to stations not availible on the individual screens which are still often out of order. That said, it is cheaper than most gyms though there isn;t much competition in the area. The hours aren't a problem to me & I agree with Alans comments about the opening times of the swimming pool. Where it goes wrong there is how really very expensive it is to take a friend who isn;t a member for a quick swim or to play badminton - that is NOT £1.20!!!
I quite like the fact that there isn;t expensive sauna/towels but they are badly let down by their staff who when they are around are disinterested. There is a brilliant personal trainer (my namesake) but you wouldn;t know by the website that he is availible - Andy, if I were you i would brag about this gem!!
It is only too expensive in when the service is considered - the equipment is great, location fab, showers & opening times perfect. Classes, staff, openess for guests - rubbish.

I agree with the comments made by Simon in February. This situation has not changed. We still have often machines that dont work, TV channels that show on the big screens but not available on the individual machines for example Sky news, and also the fact that there is rarely a member of staff on duty in the gym.

Hi to all who have commented about us. I am the Club Manager of JAGS Sports Club and take all comment written here very seriously. As you know we are a duel use pool which we share with James Allen's Girls School, who are our governing body. Saying that we are an entirely independent organisation with a core team of 15 individuals ranging from receptionists to lifeguards to Upper Management.
I am disappointed with the views expressed on customer service which, since my appointment in March I have been very keen to improve on. We pride ourselves in having a very nice facility and it would be a shame to let ourselves down in the area of service delivery. So it is something I will continue to focus on.
Some of the other comments regarding price are inaccurate. I think if prospective members will look at our local competitors we are in fact one of the cheapest. Dulwich College which runs a facility along the same lines as JAGS (duel use), has an individual membership subscription rate of £32 per month which is not inclusive of any aerobic classes (this would cost you a further £20.50 taking the total for a fully inclusive membership price to over £52 per month). At JAGS our fully inclusive price is only £37 (£1.20 a day). This is in fact considerably cheaper. If also researched, I am almost certain that Dulwich Fusion is possibly more expensive also.
Regarding lane swimming. We have over 3 hours of dedicated adult only lane swimming daily. One hour in the morning and two at night. This is hardly a pathetic amount. Between the hours of 8pm and 9.45pm every day adults can enjoy an uninterrupted lane swim session.
This month we have held a series of ‘Youth’ focused activities throughout all of November. These range from Gym sessions, Go Karting, Kids Yoga, Dance Sessions and many more. These were at massively reduced rates to encourage children from the local area to give the sessions ago. So far its been very well attended.
Also I have the feeling that people in the area misunderstand the reasons why we operate. Countless times I get comments regarding the Sports Club being a greedy profit orientated business. Yes we do make a profit but each and every surplus pound generated goes towards an assisted placement scheme for talented children who’s families maybe aren’t able to pay for them to attend James Allen’s Girls School. So we are in fact a very community based club.

For the amount you pay, the swimming pool is available for a pathetically short time, especially if you want to lane swim.

JAGS sports club does not really want to do anything much to keep their customers. They are notoriously bad at offering evening classes that cater for working people, the very ones that could truly benefit of a club like this which is open to the general public during restricted times. The quality of those classes is also very random. The main gym is never manned so there's nobody there to ask any questions or in fact to get help in an emergency. It is a real shame as the club could be a real asset to this area with so many families and young people. It is a missed opportunity really.

yes, unfortunately we have also experienced bad service and mix ups when trying to book children's courses. We have had so much misinformation from people who don't really understand what's going on properly. It's far too expensive to be worth it, for the quality of service we received.

JAGS Sports Club is far from cheap and the level of service provided over the past 5 years has been poor value for money. The generally poor level of service has been reflected in the constant traffic of unskilled, inexperienced and unmotivated staff and management joining and then leaving the club. Constant glitches with bookings, incorrect information and a general apathy to paying customers and customer feedback.

agree with all that. in addition, drinks and snacks machines supply only coke and "bad" snacks, no healthy options, no interest taken by management to turn it into a truly nice gym - which it has the potential to do

this should be a really good local gym but is spoilt by lack of interest of the team who run it. The trainers are usually present but never provide advice or guidance. Itis disappointing that the important touches are missing which are really frustrating - 3 tv's on mute & on channels that aren't available on the machines (subtitles would lesson the frustrations), too loud radio playing over, often broken machines, too busy, the classes are of variable quality - those which are good are over full. Such a shame