Bannatyne Health Club and Spa - Wakefield - Wakefield

Kat A.

The positives- Binta in the spa was lovely and treatment was nice.
I spent £115 for 2 of us through virgin for only 35 mins of treatment.
Negatives-
Before we even walked in there was a man standing outside the door vaping in a bathrobe…
We came to use the gym beforehand. Toilets were dirty, all taps were lose and facilities tired. The treadmill in the gym needed servicing and was very wobbly, wasn’t able to use it for a run. The cleaning spray bottle didn’t work. The gym supervisor was sitting in his office on his phone not looking out for customers.
The gym floor was dirty, including a toenail clipping on the floor. Yikes!
We didn’t understand how to use the services, the lady on reception spoke so softy and quickly with such a rehearsed speech we had to get her to repeat things three times. Before waiting for our services in the relaxation room a big man was using his phone on loud half undressed which was uncomfortable in a dimly lit room, that didn’t seem safe.
When changing after treatment one of the staff just walked into the room before I was dressed.
We opted not to stay and use any other facilities as we were turned off by the whole experience and wouldn’t risk a potential pool if the hygiene levels were the same as the rest of the facilities.
Overpriced and tired. Would not return.

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Update 05.03.25: Have emailed as per their response below and not heard anything back.

Tim P.

We had booked a spa day through Virgin Experience days. We arrived and went to the spa entrance. The room was dark and no one was there to meet us, after waiting a few minutes we went to the main reception area which looked more like a cafe. We booked in and got given our towels and robes (one of them was missing the tie rope for the dressing gown and the flip flops were so cheap they rubbed your feet immediately making it very uncomfortable to walk with. The lady at the desk was stood quite far away from us and spoke quietly so we could barely hear what she was saying. We went round to the changing rooms to get changed, came back out and wandered around trying to find the pool, with no luck eventually asking a staff member who said it was through the changing rooms which wasn't obviously sign posted. The pool area was more like a swimming training area, with ropes to mark off the 'fast lane' for swimming. We got in the jacuzzi and both our eyes started stinging immediately due to the high levels of chlorine in the jacuzzi. We could only stay in for around 10 minutes before having to leave the pool area, we didn't even try to use the uninviting steam room or sauna. We decided to go round to the spa 'relaxation' area before our treatments. This involved walking back to reception, through the cafe and almost back into the car park to get to the spa area. Still no one was there so we had to find the relaxation room ourselves, we felt as though we shouldn't be in there at that time due to the lack of staffing. However in the spa reception and relaxation room, you could hear staff members talking & laughing through the walls/doors in other rooms, making it less than relaxing! We went through to the spa reception about 15 mins before our treatment (as advised), still no staff members there so we waited... 2 ladies finally arrived at exactly 1pm (time we had booked for) and told us to go to the relaxation room to wait for our treatments there. They looked as though they had just arrived for work. They eventually called us through to separate rooms for our treatments. These were okay however my partner had a towel wrapped round her head during a facial, and said she could sense the masseuse using this to wipe her own face/nose! At the end of the treatments we were told we could use the pool etc again if we wanted, however we just wanted out of there as soon as we could. This was sold as a 'luxurious' spa day, however was quite the opposite - the changing rooms were uncomfortable, the pool area was more like a public swimming baths and the walk to and from the spa felt as though you shouldn't be where you were/were in the wrong place and just generally felt like a very awkward experience. I definitely wouldn't return.

Kathryn M.

Went for our anniversary, excellent service from the moment we booked. Well equipped gym, lovely and clean pool and spa facilities. Not overcrowded. Treatment was amazing best I’ve had. We really enjoyed our day and would definitely go back. Thank you.

Lucy C.

My partner booked me for a Birthday Spa Treat and booked for himself too.. The spa treatments were amazing just what we needed, I recommend/ request for Megan shes brill!! . We used the Jaccuzi, Steam room and Sauna and they were amazing. All the facilities we needed were nice, Just what we needed for hard working parents. Will be definately coming back 😊

Caramel C.

Brilliant experience for me and mum for her 50th.
Lunch wasn’t what I expected but the facilities were brilliant particularly the jacuzzi!

Molly the massage therapist was amazing, made me feel comfortable for my first ever massage and made sure to work out my shoulder knots that were particularly troubling.

Molly made a great first impression for the spa and definitely will be returning for my own birthday!

Ryan B.

Facilities are average at best, staff are friendly enough but receptionists are useless— definitely not worth the £66 a month. On top of that, they now want to charge an extra £20 a month for my 4-year-old to swim with me, or £8 per visit for a child day pass. It’s a joke. Not family-friendly and completely overpriced. Membership cancelled!

Stephen D.

We have just come back from our spa day at Bannantyne's in Wakefield and we loved it! We were booked in for a facial and a shoulders and neck massage. The lady that looked after me was called Molly and she went over everything she was going to do, and asked me if there was anywhere in particular that was troubling me that she could work on. I said 'No' but as soon as I said it I wished I had told her that my right shoulder was troubling me in certain postures/movements. Anyway, I didn't mention it, but as Molly was massaging my shoulders, I could tell she could feel the knots and tension as she paid more attention to this shoulder and was carefully making the knots looser. I was so pleased that she found this on her own and worked to make my shoulder better.

I have been for many massages over the years and this is the first time that a masseuse has picked up on this and treated it off her own back. I am very grateful and it feels much better already.

The whole team were very friendly from check-in in the morning, through to the spa, and leaving that afternoon. They all made my wife and I feel very special and pampered.

Louise T.

It’s OK, not great. I’ve committed to an annual membership so will continue to give it a chance. The staff are all lovely, welcoming, friendly, helpful.

A few issues:

1) no one enforces any sort of policy around kids behaving, and they’re allowed in the pool area for far too much of the day. People join places like this because the local pools are fully scheduled with kid clubs and family session. Parents let their children do whatever they want as long they stay out of their way so they can swim. Their kids therefore get in everyone else’s way and can often be pretty rude and inconsiderate. Weekends for example, kids are allowed in until 7PM and the pool closes at 7:30PM making it not all that useable for those paying full price membership fees who just want to swim.

At this club it feels like kids take the priority over paying members which shouldn’t be the case.

2) the showers etc. as others have mentioned have definitely seen better days, as has pool area. Staff keep things clean but it’s definitely due a refurb. Lots of little things often not working like showers next to pool, water fountains etc.

The jacuzzi is also pretty cold, I assume this is to save money. Everyone comments as they get in that it’s not very warm.

3) I’ve had multiple spa treatments here. They make a big deal of pointing out that an hour treatment actually means 50 min hands-on treatment time, and 30 min is actually 20 min hands-on treatment time etc. I’ve had multiple 1 hour bookings, so 50 min hands-on treatments and have checked the start and end time of each one. Not once has it been longer than 40 min. Not sure what this is saving them in terms of money as the staff are still there when not in treatments. I daren’t book a 30 min session, I’d be leaving before I arrived.

4) they sneak in price increases. For example in 2024 you could access all the on-demand content via the app as part of your membership. That quietly disappeared in December and they launched a ‘new’ service in January where you could access on-demand content for £6 a month. Effectively increasing membership by £6 a month for those who were using the on-demand services and might have even considered that in their decision to join.

5) more of a suggestion than an issue, lots of gyms I’ve been to previously have a ladies only gym room with equipment. The gym area here is intimidating, and this might help with that.