Puregym London Oval

My favourite PureGym location. The use of space is fantastic — it’s well laid out and spacious, with every piece of equipment you could need, and well-dedicated areas for different workouts. There are always plenty of staff around, and they’re super friendly and approachable, which creates a really welcoming atmosphere. Like any commercial gym, the toilets could be better, and it can get pretty busy at peak times, but that’s to be expected. Overall, it’s an excellent place to train, and I’d highly recommend it!

The gym is very well managed and has a decent range of equipment ... but if you are training at a busy time during the day (avoiding the horror of the evening peak time) it is still frustrating just how few weight plates are available (thus taking valuable training time looking for the ones required for your 3 or 4 sets on a piece of equipment). The gym is also too cold year round but especially during the winter months. In particular, the large group training area at the far end of the gym and the far end of the weights area.

Okay overall, the gym itself is quite big and the machines are decent, lots of free weights which I appreciate. Can be crowded sometimes, especially on Mondays, but Thursdays onward ar usually pretty chill. Appreciate the staff helping to clean up the weights periodically. Women’s changing rooms and bathroom are usually in a good state. My main issue is that it seems there’s no air-con or it’s not operated properly?? Why is it so hot in the cardio and women’s areas and the windows are wide open when it’s 30+ degrees outside? Is the air-con not running? The coolest area is the changing room for some reason. I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t take care of this in the middle of a heatwave, it makes it impossible to workout there on some days.

The gym is pretty large, allowing for most people to access equipment they need. It does however get quite busy. I enjoy the women’s-only section and think the concerns round construction have probably been resolved. My issues are that there is little ventilation around the cardio area, making it stinky. However, I go in the morning meaning it’s not as bad (as with other Pure Gym locations, post-work the gym is particularly smelly) - though it’s quite the shock walking out of the women’s area which is far better ventilated! A fair pain point is that some gym-goers here don’t seem to understand proper gym etiquette. So many people are not cleaning up after themselves, in both the women’s area and the ‘main’ gym. Staff is also not available early in the morning to help clean up (I have seen them doing this, but it’s also ridiculous that people aren’t cleaning up after themselves). I shouldn’t have to be adding time to my workout to cleanup after other people.

The music is too loud, especially in the women’s area, it feels like a nightclub rather than a gym. I wear noise cancelling headphones and put my music on loud volume and I still can hear more of the generic stuff that they are blasting, through the speakers, rather than the music that I’m playing in my headphones. It’s so uncomfortable to the point I’m considering joining a different gym further away. The gym is always insanely packed, if you pay more for a membership that allows peak access, you actually can’t do your work out because there are no available machines. Ventilation is poor, especially in the cardio area, the windows are always covered in condensation, the air feels hot and smelly. PureGym used to be the less quality but at least an affordable option, but these days membership here costs same as at any other gym. But it would be bearable if they at least turned the music down.