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| Bourton Mill - Health
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Richard Rosser visits Gavin Peck, manager of Bourton Mill Health and Leisure Club to find out more about what the club has to offer and why membership is so flexible, and then bravely signs himself up for a spin class.
As far as central locations go, you can’t get much more central than Bourton Mill on the High Street in Oxford. Sitting in its first, second and third floor location, not one hundred yards from Carfax, this lively club is a lively mix of young professionals and students, both young and old. As Gavin confirms, "The club is open to a wide selection of people. We welcome corporate members, but we also have a wide range of students, both English and overseas.
“We have three separate floors; the first floor is predominantly the weights area coupled with the changing area, sauna, steam room and Jacuzzi. The next floor is predominantly cardio theatre with a spin room. On the top floor, we have the main studio. We also offer massage therapy, which comes as an extra to the membership. Our memberships are split into two; there is the full membership, whether you want it with classes or without (we also offer a couples membership, which is quite popular); and of course we have the student membership, with or without classes.
“The main selling point for this gym is that it is a flexible gym with flexible memberships and there are no contracts. This is a huge attraction for transient students, residents and individuals here for very short periods of time.”
And this ‘no tie-in’ policy is obviously successful, with a membership averaging around thirteen hundred at any given time. When customers join up, they receive a free induction and a free fitness programme, which is updated every month to six weeks. There are also five personal trainers on site.
So, it’s a gym, centrally located, with great facilities, flexible memberships, a wide range of members, and so what about classes? Gavin gives a full run-down: “In terms of classes, we do yoga, spinning, Pilates, cardio-step, and we are just trying a pole dance class. We have over thirty five classes a week so it is quite demanding.”
I ask what spinning is (why couldn't I just keep mum?), and he says “You should try it!” with a devilish grin and a ‘Run Fat Boy Run’ look on his face, daring me to do it, but knowing I might not be up for it. So after two weeks of pathetic excuses and no-shows, I finally ventured into the fray and hid myself in the back corner of the Spin room, hiding my face behind my water bottle.
But, you know what? Despite my moaning, I loved it. So what next Mr Peck? How about the pole dance class?
Reviewed by Richard Rosser |
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