Editor – I was just about to book myself in for a session at the gym when I received an email so baffling I thought April Fool’s Day had arrived early. Another price hike? For what, exactly? The invisible swimming pool? The mythical steam room? The ghost of the hot tub past?
Since joining, I’ve watched our local leisure facilities become less appealing with every passing month. No sauna. No hot tub. No pool. The gym at the Queen’s Hall is overcrowded more often than not, and while the staff are friendly and do what they can, the whole experience now feels less like wellness and more like penance.
This is the second price increase since I joined, and onneitheroccasionhasthere been any sign of improved facilities. Quite the opposite, in fact. At this point, I’m not sure if I’m paying for a fitness membership or simply the right to be mildly disappointed in new ways.
And before anyone suggests the cost of living, utilities, or unicorn feed. I’ve seen the salary figures on
the council website. I know what some of the liveArgyll management are earning. No wonder the dumbbells are light: all the heavy lifting’s going into the payroll.
Let’s be honest, for the prices we’re now paying, members should be getting 24-hour fob-access like other modern gyms. Not just hours that vanish on public holidays, or a festive timetable that makes you wonder if the machines have gone to visit family for Christmas.
I get it, council-run means council contracts. But why can’t the gym itself be accessible out of hours via a fob system? No staff needed. Just common sense. It works elsewhere. We could have something decent. Something functional. Something that makes you want to renew your membership instead of writing to the paper. Again.
Susan Reid-Smalley Cardio realist, reforming sauna dreamer, and woman who just wants her fob and a foam roller
